Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

A friend is calling this year the drama queen year. Record snowfalls in December. Near-record rainfall in June. Extremely warm temperatures in...

The annual herring run in Mud Bay started in earnest Sunday, with residents using canoes, driftnets and throw nets to haul in buckets full of the...

We have oodles of signs of spring in Haines. The daylight returns, the temperatures warm and, boom, the birds arrive, the bears come out, and the...

What does January’s unusually warm weather mean for our critters? It appears to be a mixed bag. According to Fish and Game biologist Ryan Scott,...

Tod Sebens and Nicholas Szatkowski have seen large numbers of humpback whales congregating. Tod saw about 100 near Cape Fanshaw, and Nicholas saw a...

The autumnal equinox has just passed and the days are getting shorter. Flocks of summer birds are moving south now with their young ones. Skye Posey...

Curiouser and curiouser. There have been a number of unusual sightings this summer. Eric Holle and Katey Palmer were kayaking near Kuiu Island when t...

Last week’s spectacular thunderstorm was another exciting weather event in a season that has seen fires, floods, landslides and volcanic eruptions a...

The first wave of summer visitors arrived, and not only on cruise ships or in RVs. Dottie the whale was spotted and photographed in Lutak Inlet by...

Spring has sprung, indeed. Hundreds of ducks and geese are headed up the Chilkat River to their breeding grounds. Hundreds of pine siskins and... Full story

There have been several recent sightings of “charismatic megafauna,” the name some give to the big, exciting mammals we all love to see.  On... Full story

So far, 2013 has been an unusual year for wildlife. Some of the players are missing and others are acting like it is spring in February. Annie...

This seems like a quiet time of year for wildlife viewing. Many of the summer animals have gone elsewhere or hibernated. There’s still quite a bit...

It’s eagle month. November is the time when we see the greatest number of eagles visiting the Chilkat Valley. And there can be some surprising...

By Pam Randles Noble Anderson saw four sea otters swimming in Portage Cove. Usually we see river otters in our waters foraging for starry flounder...

Tom Ganner, Don Chase and Jedediah Blum-Evits have noticed black-billed magpies along Haines Highway at 10 Mile and 22 Mile. Are they moving back int...

The worst of their hatch has passed, but have you ever wondered what good are mosquitoes? They do fit into the food webs. Many fish, birds, bats,...

Summers, even cold ones, are an active time for animals in the northern hemisphere. It is the time most of them reproduce. For some mammals, it’s...

By Pam Randles Despite the record snowfall, spring has arrived on time as measured by the arrival of bird and mammal species and emergence of...

By Pam Randles Birds are arriving for spring. Pigeon guillemots and surf scoters have come from the open ocean to breed. The guillemots, with their...

We have heard the words “winter storm warning” a great deal this winter. NOAA says that means a storm that “could pose a threat to life and prop...

Someone vandalized the school weather station over the weekend. The station was broken to splinters; thermometers broken and leads pulled out; rain...

Takshanuk Watershed Council counted 1,264 birds from the ground Oct. 24, the highest number tallied this season. That puts the size of this...

It’s fall. Leaves are beginning to turn. Nights are getting colder. Conventional wisdom says we won’t get snow until Hallow...

It is high summer now. Many young birds have fledged and are bulking up for the trip south. Berries and fruits are appearing on the plants. Fish...