Any time I can share Alaska with photographers is a cherished experience. Winter is no exception, and the winter months along the Southwest Coast are filled with wildlife but without the summer crowds. While the vast expanse of Alaska’s interior remains frozen and challenging for photographers to access, the temperate coastline of Kachemak Bay enjoys a more moderate climate due to the waters of the North Pacific. Even in winter, fish still swim in significant numbers, drawing in and concentrating much of the marine life inhabiting these cold waters, providing sustenance for birds and marine mammals.
Mild weather settled over most of Alaska during our trips to the rugged coast of the Kenai Peninsula in February. Relatively warm temperatures, calm winds, and very little precipitation allowed both photo tours to be on the water for every scheduled photography session. Our trip is designed to have more boating days than most other companies, so we have ample shooting time even if the weather may keep us onshore for a day and requires us to photograph more terrestrial locations for safety reasons. We also spend more hours shooting eagles from the boat than other companies.
Getting to spend so much time on the water means we work more varied background locations and photography situations with eagles, while giving us ample time to locate more of the other wildlife that calls this area its winter home, all with the dramatic backdrop of the Kachemak Bay’s snow-capped mountains.
Sea otters abound here and make for excellent subjects in our photographic pursuits. We also work in time to photograph harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions. While the otters, sea lions, and seals are charismatic subjects, the eagles always steal the show.
Our boat for pursuing great photos of eagles and otters is one of the newest and best designed for these excursions. With a crew of two, a knowledgeable, experienced captain, and one of the hardest working deckhands in Alaska, we ventured out twice daily to find good numbers of eagles in the most dramatic settings. Working knowledge of tides and winds is most important for finding the best locations to photograph eagles in flight. Getting the boat in close to the best shooting situations is what our crew does best, whether photographing from the spacious deck or from one of the convenient beach landings. If someone would need to warm up the heated cabin is close at hand. Having so many boat trips is essential for capturing as many different eagle flight scenarios as possible. I have always found that a good ocean breeze produces the best flight photos for bald eagles, and all our photo travelers had the chance to experience this firsthand.
Eagles are not the only birds that winter in coastal Alaska. The calls of the ever-present wintering common loons could be heard at nearly all our photo locations while flights of Barrow’s and common goldeneye ducks whirled from every bay we entered. Long-tailed duck numbers were a little scarce this year with the only reliable birds hanging in the mouth of Homer’s harbor. Near to town we could count on the presence of a hawk owl that set up territory by the airport and surrounding meadows.
Another notable wildlife sighting was a snowshoe hare, which appeared randomly early in the morning in the vegetation surrounding our hotel. If I have realized anything regarding this incredible photo tour location and its influence on photographers, it is that there are two main aspects to this trip, which nearly everyone comes away with. If there is one trip on which you can obtain all the photographs of bald eagles you could ever want, then this is that photo trip. The second realization about this trip is that photographing eagles in such a grand landscape is addictive. Like most of our photo tours, I am already looking forward to returning next year with groups of photographers eager to experience all this Alaska winter location has to offer.
