Photo I took of a moose on the Hillside of Anchorage in the fall a few years back.
It’s not every day you have a mama moose and baby calf in your backyard.
This weekend as I was reliving my nerdy days as a CS major and messing around with my site’s SQL database, I looked up and saw two moose bolting through the yard.
The snow is still pretty deep, so the baby was hugging the side of the house where the snow is shallower and easier to navigate. The mama, about 30 feet away, stopped to watch her baby and make sure it caught up to her okay.
The moose seemed a bit edgy and not quite sure of themselves. I guess I would probably feel a bit apprehensive if I were a moose winding my way between these strange human buildings and wide-open paths with fast-moving, noisy and polluting metal on wheels.
But still the moose seem to be doing okay here in Anchorage. I’ve seen quite a few out and about, and spotting them in the yard was quite a little thrill. Though here for but a moment before they hurried away to some unknown destination, I was happy the moose chose my yard to traipse through.
I’d welcome that kind of trespasser any day.
An Adorable Porcupine
I have to say that while seeing the moose was fun, and all, the animal I was really stoked to catch a glimpse of last week was a porcupine!
Sure, you can see the little creatures in a zoo probably any time you want. But I’m not a fan of zoos. And anyway, seeing it in the wild? That is just so much more amazing.
I’d never seen a wild porcupine. But last week when we went skiing at Alyeska (now our “local” ski area/resort), we spotted one chillin’ in the tree.
I honestly don’t know if rodents can get much cuter than a porcupine.
Sadly, I didn’t have my DSLR so I had to take the photos with my phone, but they didn’t turn out very well at all or I’d show you (doesn’t help that phones take really crappy photos when you zoom).
And that’s not all…
And then, as if seeing two moose and a porcupine wasn’t enough, we saw a bald eagle soaring high above our home. Really, really cool.
Anchorage Still Has Some Wild in It
Even though Anchorage is a pretty big metropolis (at least by Alaskan standards) and nearly all the land that can be developed in the area has been, it’s just cool to know critters like Mama & Baby Moose, Mr. Porcupine & Sir Eagle are all finding ways to co-exist with us humans who are taking away their habitats.
Let’s hope they can continue to survive.