Here a few images of humpback whales from my recent Alaska trip.  Not very spectacular.  I was hoping mare splashing and jumping, but these giants just easily went through their morning business.  What I learned is that these whales swim 6,000 miles from Hawaii to Alaska to feed, then int the fall they go back to Hawaii, where they mate and give birth and basically don’t eat.  And with that, the cruise ships stop coming to Juneau, and the ‘local’ gift shop owners close their shops and go to the Bahamas.

agit Valley.  Thousands of snow geese stop over feeding on the vegetation before continuing their migration.  It was an amazing sight.  After taking a few close up images, it became obvious that if that’s all I can get, watching them feeding and quacking, it’s going to be quite boring.  A nearby farmer had some kind of loud bang going from time to time but the geese just ignored them.  It’s quite comical.  After for a while, I was just about to give up, and then all the sudden, a collective loud sound of tens of thousands wings flipping and all geese were airborne.  It was absolutely worth the wait.  Wow!  And then I saw it, a little dark figure flying above the flock.  It’s a raptor, maybe a hawk, just passing by and this little predator caused all the commotion.  I got my shots.  Thank you hawk!