Week of October 11, 2020 Juneau Alaska

This past week the weather let up a bit and I got out a little more .

More fall color

  • Asphalt vs leaves
  • Red leaves
  • Red Leaves 2
The leaves are bright, whether on the trees or on the ground. This Friday and Saturday it got pretty windy, so soon there may be no leaves at all. Just conifer needles.

NOAA vessel S 221 (Rainier)

For the past week or so, I could tell there was a largish vessel docked at our downtown Coast Guard station, but I couldn’t get a good look at it. But last Sunday it sailed down the channel and I got these photos:

  • NOAA Survey Vessel Rainier (S 221)
  • Closeup of front of NOAA Survey Vessel Rainier (S 221)
  • Closeup of front of NOAA Survey Vessel Rainier (S 221)
Because this vessel bore a number on its front and “Rainier” on the back, I assumed that this vessel was named S 221 and was homeported in Rainier Washington.

Although I initially thought the name of this vessel was NOAA S 221, a quick internet search set me straight that the name on the back of the ship (Rainier) was the actual name of the ship and not the home port as I supposed. Here’s a bit more background from the ship’s web page:

Homeported in Newport, Oregon, NOAA Ship Rainier is a hydrographic survey vessel that maps the ocean to aid maritime commerce, improve coastal resilience, and understand the marine environment. Rainier’s officers, technicians, and scientists log the data that NOAA cartographers use to create and update the nation’s nautical charts with ever-increasing data richness and precision.

Landscapes

  • Rising tide near Juneau Seawalk
  • Rising tide near Juneau Seawalk
  • KTOO Dawn
  • Antenna Sky
  • KTOO Sunrise
The top two photos were taking on a brief walk out to Juneau’s seawalk. The bottom three were taken from the multipurpose room at MPOW. The KTOO Public Radio/TV station is in the middle, the Nimbus status at left just barely visible in the dawn, and a very gorgeous sky!

Ravens

  • Eyes on Nimbus
  • Corvid Security
These last two pictures were also taken from the multipurpose room of MPOW at work. Maybe it it’s just my own mood but they guardian like to me in these poses.

Some of the best raven pictures stay in my head because either I’m not fast enough with my camera or because I tend to respect the privacy of people. Today my spouse and I were at our local grocery store and we noticed a man eating in his car. So did a raven, who jumped on the hood of the man’s car and looked at him intently through the windshield. Almost like staring. After a bit, the man tossed out a few crumbs out his window. The raven went for it, as did what seemed to be about a dozen others. More crumbs followed and the ravens were scrambling. Except for the first (?) raven. They jumped back onto the hood and continued the staring started earlier. It would have made a great photo or video, but I didn’t want to take pictures without the driver’s permission. And I was too shy to ask the driver. Plus that likely would have driven all the ravens away and ruined the shot anyway.

Until next week.

Week of October 4, 2020, Juneau Alaska

This week was another one where I did not get out much. But sometimes, good things just popped in the window.

Rainbows

  • Rainbow outside office window
  • Rainbow over gov’t buildings
  • Patriotic Rainbow
  • Rainbow over part of state government campus in Juneau
I work with my back to the window. But sometimes I glance back and this week I was rewarded with an amazing rainbow. I called out to my coworkers and we were all just dazzled by a moment of beauty.

Other

  • For at least 20 years this dock has stood in disrepair. I’m ad about not being able to walk on it, but enjoy the mosses it grouws.
  • MPOW is adjacent to a small shopping center and its side lot is sometimes Corvid Central
  • Some beautiful fall color from the side of MPOW.
  • Some kind of working boat makings its way to Douglas Harbor
Just a few things that took my fancy this week.

Week of September 27, 2020, Juneau Alaska

These are a few of the photos that I’ve taken around my town in the past week.

Fall in Juneau

  • Twin Lakes fall color 1
  • Twin Lakes fall color 2
  • Twin Lakes fall color 3
  • Local fall color
It’s clearly fall here in Juneau Alaska. Most of our trees are either spruce or fir, so most of our trees are green year round. But there are a few deciduous trees and shrubs and they are pretty to watch turn.

Landscapes

  • Looking towards Mount Jumbo
  • Tree closeup
  • Seaside Tree
Just a few views from the neighborhood this week

Ships and Boats

  • Cargo
  • Towing
  • Sporty craft
I saw many more ships and boats than I took pictures of this week. I was pretty amazed by what looked to be a skiff hauling what looked to my landlubber eyes like a largish load for it.

Blurry, but Fun

  • Blurry Otter
  • Juneau Alaska, 2am
Normally I shun showing people blurry photos. But the blob is the only photo evidence that we really did have river otters in the Gastineau Channel this week. There were two, plain as day through binoculars, but I just couldn’t get the camera to focus. The other photo hints at the amazing cloud and reflections I saw from my balcony late at night. Or was it early one morning?

Pandemic Signs

  • Island Pub door signs
  • Island Pub Bulletin Board
For salads and pizzas, I love the Island Pub on Douglas Island. I ventured out for takeout because I’m done with dine-in ding for the duration. I enjoyed both their compliance with local regulations and their efforts at humor.

Week of 9/20/2020, Juneau Alaska

  • Dish Reflections
  • One person per car, because COVID. Mendenhall Tower, Sept 2020
  • Masks yes, Weed no. Mendenhall Tower, Sept 2020
  • Cropped view of clouds tangled with Mt. Juneau
  • Our local PBS/NPR station with dark clouds overhead. Sounds right.
  • Really thought the eye on this raven was striking. Hope it’s not disease or injury.
Didn’t get out much this week, and some photos just didn’t work out. These are the ones I think did.

Week of 9/13/2020, Juneau Alaska

This post is a selection of photos that I took around Juneau, Alaska the week of 9/13/2020. Instead of dumping them all into one block/album like I’ve done in the past, I’m going to try and group photos by broad subject if there’s more than ten photos. This week, there are.

Birds

  • Rocky times
  • Gull Chat
  • Gulls on the rock line
  • Vocal Raven
  • Gulls at rest
  • Grooming time
  • Crossing for corvids too.
  • Seagulls covening
  • Gull likes his rock
Curated bird photos from the week of 9/13/2020 in Juneau Alaska. Click on image for larger view.

Ships and Boats

  • The channel is a mirror when calm
  • Neka Bay pushing unidentified vessel
  • Close up of ship Neka Bay
  • Close up of unidentified vessel being pushed by Neka Bay.
  • Its job of pushing done, the Neka Bay steams south past the Juneau-Douglas bridge
Selection of photos of ships and boats taken in Juneau, Alaska during the past week.

Landscapes

  • View of Juneau’s Whale (Overstreet) Park and Sea Walk, a great asset. Mt. Roberts in Background.
  • Sunshine on the water, you know the rest.
A couple of landscape photos taken in the last week. Click image for a larger view.

The Gull Line, September 2020

Note the solid line of gulls in front of the shore. Looking from Juneau Sea Walk towards south

This is a panorama stitched together for me from Google Photos. I really like the line of seagulls that looks like a defensive line to me. About a half hour earlier, the gulls were sitting on dry line. We have a wide tidal range in Juneau.

Douglas Harbor, 9/20/2020

  • Mayflower Island and Douglas Harbor
  • Canoe and skiffs in foreground
  • Douglas Harbor, Looking North
  • Douglas Harbor, Looking South

I had the chance to get in a short walk between rain showers. I always enjoy walking by my local harbor and today I was impressed with the darkening skies – a reminder that the days are shortening and the sun is not climbing as high.

Night sights from February 2019

Caption: First street in Douglas Alaska, February 7 2019. Freshly ploughed parking lot.

Caption: Looking south from first street

I’ve been fairly captivated with Google’s Night Sight feature since it first came to my Pixel phone. I think it provides surprisingly clear detail and color in low light conditions and I just love what it does for my neighborhood in winter.

Both of the photos above were taken in February 2019. We have roughly the same amount of snow now.