Moose are big and frightening creatures

Yesterday fellow intern Winnie and I came across this moose (whom we have decided to call "Groucho"). It was the first bull moose I have seen and was quite large. Now here's a fun fact about moose: More people are injured and killed by moose in Alaska than they are bears. Obviously no one is getting eaten by moose, but they can be temperamental and have bad eye-sight. This leads to them charging at people--especially dumb tourists who think they are cute and want to pet them. Now I've already told you that we decided to call the moose "Groucho" and mentioned that moose can be temperamental, so you may see where this is going...

"Groucho the Moose"

As you can see in the picture Groucho was taking a swim in a pond along a bike trail, and eventually he exited the water on the opposite shore from us. At this point we figured the moose was gone and headed a little further down the path to a little hill. At the hill we pulled out a map from my back to figure out where we were, and then suddenly a moose that was very, very large and running very fast directly at us rounded the bend. I was a bit tangled up with my book bag, so I quickly through it to the ground, jumped over my bike, and headed toward some bushes across the path, all the while hearing an angry snorting sound and loud hoof stumps. Luckily the moose decided not to chase us, but it was more than a little frightening.

Anywho, here are some other random photos that I've taken over the past week.

Sunsets here happen real late at night. The start at about 11:15 and don't finish until nearly midnight. It never really gets any darker than twilight as the Sun just dips below the horizon.
Here are two eagles that I saw a few mornings ago sitting on the mudflats. I've seen three bald eagles in total.