Harbor Seals, Endicott Arm, Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness, Alaska – Image 2843

Harbor seals hang out on an iceberg. Although there are seals in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror all summer long, the best time to see these animals is in May and June. The seals find protection from their main predator, the killer whale, in the thick ice that gathers around the face of the glaciers. It is here in the thick ice that the mother seals give birth to their pups. The moms nurture the pups until they are able to survive when they leave the relative safety of the pack ice sometime in late June and early July. Two of the top harbor seal pupping grounds in Alaska are in front of South Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror and John Hopkins Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park. I shot this image while conducting a photo workshop on board the “Delphinus” for Ronn Patterson, owner of Dolphin Charters. The image illustrates the month of June in my Southeast Alaska 2014 Calendar. Thanks for visiting. Camera body:D700, Lens:Nikkor 500mm, ISO 200 , Digital Capture© Mark Kelley