Endangered Belugas in Alaska's Kenai River

There are few things in life that I have encountered akin to meeting a beluga in the wild, especially in a place where a beluga is not expected to be (like eight miles up the Kenai River). During my research fellowship with Alaska Sea Grant and NOAA, I encountered many belugas in the Kenai and at other sites throughout Cook Inlet. The first time was on the Twentymile River. I had awoke at four AM and drove along the Seward Highway in the pitch blackness to arrive at our monitoring site by half-past five. As we stood on shore amidst layered sheets of dense fog, coffees in hand, we acknowledged the low likelihood of observing a beluga that morning given the time of the season. Just seconds later a beluga exhaled ten feet from shore nearly invisible against the muted grey mist. The next year yielded many more unforgettable beluga sightings and equally rewarding relationships with the incredible citizen scientists that supported our emerging beluga monitoring program. The photos below provide a brief glimpse into our monitoring program and the endangered belugas at the center of it all.