We have a Great Gray owl (Strix nebulosa) hanging around. I haven’t yet been able to grab any stills or video of this bird, North America’s largest owl. It’s dark most of the time just now, and these birds are rather reclusive; I’ve seen it fly over a couple of times, and just gotten enough of a look to identify it.
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I’m pretty good at identifying birds, too. My folks were big in the local Audubon Society when I was a kid, back in the days when the Audubons were still about birds and not climate scolding. We did nesting and migrating bird counts every year, living as we did right on the Mississippi Flyway, and between that and a lifelong interest in birds, I can identify probably 90 percent of North American birds by sight, and maybe 50 percent by sound alone.
That may be a brag, but as the famous Elmer Keith once said, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it.”
With that said: The Great Gray is a different bird than its cousin, the Great Horned Owl, which inhabited the Allamakee County, Iowa woods where I grew up as well as here in the Great Land. Great Grays live mostly on mice, voles, and other small critters, while Great Horned Owls – we used to call them Flying Tigers – will attack critters as big as a house cat or a fox. They routinely prey on skunks, the only predator I’m aware of that does so. The smell doesn’t seem to bother them.
But it’s uncanny how a Great Gray can locate a vole under six inches of snow by sound alone and home unerringly – and silently – in on it. Here, watch:
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Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets, because owls are cool, and Great Gray owls are the coolest.
See Related: Alaska Man Monday – Owls, Booze, and New Year’s Eve
Also: Meet the Alaskan town where almost everyone lives in the same building.
Yes, really. We’ve been there. We almost bought an investment condo in the building, but it needed too much work.
The remote town, so small that the entire population lives in one single building has captivated the internet with its incredibly unique housing situation.
Whittier, which has a population of just 263 people as of 2023, is located on the coast of the Passage Canal, about 60 miles from Anchorage. It’s known for its incredibly wet climate—and its stark lack of buildings and amenities.
So much so that almost every member of Whittier’s minuscule population resides in a single high-rise building, the Begich Towers Condominium, earning the area the nickname “the town under one roof.”
That 263, by the way, is the year-round population. In the summer, that population balloons, thanks to fishing and tourism. It’s an interesting place to see. We have been in and out of there a few times, and while it’s a uniquely Alaskan place to visit, don’t count on lots of company and fine hotels. But there is some outstanding fishing. Here’s a fun thought: Whittier would be the ideal place to install one of the new microreactors we’ve been reading about. Clean, reliable energy!
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Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Because Alaska.
See Related: Clean Energy: Two New ‘Microreactor’ Designs Could Be Game Changers
Now then – a little discussion of our recent power outage, and some hints on how, when traveling, to not be a complete pain in the butt to your fellow travelers.
