Wildlife Identification

We offer wildlife viewing for Family and Friends trips, Fly Fishing trips, Paddleboard Adventures, Photography Workshops, and Whale Watching trips. We'll provide the gear you need for a great trip!

Alaska Brown Bear

Although the name grizzly bear is sometimes used to refer to all brown bears, grizzly refers to one subspecies in the northwestern interior of North America. Members of the subspecies throughout coastal Alaska and western Canada are known as Alaskan bears; those in Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago are called Kodiak bears.

Brown bears forage on the abundance of berries during early summer. This most dramatic of wild species adds an exclamation point to a rich and rewarding Alaskan adventure. The Alaskan coastal brown bear is genetically the same as a grizzly bear. Coastal brown bears grow larger than grizzlies due to the high protein in their diet, primarily salmon.

American Bald Eagle

The bald eagle can be found from Alaska to Florida, with the most prominent individuals coming from the northern parts of the range. After the breeding season, the birds of the north migrate south, and many Florida eagles wander northward.

The name bald, often considered a misnomer, does not imply a lack of feathers but is derived from an obsolete meaning marked with white, as in piebald. Young birds of this species lack the white head and tail of the adults, which take four to five years to attain. Compared to other eagles, the bald eagle is a relatively clumsy hunter and fisher, and its prey relies heavily on dead or injured fish or those that come to shallow water to spawn.

Dall’s Porpoise

Dall's porpoises are common in the North Pacific Ocean and can be found off the U.S.West Coast from California to the Bering Sea in Alaska. These porpoises are considered the fastest swimmers among small cetaceans, reaching 34 miles per hour over short distances. They are named for W.H. Dall, an American naturalist who collected the first specimen of this species.

A unique characteristic of Dall’s porpoises is their distinctive color pattern—a blackbody with a conspicuous white lateral patch on the left, right, and underside.They are often mistaken for baby killer whales, but unlike killer whales, their dorsal fins are triangle-shaped, and they do not have eye patches or saddle patches.

Harbor Porpoise

The harbor porpoise is a shy animal, often seen in groups of two or three. They prefer coastal areas and are commonly found in bays, estuaries, harbors, and fjords.Because they prefer coastal habitats, harbor porpoises are particularly vulnerable to gill nets and fishing traps, pollution, and other types of human disturbance, such as underwater noise.

Harbor Seal

Harbor seals are among the most common marine mammals along the U.S. West and East Coasts. They are commonly seen resting on rocks and beaches along the coast and floating ice in glacial fjords with their head and rear flippers elevated in a “banana-like” position.

State-financed bounty hunters once hunted harbor seals in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Maine because they were considered competitors of fishermen. This hunting program ended in 1960.

Humpback Whale

Before a final moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985, all populations of humpback whales were significantly reduced by more than 95 percent. The species is increasing in abundance throughout its range but faces threats from entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, vessel-based harassment, and underwater noise.

Humpback whales live in all oceans around the world. They travel great distances yearly and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal. Some populations swim5,000 miles from tropical breeding grounds to colder, more productive feeding grounds. Humpback whales feed on shrimp-like crustaceans (krill) and small fish, straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates, which act like a sieve.

The humpback whale gets its common name from the distinctive hump on its back. Its long pectoral fins inspired its scientific name, megaptera, which means “big-winged,” and novaeangliae, which means “New England,” about where European whalers first encountered them. Humpback whales are a favorite of whale-watchers―they are often active, jumping out of the water and slapping the surface with their pectoral fins or tails.

Minke Whale

 Minke whales are members of the baleen or “great” whale family and are the smallest of the rorquals. They are one of the most abundant rorquals in the world, and their population status is considered stable throughout almost their entire range (especially when compared to other species of large whales).

Commercial whaling practices may have reduced minke whale populations in the western North Pacific and the northeastern North Atlantic. However, commercial whaling’s overexploitation of other larger whale species may have allowed minke whales to prosper from the lessened competition and increased availability of food resources.

Orca 

The orca or killer whale is the ocean’s top predator. It is the most prominent member of the Delphinidae family of dolphins. Members of this family include all dolphin species and other larger species, such as long-finned pilot whales and short-finned pilot whales, whose common names also contain "whale" instead of "dolphin."

Found in every ocean in the world, they are the most widely distributed cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Scientific studies have revealed many different populations with several distinct ecotypes (or forms) of killer whales worldwide—some of which may be other species or subspecies. They are one of the most recognizable marine mammals with distinctive black and white bodies. Globally, killer whales occur in a wide range of habitats, in both open seas and coastal waters. Taken as a whole, the species has the most varied diet of all cetaceans, but different populations are usually specialized in their foraging behavior and diet. They often use a coordinated hunting strategy, working as a team like a pack of wolves.

Hunters and fishermen once targeted killer whales. As a result, historical threats to killer whales included commercial hunting and culling to protect fisheries from killer whales. In addition, although live capture of killer whales for aquarium display and marine parks no longer occurs in the United States, it remains a global threat. Killer whale populations face many other threats, including food limitations, chemical contaminants, vessel traffic, and sound disturbances.

Sea Otter

Sea otters feed mainly on mollusks and sea urchins, which they crush with their large, blunt teeth. Sea otters also regularly use rocks as tools to open shellfish while swimming on their backs. The female gives birth to a single offspring at a time, which she nurses while lying on her back in the water.

The sea otter is the only marine mammal lacking an insulating layer of blubber, which protects the animal from the frigid ocean waters. To compensate for this lack of fat, the sea otter must constantly preen its fur, keeping it meticulously clean and allowing an insulating layer of air to be trapped against the skin. When contaminated by oil, sea otters lose the ability to protect themselves against cold ocean waters since the oil mats the fur, preventing the insulating air space from forming. In addition, the sea otter will ingest the oil as it cleans its skin, usually causing illness and death.

Steller Sea Lion

The Steller (or northern) sea lion is the largest member of the family Otariidae, the “eared seals,” which includes all sea lions and fur seals. Steller sealions are named for Georg Wilhelm Steller, the German surgeon, and naturaliston the Bering expedition who first described and wrote about the species in 1742. While they are the only living member of their genus, they share parts of their range with a smaller related species—California sea lions. Steller sea lions' impressive low-frequency vocalizations sound more like roars than California sea lions’ barks. They also share parts of their range with another otariid—the northern fur seal.

Steller sea lions were historically abundant throughout many parts of the coastal NorthPacific Ocean. Indigenous peoples and settlers hunted them for their meat, hides, oil, and other products, and today sea lions are a vital subsistence resource for Alaska Natives.

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