Alaska Answers

Q. My husband told me about a chicken like bird in Alaska. He said it sounds like ‘parmigan’, but he’s not sure. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of and can’t find any reference. Do you know about this bird? Thanks. -Elnora

A. Oh, sure, I do know about that bird. You are referring to the Willow Ptarmigan. It is our state bird.. It’s a strange word, eh? The ‘P’ is silent…so you just say ‘tar-me-gun’. The village of Chicken, Alaska was meant to be Ptarmigan, Alaska, but the founders of the village didn’t know how to spell ptarmigan, so it was called Chicken instead. I’ll tell you a bit about the ptarmigan. Then I’ll tell you of our encounter with the bird. (or would that be pbird?) =:o)

There are 3 kinds of ptarmigan. All are found in Alaska, in different areas. They are Willow, Rock and White Tailed Ptarmigan. They look just like small grouse, weighing from 10 and half ounces to about 1 and half pounds.

The Willow Ptarmigan live closest to timberline, Rocks on the middle slopes and low ridges and the White Tailed near snowfields and glaciers. They migrate back and forth in an area of about a hundred miles, forming into ‘flocks’, then dispersing, and reforming again. Males are very territorial and aggressive in the spring, carving out their own ’space’ and rushing at each other with a series of aerial chases and making a gargling, croaking, and screaming sound. (sort of like Aunt Bessie when Uncle Bill comes home a little ‘under the weather’! )

They are nomadic in winter and very sociable as they move from one patch of shelter and food to another. It is just around nesting time that they get testy and territorial.

Ptarmigans eat berries, seeds, flowers, bugs, caterpillars, willow buds, catkins, whatever they can find. They make very good eating themselves, although most people just use the breasts as there isn’t much meat elsewhere. You don’t hear anyone at the table saying, “I want the drumstick!” for instance. They are easy and fun to hunt, if you like that sort of thing. Now to my own anecdotal experience of an encounter with the pbird ptarmigan!

Years ago we lived 300 miles away in the Copper River Basin. My husband worked in Anchorage during the week, coming home on the weekends. Okay, it wasn’t ‘ideal’ but it put food on the table. In more ways than one. One winter Friday evening he was coming along the Glenn Highway, when suddenly something white flashed into his headlights and then made a loud thump on the front of his car. He pulled over and got out and there lying on his front bumper were 3 lovely, but hapless, snowwhite ptarmigan, quite dead. Although we aren’t hunters really, he wasn’t about to waste this gift from outta nowhere, and so he brought them home. I dug out my wild meat cookbook and we enjoyed our first (and I guess only) meal of herb browned ptarmigan breast in cream gravy. Yum!

I enjoyed chatting with you, Elnora. If I can help you with anything else, write me again. – BJ

Q. I’d like to know what is your state bird? And what is the state’s population? -Paige

A. Our state bird is the Willow Ptarmigan. For more on that, see the next entry.

As to population, as of the 2004 census, we had over 655,000 people living in Alaska. To put the land and people in perspective, we have 576,951 square miles, which figures out to about 1.1 people per square mile! Compare that to the U. S. average of 79.6 people per square mile and you will understand how very vast is our land. Thanks for writing, Paige. -Bonnie J.

Q. Which insects and rodents survive the freezing cold? Thanks, Linda.

A. Well now, Linda, are we perhaps feeling a bit of entomophobia or musophobia? Well, don’t be ashamed. That is at least better than having coulrophobia or alektorophobia! (a fear of clowns and of chickens.) Now that would really be silly. I don’t blame you for being wary of insects and rodents. I hate the little devils too.

I am guessing that we have less insects and rodents than the southern states. I know we have no snakes and that is a biggie with me! I guess you could say though that we do have our share….and they do indeed seem to live thru the winter. Insects aren’t much bother except for about 3 months of the year, so that isn’t bad. Our most famous is the ubiquitous mosquito.

Mice generally try to come indoors in late fall; I suppose looking for a snug haven as they sense Old Man Winter bearing down on them. Well, can’t blame them, I don’t suppose, but I diligently run an indoor trapline at the first sign. Uaually I catch anywhere from 8 to 15 before they are cleaned out, but then we live in a country home, along side a creek, so they are probably worse here.

Squirrels are no problem, in fact I quite like them as they scamper over the tree limbs outside my window. I guess they are a sign of life against that white, frozen landscape. Write me again, sometime, Linda. -BJ

Q. I’ve heard that you sometimes see wildlife, even in the city. up there. Is this true? Thanks, Maureen.

A. Oh, yes, we certainly do. That’s because each of our cities sit basically on the edge of the wilderness. We have less population than other states, and so our cities are farther apart, and not strung together with a bunch of suburbs. Drive outside town a couple miles here, and you are in wild country. So, in the winter, for instance, you can’t blame a moose for coming in out of the back country, and walking where the going is easier.

You will sometimes see a big moose walking a downtown street; looking a bit bewildered of course. Usually, wild animals find their own way back to where they belong, but sometimes they have to be helped. Many an Anchorage-ite has found a curious black bear rattling around their garbage cans, or their dog food bowl, on the edge of the city. Sometimes one even makes it to the commercial district! Usually with a bear, the Department of Fish and Wildlife sedates them, and moves them back to the wild.

We have had our share of wildlife right in our yard…moose eating our new crab apple trees; a moose and her ‘teenager’ peering in our dining room window; moose licking the salt off the sides of our car back when they used a salty mixture to sand the roads. Believe me, nothing makes a car look sillier than moose slobbers all along its sides!

We live in a neighborhood, in the town of Wasilla, but right on the banks of a nice creek. There are fresh water otters living somewhere in the creek banks because one evening in the fall we saw one pull a spawning salmon from the water and stand on the bank enjoying his supper! Another time, in the winter, I happened to glance out the window and saw movement up by the culvert that passes under our road and here came 4 otters, having fun on the ice of the creek. I watched them traverse the whole length of the creek, sliding on the ice like happy children. They would run a few feet, then flop onto their bellies, legs spread out and would sliide as far as they could. Then they would scramble to their feet and run a few feet and flop down and slide again. It was hilarious and I loved watching them disappear out of sight downstream.

More recent, in fact yesterday, there was a big bald eagle roosting in a cottonwood tree above the creek, intently looking down. I thought to myself, I bet he is fishing! So I watched. Suddenly he dived to the creek and came up with a wiggling trout. He sat on the tree limb and energetically tore the poor trout apart, and hungrily ate it down. You couldn’t wish for a more up close and personal example of the old food chain. Then, almost daintily, he turned and cleaned his beak off on the tree trunk, swiping first one side of the beak and then the other against the rough wood.

So, yes, we do indeed live alongside the wild up here! (and then of course there is Uncle Joe, but that’s a story for another day!)-BJ

Q. What is the most unusual animal native to Alaska? -Jonathan

A. This is a fun question, Jonathan. It has to be the musk ox. Close your eyes and think ’shaggy, large prehistoric looking beast with big curving horns which droop down from their forehead and then head back up at the tips’, and you’ll come pretty close to the look of musk oxen! Oh, yeah, I forgot; as if that isn’t enough, throw in the hump of a buffalo. They are actually more closely related to sheep and goats, although in size they are more like cattle.

Musk Oxen are big shaggy beasts of the northern latitudes and they spend year round in the harsh climate there. Males can weigh up to 900 pounds and females up to 700 pounds. (about like I feel after not watching my diet for a few days!)

When they are threatened (such as by wolves), musk oxen form into a defensive circle, placing their young in the middle. Seems like a wolf would have to be insane with hunger to attack such a formidable, defiant circle! Musk oxen were able to withstand the wolves, but they couldn’t withstand man’s guns. By 1835, the last herd of 13 were wiped out. Big, brave. macho men! (sarcasm dripping here.) Anyway, it wasn’t until 1930 that they were reintroduced into the territory by the purchase of a herd of 35 from Greenland. They were bought by and shipped to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. By about 1935-36, the 31 remaining musk oxen were placed on Nunivak Island by the Bering Sea. They absolutely thrived there and increased to the point they could be redistributed over other areas of the far north. There are about 3,000 today. Man exterminates. Man replaces. Sadly, it isn’t always possible to replace what man has exterminated, but in the case of the musk oxen, it was a good ending.

Musk oxen have this lovely, soft, insulating coat of hair right next to their skin, which is hidden by the long guard hairs. It is called qiviut (kee-vee-oot) and is shed naturally in the spring. It makes the warmest winterwear known to man!

A herd of musk oxen is maintained right in Palmer, near me, by the Musk Oxen Development Corporation. They provide a nice cottage industry for native Alaskans living in outlying areas by collecting qiviut, in the spring, for the Oomingmak cooperative. This is a cooperative which sends the gathered qiviut to Rhode Island, believe it or not, where it is spun into yarn, then returned to Alaska. The cooperative divides it out among the villages where jobs are scarce, and they pay native ladies to do the knitting in their homes, paying them for doing so. The finished articles are then placed for sale around the state.

If you come to Alaska be sure and visit The Musk Ox Farm, near Palmer, where you can have a guided tour, and see the unique items for sale in the gift shop. Qiviut is made into scarves, hats, hoods, sweaters, shawls, that type of thing. It is consider to be many, many times warmer than wool. It is so light an airy that you don’t feel like you are wearing anything; and yet you are warm.

The musk ox farm in Palmer is open for visitors from May to September. Or you can see a herd in the Fairbanks area at the Yankovich Road area research center for the University of Alaska.

I guess you have picked my brain clean on musk oxen, Jonathan. Write again sometime. -Bonnie J.

Q. Which tourism places would be interesting? Thanks, Laurence

A. Laurence, you and a lady named Christy had similar questions so I sort of divided them up. So be sure and check out my answer to her also.

In the Anchorage area, be sure and check out the following:

Alaska Experience Theatre which is a theatre which treats visitors to a 180 degree wrap around dome screen, and takes you on a 40 minute trip over the state by bush plane. You will swear you are right in the plane. It is truly incredible. There is, under the same roof, a display telling about the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and a movie and convincing simulation of the quake. Yikes you say! Their website is www.alaskaexperiencetheatre.com

There is a huge outdoor market that is so much fun. Besides incredible buys in souvenirs, they have lots of food booths and even a stage with a constant display of talent going on. I could easily stay there all day – and have. You can learn more about that at www.anchoragemarkets.com

The Anchorage Museum of History and Art is worth a stop. They have a lot of wonderful dioramas of early Alaska living, native villages, etc. The Museum is said to depict 10,000 years of Alaskan history! Pretty complete,eh? You can check out what all they have at www.anchoragemuseum.com There is a nice cafe in the museum and a large, interesting art exhibit.

Since the days are so light in the summer, you can’t hope to see the northern lights outside, but we have that covered too.
The lights are visible indoors at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, There you will feast your eyes on 23 years worth of rare images of the aurora, set to music in a 40 minute digital show. www.thealaskacollection.com

We also have things like Music in the Park and a trolley car tour of the city..

If you want to learn just about everything about our native population, visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center. They have a great museum, also including actual natives working on beading things, carving, smoking fish, etc. all while you watch. Outdoors on the grounds you’ll find a hiking trail and 3 different villages along the trail where native peoples are going about their daily village life and you can watch and ask questions. You really need about a whole day here. Oh, I forgot, indoors in an amphi-theatre, you will find dancers, drummers, storytellers and different acts. They have an 800 #. Call them at 1-800-315-6608
Website is www.alaskanative.net

I have left out a lot in the Anchorage area, but must hurry on. Oops! not yet. I forget to tell you to go to Sourdough Mining Company to eat and see Dusty Sourdough’s show in the tent outside, then across the street to Alaska Wildberry Products Company and Chocolate Factory. They boast the world’s largest chocolate waterfall! You can watch them making all the candies thru big squeaky clean windows. There are even samples. Yum.

Oops! Again! I can’t seem to stop thinking of neat things. Add Thunderbird Falls and also the Alaska Zoo to your list of must-sees.

In the Matanuska Valley, where I live, which is only 42 miles from Alaska, there is a lot to see and do also. We have the Musk Ox Farm, the Reindeer Farm, Hatcher’s Pass with it’s unique beauty, Independence Mine, Motherlode Lodge, hiking trails and all.
The Iditarod headquarters is here in Wasilla and that is very interesting. You can even have a dog sled ride in the summer.

Down in Seward be sure and see the Alaska Sea Life Center. I need to go back. I was there several hours and that wasn’t near enough. On the way to Seward you can visit Portage Glacier, and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. You can even picnic right next to Exit Glacier in Seward. Also, catch a boat there for the Kenai Fjords Tour which is really exciting.

Up north in Fairbanks there is plenty to do also. That is about 360 miles give or take from Anchorage. Be sure and take the Riverboat Discovery tour On it you cruise the Chena and Tanana Rivers with 3rd and 4th generation Captains who love their job. The riverboat stops at an actual Indian village where you debark and have a chat with the natives – a great opportunity to ask them questions.

It’s fun to take a tour of the El Dorado Gold Mine where you can pan for gold and go into the mine and see a tunnel of permafrost. You’ll ride a train thru the tunnel.

Websites for the above two are www.riverboatdiscovery.com and www.eldoradogoldmine.com

The main branch of the University of Alaska is at Fairbanks and their gardens are lovely. You can picnic there too. We had a lovely meal there one sunny summer day.

Near Fairbanks (about an hour away) is Chena Hot Springs which has bike rentals, canoeing, rafting, flightseeing, horseback riding, summertime dogsled rides and hiking. Oh, yes, and hot springs of course where you can soak your tired bones. For reservations call 1-800-478-4681, www.chenahotsprings.com

That might be enough to keep you busy while here, Laurence. If not, write me again. -BJ

Q. I have 2 weeks to spend, what are the top 10 places to go and see? What is there to do at Denali besides the bus tour for kids? What special clothing/items do we need to bring? -Christy

A. I don’t know the date of your trip, Christy, so not sure but what the info is too late for you. If so, I’m really sorry! I’ll go ahead and answer anyway, hoping it is in time, and if not, it will perhaps help others who plan to come.

We’ve been attracting visitor’s for a hundred years. People come for the scenic beauty, the trophy fish, abundant wildlife and interesting history. Tourism is our #1 industry. It’ s a really fun time as you meet nice people from all over the world.

There is a lot to do at Denali besides the bus tour for kids. In fact, guess what? I didn’t even know there was a bus tour for ‘kids’. Far as I know, the bus tour is for everyone. Shuttle buses continually travel from the hotel back into the park and it is a wonderful ride. The drivers stop periodically for getting out and taking pictures, and you see lots of wildlife. We once saw a mama grizzly and twin cubs and they were all standing up on hind legs ‘looking at the lookers’! A favorite sight when I went was a cute red fox running down the road with a rabbit dangling from his mouth. Taking, supper home to wife and babies I thought.

There is a 90 mile long well maintained gravel road running from the entrance back into the park. Regular vehicles are limited on the road however. A certain # of permits are issued, each season, for people wanting to drive back to Wonder Lake, the farthest in campground. If you are just wanting to see the sights, the shuttle bus is the way to go. The 8 hour round trip bus ride is about $23.75 I believe, with discounts for kids and seniors. You would carry a sack lunch and a bottle of water along.

The park covers 6 million acres. Think about it. That’s the size of the entire state of Massachusetts. It has 39 species of mammals and 167 species of birds, 10 species of fish and one amphibian creature – the lowly wood frog.

Here are some things you can do at Denali National Park, where if you are lucky and it isn’t socked in with clouds, you can see the mighty Mt. Mc Kinley, the highest on the North American continent, at 20,320 feet.

Black Diamond Golf Course www.blackdiamondgolf.com
Covered Wagon Tours and ATV Tours www.denalihorsetours.com
Denali Park Resorts offers white water rafting gold panning and a dinner theatre. www.denaliparkresorts.com
Denali Saddle Safaris has 1, 2, and 4 hour rides with lunch furnished on the longer rides. www.denalisaddlesafaris.com
Denali Air will take you flightseeing over the area. Check them out at www.DenaliAir.com
You can even visit a champion sled dog racers kennels. Contact them at www.huskyhomestead.com

There are tremendous hiking possibilities in Denali Park also. Whatever you do you’ll have a good time.

As for what to wear, you probably should bring a rain jacket, hat, and clothes that you can layer, taking off or adding items as needed. It will be chilly in the evenings even if it warm during the day. Long sleeves shirts are good for mosquito reasons. Some years they are not too bad…other years you’ll want both long sleeves and insect repellent applied liberally.

As for what to do in other areas of the state, Christy, please check the question next door to yours – from Laurence. He had similar questions. Hope this helps. Have fun. -Bonnie J.

Q. Hey, I don’t really have a question, but wondered if you would like a funny poem about a bear for your website? -Brenda

A. Sure, Brenda, I’m always up for a chuckle. -BJ

In this life I’m a woman. In the next life I’d like to come back as a bear.
When you’re a bear you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for 6 months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate you are supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too!

If you are a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you are sleeping, and wake to find them partially grown, cute and cuddly.
I could definitely deal with that!

If you are mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too.
I could sure deal with that.

If you’re a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS you to have hairy legs and excess body fat! Yup! Gonna be a bear.

Q. What was the biggest grizzly killed and recorded in Alaska? Also Moose? -Brenda

A. Well, Brenda, believe it or not, I don’t have a for sure, clear answer for you, but I didn’t want to leave you dangling. You see, I got two different record grizzlies and they were measured in different ways, hence my confusion. It doesn’t take much to confuse me some days. Okay, on the grizzly, there was supposedly the largest ever killed, on Hitchenbrook Island, by an Elmendorf Airforce man. It weighed 1600# and was 12 and half ft. in length. The source did not give a date, however. The other record simply says a record grizzly was killed in 1991 on Inglutalika Island (what is it about grizzlies and islands??) It said its skull measured 17 3/4″ long and 9 15/16″ wide.

You can see a picture of the 1600# one on a website called www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/giantbear.htm He’s a big bruiser for sure!

Bears are so powerful and so fast! When we lived out in Copper River Country, one day driving down the road there was the strangest sight. Fortunately it all happened before the car quite reached there. Anyway, suddenly up ahead, a bear came charging out of the woods on the right, with the neck of a moose calf gripped tightly in his jaws! It didn’t even slow the bear down! He ran very fast across the road and then here came a very angry mama moose charging across the highway, in hot pursuit. Don’t know the outcome, but I’m betting the calf was already dead, probably of a broken neck. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mama moose got in a few justifiable kicks though! How awful to see your baby carried off by a bear.

The biggest moose ever recorded in Alaska was one killed on Forty Mile River in 1994. It was 65 1/8″ across the rack! But I would rather have known how much the darned thing weighed. I’ll see if I can find out for you. Hope this helps for now. I won’t forget you. I think from your e mail name you must be a hunter. Pack your gear and come on up! -Bonnie J.

Q. Which month would be best touring for weather and sight seeing? What would be the best traveling source for an independant two week photo vacation? -Bec G.

A. Hmmmmm. Well, you could only photograph a small amount of Alaska in 2 weeks, but it would be worth the trip nonetheless. I would probably pick June, July, or August. We have the lovely long light days then. Also, our trees do not get their leaves until toward end of May and flower beds are not overflowing til in June. Our winter color-starved eyes are more than ready for flowers by first of June, so the municipal and private greenhouses start raising things several months earlier than that so that when June comes, and hopefully the danger of frost is past, there are tons of ready blooming flowers to set out.

I am not aware of any ‘tours’ specifically for photo taking, but I think if I were you, I’d just come on up during the summer months and then pick up some visitor’s guides and a rental car and have at it! In two weeks time you could go from down at Seward and Homer, up thru Anchorage and then to Denali Park and on to Fairbanks. Oh, but you’d need a bit of a side trip to Valdez. It is so incredible there. They call it “Little Switzerland” as these tall, alp-like mountains plunge right down into the sea.

You’d have to keep hopping right along to make all those places in two weeks, but you could probably do so. You should be able to photo lots of wildlife also, especially in Denali Park and if you are lucky, Mt. Mc Kinley will show! (The natives call it Denali – the great one!) It is so high that it hides in the clouds if there are any. Well, by whatever name it is a wonderful sight!.

Visitor’s guides can be found at any visitor’s center, and in most of our restaurants, hotels and gift shops during the summer. Hope you go for it! -BJ