#4 Red Squirrel

This little fellow ran across the road in front of my car, then stopped to yell at me. Then he proceeded to sit in his tree, give me the evil eye, and devour a mushroom. Quite a brave guy - but then, most of them are. For example, we were camping at Denali a few months ago and were awakened far too early in the morning by a red squirrel and a gray jay having an epic fight around our tent. So this one is about par for the course. At least he didn't launch himself at my face!

ETA: Ladies and Gentlemen, you are getting a two-fer today! Note to self, wait till the end of the day to post picture in the future.

I wouldn't normally do this, but this particular picture is one I can pretty much guarantee that I will not be able to get again in a year, or probably in several years.

So, about an hour after I'd posted the squirrel picture, my friend posted on facebook that there were dozens of belugas down in the Turnagain Arm. So I hopped into my car and raced down there. I caught up with the tail end of the pod and started snapping away.

Cook Inlet beluga whales are critically endangered. They are distinct from other beluga whales and, while they used to be a common sight along the Arm, these days they are much harder to find. Also, note that belugas are white or light gray. They definitely do not have dark gray sides, like this one appears to.

Beluga calves are dark gray.

Yep, I am 99% sure that is a beluga with a calf. It would explain why they were at the back of the pod, the calf unable to travel quite as fast as the grown-ups. View the larger size, let me know if you agree!