TRANQUIL CREEK TRAFFIC JAM

The bear on the right side crossed the creek & spooked the other bear away.
You can see a few of the guys keeping a eye on it! They did have salmon with them & bears have been known to charge…….& no I don’t mean credit cards!

THORNTON CREEK BEAR

Immature Heron

This Heron was a great subject because he allowed me to get close. I really do think he only does this because he’s “young”

Bear at Sunset

I like this shot because of the background. The Heron standing in the water diverts the attention nicely.
I saw the bear coming and waited for him to cross the spot I had picked out. I call this technique the “Spider and Fly”. I see a great background and wait for a primary subject to enter into the scene.

Bear at Sunset

This is where I like to be with regards to the light. I always try to keep my back to the sun and looking squarely at my subject.
The light was nice and warm and only adds to making this beautiful creature look even more so.

Bruno Snags A Fresh One!

This is the best sequence I have of a bar grabbing a salmon! Bruno managed to grab this female Chinook! It was a bit of a struggle,but he won the battle & enjoyed his fish in private! They just love the roe of the female!

Bear Hunting

Bears will often stand in a stream and wait for a fish to hit them. They will than collapse upon the salmon! They than reach under the water with their mouth to secure the salmon. Trying to hang onto a large flailing salmon is not only a tricky,but a difficult maneuver!
This guy missed a male Coho trying to go up stream.

Bear with Salmon

This bear couldn’t of been too hungry. He just stood here for several minutes!
They often times will instinctively just keep catching fish even when they are full.
The salmon are taken into the rivers forest and eaten. The rest of the fish will decay and the nitrogen will be absorbed by the tree’s. All the tree’s surrounding these salmon bearing streams grow at a faster rate because of this added nutrition from the fish.

Mini Gets Another

This location was so dark that I maxed out on the ISO,the shutter speed only got up to around 1/160th !
You can see the poor fish in it’s last moments with the tail flapping in a blur!

Mini & Doodlebug

Mini and Doodlebug are trying to snag a fish.
You can see that Mini has a wound over her left eye. She had been in a fight with another bear. Mothers are very protective of their cubs. But than………..aren’t all mothers?

Sunset Cruising

These two were cruising the estuary at sunset looking for food/opportunity’s.
I like the way the eye goes from bear to bear and than to the sail boat. The natural composition works well here.

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!