April 27, 2014 — Unseen beneath the water, hooligan are returning to the rivers, drawing in more visible, yet still special-to-see, visitors — beluga whales.
As the dance that is the turning of the seasons quickens pace from the slow winter waltz to the sprightly jig of spring, wildlife picks up its pace, as well. On the Kenai Peninsula, bears emerge from dens, moose drop calves and caribou migrate to their summer territory. For those with an eye for it, a more intricate choreography can be seen.
Unseen beneath the water, hooligan are returning to the rivers, drawing in more visible, yet still special-to-see, visitors — beluga whales.
“In the spring and fall we have belugas coming in. This is the time of year, and the sightings have gone up,” said Ken Tarbox, with the Keen Eye Birders group and a retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist.
Belugas tend to hang out in the mouth of the Kenai River around river miles three and four, although they’ve been known to go past the Warren Ames Memorial Bridge farther upriver. This year they’ve been sighted as far upstream as Kenai Landing, and also pushing up Cook Inlet toward Nikiski.
“They’re obviously coming in here, poking around, feeding and doing their thing,” Tarbox said. “We’ve counted as many as 30 whales before, but this year I think the peak count so far is 12 in one group going up the river.”
Not only is it exciting to catch a glimpse of the white undulations breaking the water surface, the sightings have scientific value, as well. The National Marine Fisheries Service catalogs all beluga sightings in Cook Inlet, with as much detail as offered — time, date, location of sighting, number of whales seen, number of calves seen, activity, direction of travel, etc. But before the information gets to the agency, Tamara McGuire with LGL Alaska hopes the reports come her way to aid in her continuing photo-identification projects of belugas in Cook Inlet.