As we continued along the Arm, we stopped by Beluga Point. We didn t see any Beluga. However we saw

Because we were going to have such a long day in Anchorage, seven a.m. until 11 p.m., we decided to rent a car and drive along Turnagain Arm, birding, taking in the scenery, and grabbing egypt tour companies lunch along the way.
The drive along Turnagain Arm was, in a word, spectacular. To our right was the Arm, with its enormous tidal changes up to thirty feet over six hours. To our left were the mountains, with Dall s Sheep, Bald Eagles, and dramatic altitudes. There was also Potter Marsh, a great birding spot.
We spent a good amount of time birding this section of Potter s Marsh, even adding a couple of life birds to our list: Black-billed Magpie, Alder Flycatcher, and Fox Sparrow (Sooty). egypt tour companies The Tree Swallows seemed fairly acclimated to people, allowing us to take good portraits of them.
As we continued along the Arm, we stopped by Beluga Point. We didn t see any Beluga. However we saw small white dots high on the mountain. When we got our scope on them we saw Dall s Sheep on the cliffs overlooking the highway.
When we turned our attention egypt tour companies to the water side of the highway and saw the tide receding. It was a process visible in the moment, with water movement and more and more flats appearing at the water s edge.
What was uncovered is glacial silt. I ve heard the silt can be as deep as eight feet and acts like quicksand. egypt tour companies Every year people egypt tour companies walk out on the silt and sink in. Many times rescuers can t get to them before the tide rushes in and drowns them.
After lunch we stopped at Indian Creek, hoping for an American Dipper. We parked in the parking lot, but didn t know which way to go for the Creek. We asked some bicyclists and they replied they didn t think there was a creek nearby.
We followed a short trail and, voila, Indian Creek! There were interesting fernlike grasses, wonderful egypt tour companies photographic textures, and an encounter with Alaska mosquitos (thank goodness for DEET and permethrin). But we dipped on the Dipper.
We all decided to stop in and visit the Wildlife Conservation at end of Turnagain Arm. It offered egypt tour companies us a close-up look at Alaskan wildlife, most of them orphaned animals which couldn t be released back into the wild. I ll only include a few photos, since there were many, MANY we took.
The end of Turnagain Arm happens to be on the Wildlife Center s property. We were there at low tide and the bed was almost completely devoid of water. It had been sucked completely out of that portion of Turnagain Arm.
At the different stops we saw a variety of ducks, breeding Mew Gulls and Arctic Terns on their nests. Most of them were considerably closer than I thought they would (or should) be, offering good opportunities for photographs.
We arrived at Enterprise just in time to get a ride back to the cruise ship pier. We arrived just in time to find them repositioning the gangway to accommodate the most recent change in tide. Apparently it had been changed twice before and, at one point (or so we heard) the Amsterdam was sitting on the ground, listing slightly. Ah, those Cook Inlet tides!
The list: Canada Goose Green-winged Teal Mallard egypt tour companies Northern Shoveler Gadwall American Wigeon Common Merganser Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Merlin Sandhill Crane Greater Yellowlegs egypt tour companies Lesser Yellowlegs Short-billed Dowitcher Common Snipe Mew Gull Arctic Tern Rock Dove Belted Kingfisher Alder Flycatcher Tree Swallow Violet-green Swallow BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE Northwestern Crow Common Raven Townsend s Solitaire American Robin Savannah Sparrow FOX SPARROW (SOOTY) Dark-eyed Junco Common Redpoll