In the meantime...Alaska

Apparently I'm reconnecting more slowly than even I anticipated.  Much of that is because I went to Alaska for work shortly after the last post and didn't have much in the way of internet access for another 2 weeks!  I promise to visit the links you've shared with me in the comments soon!

Before you think 'Alaska, cool!'...this was a hard, exhausting work trip.  But even so, you can't go to Alaska and not see some amazing things.  Especially when you get away from the cities in a helicopter!  The highlights of my trip?  The animals of course:  tons of caribou,  (not surprising since this species is what I went up to work with), tons of moose, a few dozen Dall's sheep, a pack of 6 wolves, and my first grizzly bear in the wild (a female with her 2, 2-year-old cubs...they were so fat they almost looked like they had no head...no pics sadly cuz my camera battery died about an hour earlier!).  Another highlight and a first...I saw the northern lights 3 nights in a row.  I was in Fairbanks so the city lights diminished the intensity, but it was still pretty amazing to see them (alas, no pictures of those).

This is the last major trip I have planned for awhile so hopefully I can soon settle back into a routine both at home and on the internets.  In the meantime, enjoy some photos from the past couple of weeks (as usual, click the photo to make 'em bigger)!

When we do this work in Alaska, we use a relatively small helicopter (an R44 for anyone interested).  Before darting, they set me out to have as little weight as possible on board.  Since caribou are pretty curious creatures, they often come relatively close to see what the heck I am....I particularly love this shot.

A lone bull trying to stay away from the attention of the helicopter!

No, it's not about to crash...just working some animals in front of an amazing backdrop.  These are the Macomb mountains in the Alaskan range...incredible country.

A different perspective...from the helicopter.

A handful of moose who were also wondering who I was and whether I was to be trusted....

The Nelchina basin...such beautiful country at this time of year.

I got to visit the caribou girls that I raised 3 summers ago but couldn't actually go in with the adults (they are breeding and it's too dangerous to get in with the bull making access to the females impossible).  Instead I got to visit with the babies they produced this past year.  These are some of the 6-month old females.  They aren't tame since they are dam-reared but they are curious and allow us to get pretty close. 

Really -- how stinkin' cute are these little girls?

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Now playing:  I Will Survive by Cake   

(not exactly a Cake fan but I have to admit that their version of this song cracks me up)