JEEBUS FRIES!

Mom and I went out on the boat today. It was a great day for it, sunny and a tad breezy. The boat folks seemed happy to see me and I was happy to see them. I like working at the radio (and there is a minimal chance of someone puking on me) but I do miss having a nice day on the water now and then.

About an hour out, we saw a small humpback, who was acting rather...odd. He was swimming in circles, with his nose sticking out of the water. He sorta looked like he was dogpaddling. He'd straighten out and swim regular for a couple breaths, then take a sudden sharp turn and swim for a while with his nose (or sometimes his entire head) out of the water. We watched him for probably about a half hour. It was strange.

Here is a list of everything we saw, animal-wise.

Black-legged kittiwakes (I know, they look like seagulls. Shut up.)
Marbled Murrelet - Alcid family of birds, which also includes puffins.
Pigeon Guillemot - Also alcid family. They have a very musical cry.
Common Murre - Again, alcids.
Tufted puffins - We actually only saw these briefly...a pair flying in front of the boat. A tad early for puffins yet.
Bald eagle - Not much to say about these guys. There are tons of them here.
Surf scoters - These hang out in huge groups along the shoreline.
Pelagic cormorants - Hanging out on icebergs and flying all around.
Arctic terns - They migrate thousands of miles. I love them...they're so delicate.
Pacific loon - I love their neck color.
Longtail jaeger - Never seen a longtail before. Smaller than the other jaegers I've seen.
Harlequin ducks - So beautiful. I love the markings.
Snow geese - We saw a flock of at least 50. They were gorgeous as they took flight. I'd never seen them before, either.
Stellar sea lions - Loud, smelly, rude, boisterous. I love them.
Humpback whale - This looks kind of like what our whale was doing today.
Sea otter - Always a pleasure.
Dall's porpoise - Had several small groups riding our bow for a while. Always fun to see.
Mountain goats - Saw two of them, down fairly low (as goats go).
Black bear - Okay, so we didn't actually see it during the trip. Mom and I saw one on the duck flats on the way into town, as we were going to the dock. But I snuck it in anyway, because it's the first I've seen this season (aside from the one I saw halfway up the mountainside the other day, which doesn't count because it just looked like a tiny black speck).

Anyway, that was our day. Always a pleasure to go out on the boat, even moreso when it's a nice day with not many people. The count today was 80, which is just about perfect. Sucks when there are, like, less than 50 and more than 100.

I'm tired and going to bed. Talk to y'all later!

How to sing Christmas carols like my family:

"Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose,
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose,
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose,
Panda hippo gnu deer!"