Show us your bears...

[SafariChick]

Good to see some new entries to this thread this summer. Excited to hear that you went to Silver Salmon Creek @pomkiwi  and great shots! we loved it when we went - look forward to the report!

[Dave Williams]

Wow! @pomkiwi That's when you discover adrenaline is brown and runs down your leg!

[pomkiwi]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

Wow! @pomkiwi That's when you discover adrenaline is brown and runs down your leg!

 

The close encounters with a guide were exciting and interesting, the moments that raised the adrenaline were when hiking on our own through woods with evidence of recent bear activity and (much more intensely) when out on my own at SSCL when a bear decided to mock charge me - took a while for my heart rate to settle after that one: 

[Dave Williams]

@pomkiwi I'm not sure that having a guide would make it any safer would it? At least the charging one is a baby having a bit of fun, but you don't know that for sure!! Looking forward to hearing the full story details.

 

[pomkiwi]

@Dave Williams I have some faith in the guide being able to read a situation rather better than I can. If all else fails however they are somebody to stand behind 

[SafariChick]

@Dave Williams I've been to the same place @pomkiwi is posting photos from - the bears there are very habituated and you can stand very near them even with cubs while they are digging up claims or feeding on grass in a meadow, they are aware you are there but not concerned.  The guides are very experienced with their body language also, just like guides who are trained in walking safaris in Africa and they have you always stay in a group together when near the bears.   Here's a photo showing how close people were able to stand to the bears (sometimes even closer if the bear chose to walk closer) 

[pomkiwi]

A lonely life.

 

 

Most of the time bears lead a solitary life and actively avoid contact with others (with the exception of mothers and cubs of course). Here one has the beach to itself as it searches for clams.

 

Nikon D500, 80-400mm lens @80mm. f/4.5, 1/3200 sec, ISO 200. No post-processing.

[shazdwn]

Brown bear, Knight's inlet, Canada - taken this September

[pomkiwi]

A bit of cuteness for Thursday. This coastal brown bear cub took a close look us while we were on the beach at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark NP, Alaska.

 

 

Nikon D500, 80-400mm lens @ 310mm, f/7.1, 1/500sec, ISO 200

[melproffit]

E. Washington state 2008

[melproffit]

Brooks Falls, AK  2011

[melproffit]

Brooks Fall, AK  2011

[melproffit]

Brooks Falls, AK   2011

[melproffit]

Alaska, 2011

[melproffit]

Yellowstone 2014

 

[melproffit]

Mt Rainer NP 2015

[melproffit]

Churchill Manitoba 2015

[melproffit]

Grand Teton NP 2015

[melproffit]

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, NC  2018

[pomkiwi]

A Coastal Brown Bear chases gulls in the Katmai NP, Alaska.

I'm just back from a week on a small boat in the Katmai NP which I will write up for a trip report. In the meantime this young bear had just caught a salmon and was now chasing off gulls - I think mainly for fun as the fish was long eaten.

 

Nikon D500, 80-400mm lens @ 370mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 1400

Edited July 26, 2019 by pomkiwi

[BieneMaja]

Alaska, July 2019

 

[BieneMaja]

Franz Josef Land, Russian Arctic, July 2019

 

[Rick Cope]

Coastal Browns.Katmi Island , Alaska

[Rick Cope]

A hour 20 minute flight from Homer. Hiked about 5 miles over 5 + hours. Saw 30+ bears. GREAT TRIP. Some as close as 12 steps away

[Petter Sverke]

Sloth bear, Tadoba National Park, India

 

Brown bear, Hälsingland, Sweden

Edited November 22, 2020 by Petter Sverke