Best time of day to view seabird rookeries

[TwoCalBears]

We're getting ready to book a wildlife viewing cruise out of Kodiak when we are there on the Royal Princess in July. These excursions leave both at 7:30 am in the morning and at noon. Which would be the best time of day for this kind of excursion? We are particularly interested in seeing puffins: does anyone know if the birds would be more likely to be in their rookeries in the morning or the early afternoon? And what about weather? Are we more likely to encounter rain or fog in the morning?

[Budget Queen]

Have you asked the operator?? Or is this a ship tour?? You might want to find out who is running this anyway. Since you are on the Amsterdam?? - seeing puffins is cheap and easy on a Gull Island boat tour out of Homer.

[PennyAgain]

Kodiak is famous for awful weather. Fog and various forms of rain and mist are high on the list. I don't think time of day matters much.

 

The tour operator should be able to advise you, but frankly I've seen tons of puffins and after the first 1,000 or so, they get boring.

 

My memories of the puffin rookery are rain, fog at the top drifiting down and a great deal of squawking. Photo ops were not good due to the low light levels and the difficulty of finding a point of interest among all those similar birds.

 

We were as close in as was safe with the boat going up and down and up and down the whole time. You will need good water proof gear and protection for your cameras.

[Budget Queen]

 

My memories of the puffin rookery are rain, fog at the top drifiting down and a great deal of squawking. Photo ops were not good due to the low light levels and the difficulty of finding a point of interest among all those similar birds.

 

.

 

Penny- did you forget about the smell? :) :)

[PennyAgain]

I didn't want to bring up the smell just to be polite about such things.

 

Boat: up and down, up and down.....some folks did get sick. The smell didn't help.

[Budget Queen]

I didn't want to bring up the smell just to be polite about such things.

 

Boat: up and down, up and down.....some folks did get sick. The smell didn't help.

 

OK, so sorry. :)

[PennyAgain]

BQ, I didn't get sea sick but had to stay away from those who did.

 

I was very frustrated with the photography situation. Birds, birds, gray skies and more birds but no center of interest for a good photo.

 

I'm open to suggestions on that issue.

[wolfie11]

BQ, I didn't get sea sick but had to stay away from those who did.

 

I was very frustrated with the photography situation. Birds, birds, gray skies and more birds but no center of interest for a good photo.

 

I'm open to suggestions on that issue.

 

The Sea Life Center at Seward is a great place for puffin photos, and no up and down, up and down. Most of my mass puffin encounters have been at S. Marble Island in Glacier Bay. No up and down, but very smelly due to the sea lion colony on the island.

[PennyAgain]

Your photos are wonderful! Thanks!

 

For puffins in the wild, I was too far away to get just one bird in a photo. Also the light was awful.

[TwoCalBears]

Thank you so much! Some of what you said was in the "I suspected this might be the case" category, and all of it makes me think I might just do something on shore. I hear there are meadows full of wildflowers in July, and if they're not like California poppies, which only open in the sun, I could see them even in the rain!

[TwoCalBears]

Thank you for the suggestion about the Sea Life Center!

[Budget Queen]

Thank you for the suggestion about the Sea Life Center!

 

There should be a ship tour for Kenai Fjords out of Seward, your port time is probably too tight for any independent. This area is loaded with puffins. You do need at least 6 hours on the water.

 

I have also seen puffins on the left side of the Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay at the rookery (Wolfie's recommendation years ago :) ) You do need a good pair of binoculars, but keep an eye out, I've seen them several times in Glacier Bay, in general.

[TwoCalBears]

There should be a ship tour for Kenai Fjords out of Seward, your port time is probably too tight for any independent. This area is loaded with puffins. You do need at least 6 hours on the water.

 

I have also seen puffins on the left side of the Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay at the rookery (Wolfie's recommendation years ago :) ) You do need a good pair of binoculars, but keep an eye out, I've seen them several times in Glacier Bay, in general.

 

Thanks! We're booked for the ship tour for Kenai Fjords, and will bring our binoculars! --Trudy

[whale-watcher]

Seabird rookeries are an amazing experience for a birder...smell and all! I never tire of watching the big throngs of puffins, murres, and kittiwakes (even if the photographyis difficult, the overall experience is a "must" for any birder and far superior to the sealife center IMHO. That being said, we opted to rent a car in kodiak when we took the 14 day princess small ship itinerary in '08 (and with the rainy and foggy weather we had that day we were happy we did). We did see a number of puffins from the ship itself, including on the way in and out of Seward (captain detoured for scenic sailing) as well as in glacier bay.

 

Our itinerary also included sitka and valdez where we had excellent boat trips (with puffins galore) but our best photos came from glacier bay...big stable ship, and two species of puffin cooperating very nicely).

[CruiseShelly]

Whale-Watcher, DH and I will be in Kenai Peninsula for birdwatching the week before our Seward-Alaska cruise on 27 June. We've booked 9 hour cruise out of Seward for birdwatching to Chiswell Islands, 1/2 day out of Homer with Mr. Stoltzfus for birding, plus we have land birding sites lined up for the week.

 

Any advise on birding from the ship in College Fjord, Glacier Bay, and the ports of Haines, Juneau and Ketchican will be greatly appreciated.

[Glaciers]

The Sea Life Center at Seward is a great place for puffin photos, and no up and down, up and down. Most of my mass puffin encounters have been at S. Marble Island in Glacier Bay. No up and down, but very smelly due to the sea lion colony on the island.

 

Nice photos Wolfie11. We were at S. Marble last week and there were many puffins and some great photo ops if you had a decent lense. We were lucky there was a slight breeze and we were up wind.

[whale-watcher]

Whale-Watcher, DH and I will be in Kenai Peninsula for birdwatching the week before our Seward-Alaska cruise on 27 June. We've booked 9 hour cruise out of Seward for birdwatching to Chiswell Islands, 1/2 day out of Homer with Mr. Stoltzfus for birding, plus we have land birding sites lined up for the week.

 

Any advise on birding from the ship in College Fjord, Glacier Bay, and the ports of Haines, Juneau and Ketchican will be greatly appreciated.

 

We really enjoyed the huge numbers of kittiwakes between Whittier and college fjord; almost magical listening to them call from our balcony. Make sure you spend some time watching for pelagic birds in the gulf of Alaska as well; we had shearwaters and a few albatross (plus fin and one sperm whlaes). Pelagic birding is also excellent if you cruise the outside passage around Vancouver island.

 

Glacier bay is good not only for puffins but also murrelets, not to hard to see well with decent bins and slow scenic cruising.

 

We did take a specific birding excursion out of haines (Alaska Nature tours) a few years ago. It was geared more to novice birders but we did visit some varied habitat and saw some coastal forest species that we would have missed on that trip otherwise. We have had great birding on Mt Roberts in Juneau (blue grouse, songbirds), but have spent more time whale watching there. Our time in Ketchikan has always been too short for birding although we did see a lot of migrating loons and scoters when we kayaked there in early may a few years ago.

 

I strongly suggest this guide, if you don't already own it:

 

http://www.aba.org/siteguides/ak.html

 

good birding!

[CruiseShelly]

Whale-watcher, thanks. Helpful. have the book. Can't wait.