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Canoeing near Pyramid Island on the Chilkat River in Haines, AK.    From the canoe on Chilkat River  Looking toward Ft. Seward from Picture Point, Haines, AK This was my first time photographing Surf Scoters. What interesting birds! They refer to the group of them as a raft of scoters. They love mollusks and work together to loosen them. A friend described watching the front row of Scoters dive together and pop up toward the back then the second row would dive, followed by third and each row after that like a conveyor belt. The mussels they were after "tether themselves to rocks or each other with stringy fibers called byssal threads. Each thread has a foamy adhesive “plaque” at the end containing a mixture of proteins that give mussels their amazing adhesive qualities."        If you look closely in the photo below, you might notice the eyes look cloudy. On eagles, the bottom eyelid is bigger than the top eyelid, so they blink up instead of down. The third eyelid, an inner eyelid, is called the nictitating membrane. "These eyelids can be closed for protection without affecting the eagle's vision."  Nothing quite compares to the feeling of holding a hummingbird on your finger. They are feather light; close to the weight of U.S. penny. I read it would take 150 ruby throated hummingbirds to make a pound. The average weight is .1 to .2 ounces or 3 grams. By comparison a nickel weighs 4.5 grams. Birds in general weigh less than one might think because of their hollow bones.  Hummingbird Art   |
BEST VIEWED ON A COMPUTER AND NOT A PHONE.
Forests are magical places. Click to read more.
Betsy SeetonNavigating life 
Grizzly bears in Bella Coola, BC
Archives
May 2023
“In a forest of a
hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” ~ Paulo Coelho 
Camping in Nemaiah Valley, British Columbia.
The sockeye salmon run in Adams River, British Columbia
CLICK TO GO TO INFO AND MORE PHOTOS OF THE SALMON
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