Juneau Empire: Wildlife

Visitors Guide

Southeast Alaska's rain forest is alive with the chirps and trills of more than 300 species of birds that flutter along the flyways of the state's panhandle. More than 280 species nest in Juneau. The best month to observe nesting birds is June, also the best time for listening for their songs.

Whales

North Pacific humpbacks come to Alaska to feed on our sea's riches. Humpbacks are baleen whales. They have a plate of keratin, or baleen, attached to the upper jaw, which works like a strainer to catch their food.

Welcome to Bear Country

Juneau is in the heart of rich bear habitat. Its estuaries, avalanche chutes and salmon streams provide brown and black bears with high-quality foods.

What's the secret to catching fish in Alaska?

When you're in the world's greatest fishing country, it's tempting to expect huge fish everywhere, all the time. But Alaskan salmon are migratory species with very specific peak seasons.

View all 2008 Juneau Guide Articles

Wildlife Articles

Being sign aware

Hiking with Brad Nelson turns a walk in the woods into a series of stories. A trapper and hiker with almost 20 years of local experience, Nelson uses all six of his senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch and common - to read the forest news on each trip.

"I'm always looking for animal sign, not necessarily for trapping purposes," he said. "I just like to see what's around the area."

Admiralty Island: fortress of the bears

The island, located within Tongass National Forest, is home to over 1,700 brown bears, more than anywhere else in Southeast, with about one bear per square mile, one of the highest concentrations of bears in the world.

Guide to Juneau Salmon

They battle currents, fling themselves at waterfalls, thread their way around obstructions, dodge bears, butting and biting each other until finally, exhausted by the struggle, they reach the gravel spawning beds where they were born. Once there, males fight other males for the right to fertilize a female's eggs. They spawn, and then, the cycle completed, they die. It's all part of nature.

Eagles: Rich marine resources draw bald eagles to southeast

It's estimated there are around 80,000 to 100,000 bald eagles in the world, and about 50 percent of those live in Alaska. According to the American Bald Eagle Found-ation in Haines, more than 10,000 breeding pairs of the raptor make their home in Southeast Alaska.