BRUNO HAS TAKE OUT CALAMARI

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I shot this originally on Sept 30th/09 down at Thornton Creek hatchery.
We had been getting Humboldt Squid coming north and washing ashore for a month or so! Nobody knows why?
When I arrived at Thornton Creek I immediately saw two fresh squid down on the estuary and knew that they would be snapped up by the first bear like a $100 bill on the floor of a busy mall!
I quickly hurried down into the estuary and did some close up shots. It was still alive too!
I than looked at the angle of the light and chose a good location to lay in wait for one of my furry bear friends to come by,and I didn’t have to wait for long!
I saw Bruno coming and waited for him to notice the squid? He saw it and snapped it up like that! He walked across the estuary and went into the forest!
Him and his invited guest had dinner together ……..or at least,Bruno did!
The reason why I’m showing you this at this moment is because this sequence is going to be showcased on the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC channel April 11th,Monday at 8pm.
The shows title is called “Alien Squid Invasion”. The exact times may vary depending on where you are?
Why don’t you check it out?
You now know more about this amazing moment than anybody else !

This series of shots is a fantastic example of something I have been saying all my life!
It’s all about “BEING AT THE RIGHT PLACE,AT THE RIGHT TIME WITH THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT”! (P.E.T.)
Photography has alot of luck involved with it! You just never really know what is going to unfold in front of your eyes each day after you wake up?
But no matter what it is………..you have to be ready for it! If you don’t have a camera with you and you are at the right place at the right time and see something amazing,you have a great story with a picture in your head! Thats it!
If you want to be ready for shots ,you have to carry your camera all the time! A Cell phone will do in a pinch! (10% of something is better than 100% of nothing!)
I carry my camera only when I get the light. If it’s pouring out and something happens……….I’ll just have to live with it?

Calamari to Go

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I shot this last fall.
I arrived at Thornton Creek for a days shoot of the bears grabbing salmon and spied a Humpbolt squid down on the estuary. I new that a bear would grab it very soon and hurried down to get into position. I didn’t have to wait very long. I have all my bears named so that I can keep track of who’s who.
This is Bruno. A very calm bear. He came along and sniffed the squid and said to him self”think I’ll have some Calamari to tonight”!
We had hundreds of these creatures washing ashore last year. I don’t think anybody has any idea why,but it’s probably got to do with us screwing around with the environment!

Calamari to Go

I shot this down at Thornton Creek and it’s an excellent example to illustrate how being at the right place, at the right time is what it’s all about!
I saw something down on the rocks and glassed it,only to discover that it was not one but two Humboldt squid! They had washed ashore! The tide was out and I knew that a bear would be coming along sooner or later and hurried down to get into position ! Sure enough,this guy (Bruno) came by 1/2 hour later and took the squid into the forest for his own private dinner of Calamari.
These interesting creatures have been washing ashore occasionally during the summer. I haven’t heard of a reason as to why,but a local biologist , Josie Osborne has been looking into it.
This may be the first documentation of this occurring in Nature. It may of happened else where folks,but if you don’t have a camera,it doesn’t mean much! You need to carry your camera all the time!

Humboldt Squid

This beautiful creature was still living when I came across it! It was blowing bubbles . You can not only see one to the left of the eye,but you can also see me in the reflection!
While I was watching it ,the bubbles stop and new that it had just passed
These creatures are VERY smart and they can problem solve like us. When they are looking at you,you can feel them not just looking ,but seeing you and figuring you out! They are also an aggressive predator! They feed in frenzies at night near the surface. They go back down deeper during the day to avoid any bigger predator.

I decided that a bear would probably come by fairly soon and looked at the angle of the light and found myself a nice spot to wait for the action to happen.
And it did. A great opportunity to say the least to get a picture of a wild bear grabbing a Humboldt squid !
Fantastic

Humboldt Squid

You can’t see it,but the young woman in the foreground is checking out a Humboldt Squid that had just washed ashore. She was prodding it with her shoe. The entire beach was littered with them!