Alaska Magazine
Tag

Wildlife

Browsing
30-Second Reads

Blending art and natural history: The Alaska Literary Field Guide

By

Alaskans and their visitors can enjoy a new travel companion this summer. The Alaska Literary Field Guide, published in March by Mountaineers Books, brings a unique and artistic approach to describing over 90 species of wildlife, plants, and other features of Alaska. The book is written and compiled by Nancy Lord, Marybeth Holleman, and Shaelene Moler. “It’s not a traditional field guide,” says Lord. Instead, she describes it as a collaboration among writers, artists, and experts on Alaska’s natural world. The 330-page book features digestible descriptions of a sampling of the things we love about Alaska, including bears, glaciers, birds, plants, and the aurora borealis, to name just a few. Grouped by ecosystem, each description blends writing and illustrations. They bind together Indigenous cultural knowledge, Western science, and more. The diverse approach promises readers a new take on our favorite sights. “It was fun working with the writers, poets, and…

Wildlife & Nature

Wait, are cougars in Alaska?

By

North America’s biggest cat is a rare sight here, but that might change  Austin Prine knows he saw a cougar run across the Elliott Highway about thirty miles north of Fairbanks last December. Prine, a long-haul trucker who was returning south from Prudhoe Bay, says the cat bounded across the snow-packed road and vanished over a guardrail. He estimates the animal was three years old and weighed about 110 pounds. But it was the three-foot tail that told him it was a cougar. Also known as pumas or mountain lions, cougars are not known to inhabit Alaska. An avid hunter, Prine knows this. But having lived around cougars in eastern Washington, he also knows how to distinguish them from lynx, wolves, or other large mammals. And he believes that cougar reports are increasing in Alaska’s interior, including along the Elliott. When he posted his experience on social media, hundreds of people commented, with…

Travel

Adrenaline & Personal Growth: The School You Always Wanted

By

Outdoor Adventure & Academic Excellence in the PNW Sponsored by Annie Wright Schools For many, the Pacific Northwest is synonymous with adventure. Its rugged coastlines, snow-capped peaks, and dense forests have long called to those with a spirit of exploration. For students at Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma, Washington, this landscape isn’t just a backdrop — it’s an essential part of their education. Through the Great Outdoor Adventure Team (GOAT) program, students in Grades 9-12 experience a unique blend of academic rigor and outdoor adventure. A Classroom Without Walls At Annie Wright, students aren’t confined to the walls of a classroom. The GOAT program integrates the prestigious International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma with hands-on learning experiences in some of the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic settings. From kayaking alongside porpoises in Commencement Bay to summiting the glaciers of Mt. Baker, the program offers a diverse range of outdoor challenges designed to build…

wildlife tracking
30-Second Reads

Online Migrations

By

Want to see the flight paths of migrating swans as they come and go from Alaska? Or the seasonal meanderings of Pacific walruses in the Chukchi Sea? Now you can via USGS’ new Tagged Animal Movement Explorer (TAME). The online tool animates the migratory routes of hundreds of marine mammals, seabirds, and others that are carrying satellite transmitters.

weasel
Wildlife & Nature

Other Lives

By

Holding my breath camera ready, I crouched by a ledge of lichen-crusted shale. Around me stretched an expanse of wind-scraped tundra hills grooved with caribou trails, marked here and there by the bleached bones of wolf kills, grizzly scat, and the hoofprints of muskoxen. But my focus just then wasn’t on that limitless landscape and the unseen, outsized creatures that roamed it, but on a cleft in the nearby rock.

Photos & Videos

Dream Shots in Alaska

By

There are many places to get a great shot of the highest mountain in North America—and not all of them are in Denali National Park. On a clear day, you can spot the towering snow-capped dome from Anchorage. Talkeetna affords a backside view along a picturesque river. Flightseeing provides exceptional close-ups. But going to the park delivers some choice locations for creative composition.

PHOTO CONTEST GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Alaska Photo Contest

2023 Photo Contest Winners

By

Sometimes you get lucky, and that winning photo practically takes itself. Other times you have to work for it, angling for the best composition or waiting for perfect lighting. Either way, photographers create art that captures the viewer’s eye—and sometimes their heart, as is the casewith our grand prize winner. What we always look for when selecting finalists and then winning images from this contest is, first and foremost, an emotional reaction: Does the picture make us think Wow!? If so, then we look at technical merit such as whether the image is in focus, has a pleasing or surprising composition, or is overprocessed. Blurry, ho-hum, or fake coloring all get an automatic pass. While we appreciate those rare times when every aspect of a scene synchronizes and the photographer is paying attention enough to capture it on the fly, we know the thoughtfulness, time, and attention to detailit requires…

Travel to Nome
Northern

Tourist Mecca?

By

Nome delights visitors year-round Known as a rough-and-tumble, gritty gold rush town and the finish line of the renowned Iditarod race, Nome offers more than precious minerals and mushing. The Seward Peninsula city of roughly 3,600 residents located on Norton Sound in the Bering Sea might be remote, but that doesn’t mean it’s inaccessible. In fact, warming winters have opened up Bering Strait waters for all but the coldest months of the year, leading to construction of the nation’s first deep-water arctic port. Slated to be completed within the next seven years, the $600 million project will allow 4,000-passenger cruise ships, cargo ships, and military vessels to dock 10 boats at a time, providing supplies to isolated outlying villages, protection from the increasing threats of foreign vessels, and additional tourism revenue for a city on the isolated tundra. In addition to major cruise line guests and Iditarod race followers, birders…

Sign up for our newsletter for more exciting Alaska travel content.