Walrus in Kachemak Bay

A Kachemak Bay water taxi crew had a once-in-a-lifetime walrus sighting.

Comment from Barb Lake:

Matt Lowber on the 'Kachemak Bay Nature Watch' Facebook page writes: "A relative of mine is out hunting bears here in Kachemak Bay. Waiting for updates on his hunt, I read a text that says “Walrus!” and nearly didn’t believe it. Coincidentally, Brad, Zach and I were all in the harbor and I had my camera. I’m not exaggerating when I say we all dropped what we were doing and got on the boat. I’m hearing this is the first walrus sighting out here in twenty years, but someone will know better than me. Pretty special. Thanks for the tip! Joshua Lester, Brad Conley, Zach Fairbanks, Crew of Coldwater Alaska.

AI Comment from GPT 4.1:

This sighting of a walrus in Kachemak Bay is indeed remarkable, echoing reports of highly unusual walrus appearances far from their typical range in recent years. Previous observations have documented isolated walrus sightings and strandings at distant locations, such as in Iceland, Finland, and the United Kingdom, events described by experts as highly rare for those regions. In Alaska, most walrus reports have centered on large herds coming ashore in the northwest, often linked to reduced sea ice, as noted at Point Lay and Port Heiden. However, individual walruses appearing alone—particularly in unexpected places—have occasionally needed rescue or shown signs of distress, such as the walrus calf found inland near Utqiaġvik (see post).> Although sightings in Kachemak Bay are extremely uncommon, these accounts collectively demonstrate that walruses can turn up far from their typical habitats in rare instances. The current observation adds a notable data point to this pattern of rare and sometimes puzzling walrus appearances along distant or unusual coastlines.