Fishing in Alaska can be a competitive sport thanks to the abundant wildlife that also enjoys fresh fish.  Take this little guy in Glacier Bay.  I’m casting off the dock when along comes a river otter with some sort of flatfish in its mouth.

He pops up on part of the dock and proceeds to chow down on his catch pausing to make sure my colleague and I are not getting too close to maybe muscle in on his dinner.  I saw a lot of sea otters in Glacier Bay, but this was a river otter.  The smaller size and monochromatic fur easily distinguish it from its cousin.

A few days later, it was the bald eagles in the estuary of the Chilkoot River outside of Haines.  These bold birds thought that when they saw a fish struggling near the surface, there was an easy meal to be had.  It seemed to take them until the last minute to notice that the fish they saw was already claimed by the human standing on the bank.  I had some very close fly-bys related to a nice Dolly Varden Trout I was keeping for supper.

There was a moment or two where I wasn’t sure the eagle would break off its attempt at the fish laying three feet from me; to the point where my brain had begun the fight or flight thought process.  Another half-second and maybe I would’ve been ducking.

The Chilkoot River was between salmon runs while I was there, so I suspect the eagles were getting hungry in anticipation of the arrival of thousands of Sockeyes in just a couple weeks.  By mid-July, they probably would have paid me no mind.  Like so much else in life, cool wildlife encounters sometimes come down to simple timing.