Farm Fencing

At the end of August we took in the tour at the Muskox Farm, more formally known as the Large Animal Research Station.  Like most farms it has lots of fences, although the animals are a bit different.  The Farm is maintained by the University of Alaska as a research and educational facility, and has Muskoxen, Reindeer, and Caribou.

A few Muskoxen are visible in the collage above in the lower left photo and as blurs in the background in the upper left photo, but the rest of the photos are of Caribou.

Willow branches are offered in order to get the animals to come up to the fence and show off for the tourists.

Their very favorite treat, though, is lichen.  

I'm linking up with Good Fences

at the Run "A" Round Ranch Report.

A Step Back In Time

I've been posting about our road trip to Denali National Park, but today I'm taking a step back in time to a road trip we took in May of 2011.  This road trip featured the same range of mountains that run through Denali, the Alaska Range, but the road runs to the east of Denali.  We drove down the Alaska Highway, almost to the Canadian border, to the town of Northway.  You can read the post I did on the trip HERE.  

I'm delving into my archives for the photo above, which is Index Number 1500.  That's the number this week for Gaelyn's Foto Friday Fun meme and it celebrates her 1500th post.  Gaelyn is a park ranger at the Grand Canyon National Park, and she became a follower of my blog very soon after I began blogging in January of 2009 and I have enjoyed her many wonderful photos since then.  I'm linking with Foto Friday Fun 78 HERE.

Of course, I have to add a few more photos from that road trip.  Most were taken through the windshield or are drive-bys.

And for Eileen's Saturday's Critters, some of the Caribou we saw.  They're a little scruffy looking as they are shedding some of their heavy winter coats.

Here's the link for Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Caribou Break

The University of Alaska's Large Animal Research Station raises and studies caribou, reindeer, and musk oxen.    I took these photos on a rainy day last August.

The animals are a little different, but it looks much like any other farm.

I'm linking up with Good Fences

at the Run "A" Round Ranch Report.

Caribou at Denali National Park

When we were at Denali National Park on May 15th we saw several different groups of caribou.  They were looking very scruffy, in the process of losing their winter coats.  They were mostly browsing, and I'm sure they were appreciating the bare ground which made it easier to find food.  We never were able to get very close to them so I had to be content with more distant shots.

Caribou Treats

 Where's my snacks?

About time!

Mmmm, fresh willow leaves.

I never share!

Caribou at the Musk Ox Farm

While we were at the Musk Ox Farm last week we also saw caribou.  Caribou and reindeer are the same species but different subspecies.  In North America caribou are wild and reindeer are domestic, but in Europe both are called reindeer.  Reindeer were first domesticated 2000 years ago in Scandanavia.  They were brought to Alaska in 1900 in an attempt to provide a stable food source for the Native people.  The animals in the photos here are caribou, and while they are not domesticated they are referred to as tame.  The caribou are enticed to the fence by willow branches, a favorite treat.  In summer caribou eat willows, grasses, flowering tundra plants, and mushrooms.  In September they switch to lichens, dried grasses, and small shrubs like blueberry.

Both the male and female grow antlers and shed them each year.  Bulls shed their antlers in October, but cows don't shed theirs until they give birth in May.  The bulls' antlers start growing in March, and a cow will begin growing antlers shortly after the birth of her calf.  Above is a bull and below is a cow.  They look a little scruffy as they are shedding their winter coat.

Below is a yearling with antlers just beginning to grow.

The star of the show though was a little three-week-old baby caribou.  The coat of a calf is reddish-brown, and they weigh about 13 pounds at birth.  They will double their weight in a couple of weeks, and a mature bull will weigh 350-400 pounds and a cow will average 175-225 pounds.

Calves begin to graze within a few days of birth and by mid-July will generally no longer be nursing.

I visited the farm in September of 2009 and did a post on the caribou, which you can read by clicking HERE.  For a post on reindeer at the farm, click HERE, and for another post on reindeer at the Experimental Farm click HERE.

Alaskan Roadtrip Views

On Friday we took a roadtrip down the Alaska Highway to the Northway area, almost to the Canadian border. Marty is in the process of restoring his '56 Ford Crown Victoria, and had talked to a fellow near Northway who had a grill and possibly some other pieces that would fit. Friday was a sunny day and a good day for a drive, so we headed out about 7:30 in the morning. The trip there was five hours, and then of course five hours back, so we only stopped a few times for photo-taking. Mostly I took shots out the windshield and side window, and so some are not as clear as I would like. The first photo is a shot of the Tanana River near Salcha. The ice had just broken a channel through a couple of days ago, but a good portion is still frozen over. Shortly past Delta we say at least 15 flocks of birds circling high above us. We were pretty sure they were Sandhill Cranes, but they were too far up to be sure until I got home and was able to enlarge the photos on the computer. The Cranes have been dribbling into the Fairbanks area over the last few weeks, but we'll see more shortly. The Cranes that fly through Interior Alaska winter in Mexico and the southern states and migrate north using the Central Flyway through the Platte River Valley in Nebraska. An estimated 500,000 Cranes fly through the Platte River Valley each spring.

A bit further down the road we spotted a group of five caribou Although we stopped, of necessity because they were on the road, there was not time to get out, so the photos were shot through the windshield.

The road offers some spectacular views of the Alaska Range. This is the same range of mountains that Mt. McKinley is in.

When we stopped at a rest area shortly after we drove through Tok and before we arrived at our destination, there was a beautiful view over the valley.

We were about 30 miles from the Canadian border when we arrived at the place we were headed for. We knew we were at the right place because there were numerous old cars, trucks, snowmachines, etc., scattered over the property. The house set on the top of the bluff with a view very similar to the one above. Marty found many pieces to fit Vicky, from a trunk to chrome pieces, even a transmission. But that's a story for another day. By the time we were done it was getting close to 2:00 and time to head home.

Along the way you cross many rivers, some very wide, like the Robertson River in the photo below. The bridge across the river is very long and narrow, and the photo only shows a portion of the river. It still had a lot of ice, but there was a channel flowing.

A few minutes down the road we saw our second moose of the day, but he quickly trotted into the trees, and again I was left with a windshield shot.

Fifteen minutes later a couple of caribou needed to cross the road in front of us. You've got it, more windshield shots. If you take the time to get out, more than likely you will not have any shot at all. Unfortunately by this time of day the windshield was not very clean!

I guess they looked both ways before crossing, but I don't think there was any question that they were crossing in front of us.

And then they were quickly down in the trees.

We stopped for a late lunch at Fast Eddie's in Tok, but we were home by 7:00. We had a beautiful drive and Marty came back with a lot of Crown pieces. It was a good day!