A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BACKCOUNTRY BEAR WATCHER

by Nat Drumheller

Best Part of the Job

A neat thing about our work was that we spent so much time looking down. We combed the beaches and edges of the scrub looking for certain plants, trails, digs, scat, and other bear sign. We were focused on what was at our feet. For me, having only lived in this area for a couple years, it was an awesome opportunity to get to know some of the shoreline in the bay more intimately. It is always a thrill to see glaciers, mountains, whales, and bears. It was equally thrilling to see some of the smaller stuff: The different wildflowers were spectacular-orchids, gentians, vetches, willowherbs, paintbrushes.

Whether looking at a rock garden with a perfect  balance of colors and textures, a lush meadow of woven hues, or into a single, wildly complex corolla, they never failed to elicit admiration. It was awesome to see the occasional Boreal Toad (and tadpoles, once.) Morels bursting out of dry, beach pebbles just above the high tide line in the middle of summer. Voles scampering across our feet. SpottedSandpipers, Golden-crowned Sparrows, and Black Oystercatchers -- all on their nests. Wolf tracks in the mud by a stream. The sounds were beautiful, too. Waves on the beach. Cascading streams. Birdsongs all day (and night at times) from Fox Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, various thrushes and warblers. The calls of the loons. The less musical, but no less interesting vocalizations of the shorebirds and seabirds, and, of course, the Black Oystercatchers.Most of the people that visit Glacier Bay never set foot on shore. I feel fortunate to have walked some of them.

Our Most Threatening Wildlife Encounter (Other than with bugs!)

One morning, on the northern end of Russell Island, I awoke to the sound of light scratching on the tent fabric. I thought it was a bird, since they sometimes would catch bugs on the outside of our tents. I rose on one elbow to look through the mesh door just in time to come face to face with a Short-tailed Weasel as it hurled itself against the mesh and clung there looking in menacingly (or so I perceived.) Then it was gone. Turns out it did the same thing to Tania, but it jumped up and looked in through both mesh doors on her tent. Just one more reason to use a tent when you sleep in the back-country.

A Cool Evening

One evening in July, I sat on some rocks above the water and watched a Humpback swim in lazy circles below me with one flipper and a portion of its tail out of the water. When it took a breath before submerging, I could see into its blowhole. The whale was feeding all that night just off the beach we were camped on. Between its breathing, the songs of the Golden-crowned Sparrows and Hermit Thrushes, and the sun that barely set, I couldn't sleep.

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS FROM GUSTAVUS, ON THE EDGE OF GLACIER BAY

Just this week (12/1 and 12/3), I had two really cool bird experiences.On 12/1, I walked to the beach from my cabin. That's the beach between the Salmon and Good Rivers. It was a sunny, cold day. As I came out of the woods into the open beach, I remembered that I had been seeing a Northern Shrike out here last year around this time. Stopping to scan the shrubs, sure enough, there was a shrike flying to a spruce top. Too cool. I watched it move from one perch to another and then it dove into the grasses. It came up in a few seconds and went to a small willow. It moved around in the willow a bit, and I saw it wipe its beak on a branch. Ever since reading, years ago, about how shrikes pierce their prey on thorns and barbed wire (after they have been killed), I have been looking for such a thing. When the shrike flew from the willow, I went to check it out. Looking around the lower branches where I had seen the shrike, I found nothing. Then I focused my eyes on what was six inches before my nose. A shrew was hanging sideways, nose down, with a moose-browsed willow twig inserted nicely into a slit in its shoulder. The shrew's fur poked out from its back where the twig was. Really well done, I thought.

Two days later, I walked to the beach again in the fresh snow. On the way, after following some weasel tracks through the woods for a bit, I came back to the path to the beach. I stopped to look at some small birds feeding and chirping in a spruce. I was raising my binoculars to look at one on the ground when a small bird of prey sailed from behind me past my head and nailed the little bird I was about to look at. After taking a second to realize what had just happened, I looked through my binoculars. It was a tiny owl on the ground with the little bird it had killed. The owl flew to a low branch on the spruce and looked at me. Its face was beautiful and

fierce. In its talons with wings spread wide and the colorful cap blazing was a Golden-crowned Kinglet. The tiny owl turned its head and the dark 'fake eye' patches were clearly visible. It was a Northern Pygmy-Owl. The owl then flew right past me again with the kinglet in grasp and shot like an arrow straight through the woods. Wow!When I got to the beach, I checked on the shrew in the willow. Still there, with a little pile of snow on it.