A SPRUCE GROUSE male stands lookout in a spruce tree one evening in Alaska's Matanuska Valley. #birds #BirdPhotography #Nature #wildlife

DROPPING IN: A drake gadwall prepares to land in a Southcentral Alaska marsh. #birds #BirdPhotography #nature #wildlife

I ONLY HAVE GOLDENEYES FOR YOU ... A Barrow's goldeneye pair courts in an Interior Alaska pond in May. In North America, these handsome diving ducks are frequently seen in the northwestern United States, Canada, and Alaska. #birds #BirdPhotography #nature #wildlife

I met this distinguished Denali National Park resident in August where he kindly posed for this portrait. #wildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #animals

WANDERING WIGEON drake, backlit by morning sun, forages on a SC Alaska pond (May). #birds #BirdPhotography #ducks #nature

NORTHERN SHOVELER drake forages on an Interior Alaska pond in May. #BirdPhotography #Birds #NaturePhotography #birdoftheday

A RED PHALAROPE ... forages in a wetland near Barrow, Alaska. Red phalaropes winter at sea and are most common in the Atlantic Ocean along the west coast of Africa. They’re also found in the Pacific off California and Peru. #birds #shorebirds #nature #photography

PORTRAIT: A spruce grouse male pauses for a close-up in Alaska's Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. #birds #wildlife #nature #photography

THE EIDER SANCTION: This spectacled eider, photographed near Utqiagvik, in Alaska's high Arctic, paddled almost up to me as if granting permission for this shot. #birds #wildlife #Arctic #nature

Miss Priss: Canada goose photographed in April near, Anchorage, Alaska. #birds #geese #nature #wildlife #photography

TROUBLE IN PARADISE: The morning was silent until a flock of trumpeter swans dropped in. The pond's resident pair took exception to the new arrivals and skirmishes followed. The territorial dispute was punctuated by brassy honks and heavy wingbeats on the water. #swans #birds #nature #photography

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: A Barrow's goldeneye drake is illuminated by early-morning light as it rockets over a small Interior Alaska pond last May. #birds #ducks #nature #photography

SALAD BEAR: An Alaska brown bear feeds on sedges in early summer before salmon arrive in local streams. Sedges provide a surprising amount of protein and serve as summer's "first course" for hungry bears. #wildlife #animals #nature #photography

STRETCH ON THE WATER ... a gadwall hen bathes on a Southcentral Alaska pond. #birds #ducks #nature #photography

GADWALLS ON ICE ... a hen, left, and drake pair rest on an ice shelf in Southcentral Alaska. #ducks #birds #nature #photography

REMEMBERING on this still, snowy afternoon that warm late-summer evening spent photographing this critter. Somewhere between Denali and Delta. #wildlife #animals #nature #phoptography

WILDLIFE CROSSING: A cinnamon, or brown color-phase, black bear crosses a remote stretch of highway one morning last May. Alaska's short winter days and long nights have given me time to methodically view and process photos taken last summer. #wildlife #nature #photography #wildlifephotography

SAPPHIRE AND ICE: A Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) forages in the snow on a cold winter day near Anchorage, Alaska. Resourceful and tough, these jays have little trouble surviving Southcentral Alaska's winters. #birds #jays #nature #photography

SITTIN’ ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY … a sea otter lounges in morning sunlight on the small-boat harbor dock in Cordova, Alaska. #wildlife #nature #photography #otters

COMMON REDPOLL. Anchorage, Alaska.

ALL RUFFLED UP: A Steller's jay fluffs its feathers on a cold day in Anchorage, Alaska. #birds #birding #nature #photography

SEDUCTRESS: A Barrow’s goldeneye hen seems to celebrate early one May morning in an Alaska pond. In fact, the bird’s actions were part of a breeding display for a drake outside the frame. #ducks #birds #nature #photography

THE BEAR STARE: A young adult brown bear, photographed in Canada's Yukon last May, shows little emotion as it peers into my lens. #bear #wildlife #animals #nature

CATCHING ANYTHING? With snow in the forecast, a kingfisher glances up from its perch overlooking a Southcentral Alaska salmon stream. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

LOVESICK BLUES: Rising from the brush, a bull moose seems to sing a wistful tune as it tests the air for the scent of a receptive cow. Breeding season for moose in Southcentral Alaska begins in September and runs through October and even into early November. #moose #wildife #nature #photography

A spruce grouse hen (Canachites canadensis) stands at alert near a trail in eastern Alaska's Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. #birds #wildlife #nature #photography

A trumpeter swan catches a stray sunbeam as it flies through stormy skies on Alaska's Copper River Delta. #birds #swans #nature #photography

APRIL OUTTAKE: I was fortunate six months ago to gather a number of shots of this kingfisher in a snowstorm. Sharing now a slightly different perspective. #kingfisher #birds #nature #photography

ARCTIC BEAUTY: A tundra swan pauses primping to pose for the camera. Photographed near Barrow, these Arctic nesters are distinguished from trumpeter swans by the yellow patch between eye and bill. Tundra swans winter in the Lower 48 along the East and West coasts. #swans #birds #nature #photography

SPRUCED UP FOR DINNER ... an American three-toed woodpecker forages for grubs hidden in the bark. #woodpecker #birds #nature #photography

Western sandpipers. Southcentral Alaska. #birds #shorebirds #nature #photography

A marbled godwit towers over a flock of dowitchers in Southcentral Alaska's Prince William Sound. #birds #shorebirds #nature #photography

EYES ON THE PRIZE: Late evening, sun's dipping into the trees and this ol' boy is stalking out from the shadows, focused on a cow moose he's been eyeing all day long. #wildlife #nature #moose #photography 🦊

BLUEBILL MOON: I found this greater scaup hen, foreground, and drake cruising a misty Alaska lakeshore. Called "bluebills" by some, greater scaup breed in tundra regions throughout North America and Europe. They are the world's only circumpolar diving duck. #ducks #birds #nature #photograohy

GREATER SCAUP: A diving duck sometimes called“bluebill.” The green sheen on the head distinguishes these ducks from the slightly smaller lesser scaup (which has a purple sheen on the head). Photographed in Southcentral Alaska. #birds #ducks #nature #photography

SANDHILL CRANES: These big birds and many other waterfowl species are now heading south, out of Alaska, toward wintering grounds in warmer places. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

A young common merganser tosses back a freshly caught stickleback in a small stream on Alaska's Kenai (pronounced "Keen - eye") Peninsula. #birds #ducks #nature #photography

BARROW'S GOLDENEYES court on a springtime evening in Interior Alaska. #Birds #ducks #nature #photography

MEMORY FROM MAY: Alaska's puddle ducks are already heading south for the winter, so here's a look back at a drake wigeon I photographed one lovely May morning. #ducks #birds #nature #photography

PORTRAIT OF A WILD HARE: This summer has been a good one for me and snowshoe hares. I like the detail in this recently photographed critter's face. Soon enough, it and the wild lands around it will be snow-white. #hares #rabbits #wildlife #nature

DARK-EYED JUNCO ... greets the morning in Southcentral Alaska. These and many other songbirds are currently migrating south out of Alaska to winter in warmer climes. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

PRINCE OF TIDES: A black oystercatcher on the prowl peeks over barnacle- and mussel-encrusted rocks on a Prince William Sound beach. Slightly smaller than crows, these shorebirds feed on mollusks by using their heavy bills to smash or pry open the shells. #Birds #nature #wildlife #photography

MAMA SEA OTTER cradles her fluffy, sleeping baby last spring in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. #wildlife #animals #nature #otter

NOT EXACTLY SEASON-APPROPRIATE ... but some in the Blue Sky Social world might enjoy this opportunity to cool off. Mallard drake landing in a March snowstorm. Anchorage, Alaska. #birds #ducks #nature #wildlife

A SPECTACLED EIDER drake gives me the eye in Alaska's high Arctic. Did you know spectacled eiders have blue eyes? #birds #ducks #nature #wildlife

TAKE OFF: A trumpeter swan makes a splash on a pond in Alaska's Interior. #swans #birds #nature #wildlife

WHAT'S UP PUSSYCAT? A Canada lynx pauses at the edge of an alder thicket in Southcentral Alaska. #wildlife #animals #nature #photography

Red-throated Loon mother and chick paddle in a high-country pond recently in Interior Alaska. #loons #birds #nature #wildlife

BLACK OYSTERCATCHER says hello from the briny beaches of Alaska's Prince William Sound. #birds #shorebirds #nature #wildlife

BEAVER SHOT: The wholesome kind. 🦫🦫🦫 #wildlife #animals #nature #wildlifephotography