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Howdy again after a 3 week vacation to Alaska to visit Lauren and Josh. We spent the first two weeks pretty low key on Kodiak island. As this was our third trip to the island, we didn't have a lot planned other than visiting. We picked this time as summer was winding down in Alaska yet the puffins had not migrated. We are so fortunate that L&J have a boat that let us get close enough to the birds to get a few photos. We were also fortunate that the weather was pretty good for most of the trip. Kodiak had an unpleasant spring/early summer with a chilly / heavy overcast and rain. We heard the same observation from everyone we met on the island. Our first 1-2 days were typical of that less-than-great weather but we then had a week of very pretty weather allowing us to get on the boat to enjoy the ocean views.

I have just begun to look at the photos I took so you only get a single photo today. Hopefully, I'll get some more editing done in the near future. I fell in love with the puffins from our first trip in 2021. Our 2022 visit was late enough that the puffins had already migrated off the island. It was great to see them again. This is a tufted puffin (roughly the size of a crow) with the distinctive yellow feathers/plume trailing its head. The plume is a bit wet in this photo after diving for food.

Thanks,

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