Alaska

Seal Speak

I overheard a couple of harbor seals yesterday. Do you know what harbor seals sound like?

Sea lions sort of roar and bark. So did the elephant seals we saw in California in January. These two harbor seals gargled. Seriously, go get a glass of water and kind of hum with your mouth open while you gargle, and you can be a harbor seal. Funniest thing I heard all day, and I’m here with some pretty hilarious people.

I’m sorry I don’t have a seal image to go here. I might have one when I get home. In the meantime, I’ll give you this:

kfgl-1.jpg

This is why we are here. Mike is helping to build the new lodge. This will be a staff lounge.

kfgl-2.jpg

This is where the lodge will sit, with a view of Pedersen Glacier across a lagoon. We were canoeing on the lagoon when I overheard the seals.

Categories: Alaska

6 replies »

  1. Now I’m most curious to hear the harbor seals speaking! My curiosity is piqued. I looked around on YouTube and this is the best I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9buZdNcxcGU
    I don’t like how they’re in captivity, though. Your anecdote made me think about another sound in nature that amuses me, that being the sound of bullfrogs, particularly at dusk. I swear they sound like fat rubberbands being twanged.

  2. Wow. It looks gorgeous! I wonder who is building that wonderful lodge out there? 😉

  3. Shell, I’ll check out the YouTube when I get back and see how similar it is. Remind me to tell you, if I forget.

    Hey Beck. Wish you were here. It’s raining today, but it’s still beautiful. And it’s warm in the cook tent if soggy.

  4. In the picture where the lodge will sit there seems to be dead trees. Why are the trees dead?

  5. Hi Millard,

    I suspect those dead trees are remnants of the 1964 earthquake/tsunami that devastated Seward. You can see similar trees along the Turnagain Arm where the land sank (lost elevation) during the earthquake, and seawater saturated the land.