Sound Eco Adventures
P. O. Box 707, Whittier, AK . 99693 . USA
Email: sea@alaska.net . . .
Toll-Free: 1-888-471-2312
.
|
BACKGROUND
Prince William Sound is a treasure trove . . .
.
How are the photo tours different from my other tours?
|
Pigeon guillemots are seen on many of the photo tours. |
.
.
Spring Wildlife
Duration: 8-10 hours Cost: $529, 379 or 309 each, for 1,2 or 3 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. Main Attractions: Mountain goats, Steller sea lions, harbor seals; good odds for humpback whales and Dall's porpoises, possibly orcas. Birds include bald eagles, tufted and horned puffins, parakeet auklets, pigeon guillemots, marbled murrelets, black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged and mew gulls, black oystercatchers, surfbirds, red-necked phalaropes, late-migrating loons and grebes. Target species can be fine-tuned to clients' wishes. Two-day overnighters are possible. |
Canon 10D, EF100-400 @ 273mm, 1/750, f/4.0, ISO 200, hand-held
In spring and early summer, fights between Steller's
|
Spring Wildlife Lite
Duration 4-5 hours Cost: $274, 194 or 154 each, for 1,2 or 3 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. Main Features: Five minutes out from Whittier has us at a teeming nesting colony of black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, and pigeon guillemots. Bald eagles, ravens and black-billed magpies are often seen here too. Mountain goats are often seen near the water as soon as the snow melts and vegetation starts greening up. Scenic waterfalls, distant glaciers. Some chance for humpback whales. |
Canon 5D, EF100-400 @ 400mm, 1/800, f/8.0, ISO 250, hand-held
Mountain goats often descend to within tens of feet of tidewater
|
Summer Wildlife
Duration: 8-10 hours Cost: $529, 379 or 309 each, for 1,2 or 3 photographers. Add fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes. Main Attractions: Steller sea lions, harbor seals, humpback whales, Dall's porpoises, some chance for orcas and black bears. Birds include bald eagles, tufted and horned puffins, parakeet auklets, pigeon guillemots, marbled murrelets, black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged and mew gulls, Arctic terns, black oystercatchers, parasitic jaegers, fork-tailed storm petrels and more. Target species can be fine-tuned to clients' wishes. Two-day overnighters are possible. |
Canon 5D, EF100-400IS @ 400mm, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 500, hand-held Tufted puffins nest several places in Prince William Sound. |
College Fjord
Duration: 8-10 hours
Cost: $529, 379 or 309 each, for 1,2 or 3 photographers.
College Fjord is a bonanza of five tidewater glaciers, icebergs, waterfalls and spectacular mountain scenery. At 1-1/2 miles wide at tidewater, Harvard Glacier is the Sound's second biggest, and is almost always actively calving ice. Wildlife includes good concentrations of Sea Otters and Harbor Seals, both of which often haul out on icebergs. Common birds include bald eagles, mew gulls, Arctic terns, black oystercatchers, harlequin ducks, common mergansers, marbled murrelets and the endangered-petitioned Kittlitz's murrelet. Itineraries can be fine-tuned to clients' wishes. Two-day overnighters (for up to two clients) are possible, and actually are necessary to do justice to the entire fjord in one trip. |
Canon 5D, EF70-200 @ 200mm, 1/640, f/7.1, ISO 400, hand-held
Harbor Seals are abundant in College Fjord where they are often
|
Whale Photography
Duration: 10-12 hours Cost: $674, 474 or 374 each, for 1,2 or 3 photographers, plus fuel surcharge and $6 each Whittier taxes.
Humpback whales are common in southern Prince William Sound in summer and fall. The chances for encountering orcas as well increase beginning late summer, when different family groups (pods) form "super-pods" for socializing and the bulls from one pod cavort with females of another pod. Two-day option available. |
Canon 10D, EF100-400mm @ 400mm, 1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, hand-held
Orcas occur year-round in Prince William Sound, but are seen
|
Black Bear Photography
Duration: 7-8 hours Cost: $479, 324 or 279 each, for 1,2 or 3 photographers, plus fuel surcharge and $6/each Whittier taxes. Anchor off the mouth of a salmon stream to watch and photograph bears' social interactions and their feeding on Chum and/or Pink Salmon. .
This mama black bear and her two cubs were a little too early for the late chum salmon run in early August 2007. |
Canon 10D, EF100-400mm @ 400mm, 1/500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, hand-held
A young black bear, its muzzle stained red from salmon blood,
|
.
Rationale For Photography Tours
Tide - With the Sound's 16-foot tidal range, tide height is a major consideration that influences the occurrence and behavior of many wildlife species at any given location.
Time of Day - Time of day is important for finding some seabirds at their nesting colonies, especially in early season.
.
Harvard Glacier, 1-1/2 miles wide at the head of College Fjord, is the Sound's second biggest glacier.
.
Canon 10D, f/2.8 EF70-200mm @ 108mm, 1/2000 @ f/4, ISO 200, hand-held |
Iceberg detail, College Fjord. Generally, the bigger the glacier, the bigger the iceberg. College Fjord, Columbia Bay, and Icy Bay host the Sound's biggest glaciers and icebergs. |
|
.
|
Breaching young humpback whale - Humpbacks are most common in the southern sector of Prince William Sound. |
|
.
|
Flocks of surfbirds feed heavily on invertebrates in the rocky intertidal zone in early spring before dispersing widely into alpine tundra, where very little is known about their nesting behavior. |
Canon 5D, EF28-105mm @ 28mm, 1/500 @ f/20, ISO 100, hand-held |
Yale Glacier, at the head of Yale Arm in College Fjord, is visited infrequently because of its remoteness and iceberg-clogged approach. |
.
1:00 AM at Naked Island in May
.
.
.
Copyright © 2008-2009 by Sound Eco Adventures and Sound Expressions. All rights reserved. Updated July 19, 2010