Sleeping Bear
Alaskan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) at McNeil River Falls on the Alaska Peninsula., USA. After observing bears at relatively close quarters for several...
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Alaskan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) at McNeil River Falls on the Alaska Peninsula., USA. After observing bears at relatively close quarters for several days, it became quite apparent that each bear had its own unique style for catching fish, and a preferred location. The bears' normal routine was to fish and eat their catch immediately. They would do so until they had their fill and then wonder away from the River to take a short nap and then return to fish once again - repeating this routine throughout the day. This particular bear would bring its catch into a shallow pool at the river's edge where it could devour it in relative peace and safety from competing bears. This bear was either so much at ease or plain exhausted - it just cradled its latest Chum Salmon catch, as if it were a its own teddy bear, and quickly nodded off to sleep. Unfortunately for the bear, its nap only lasted but a few moments as it was rousted by splashing from nearby bears. Fortunately for me, I was there to capture this incredibly unique moment in time.
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Jan, 2019Views
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Ever see a Grizzly Bear catching 40 winks while sitting in a river? I never did either - until recently that is. I spent four days observing Brown Coastal Bears at McNeil River Falls on the Alaskan Peninsula some 290 miles southwest of Anchorage. The Falls create a natural barrier to salmon as they attempt to return upstream from the ocean to their natural spawning grounds during June through August each year. This bottleneck proves to be a boon for bears looking to bulk-up on the protein rich salmon in preparation for next winter’s hibernation as thousands of salmon congregate to be readily harvested. I had the privilege of watching many different bears fishing for spawning salmon over the four day period with as many as 20 bears active at the falls during any one time. Each day many of the same bears arrived to fish for salmon almost as if on schedule. It didn’t take long to understand that not only did each bear have its own preferred fishing station but also its own preferred fishing style – be it plunging, snorkeling, scooping or trapping. The other thing that became readily apparent was that once a bear was sufficiently sated, it would amble up out of the river and plot down in the grass nearby for a short nap before returning to the River to resume fishing – repeating this process over and over throughout the day. One adult female bear named Yolanda, by local guides, was particular interesting to watch – not only was she fairly high up in the bear pecking order thus allowing her unchallenged access to her favorite spot, but she was an excellent fisherwomen – snatching fish repeatedly time after time. On my last day out at the Falls, she was particularly active. She would snare a large fish and walk it into the shallows where she would sit and consume it at her leisure. She did this time and time again but never did we see her leave the water to take a nap break like all the other bears routinely did. Well, I guess all this frantic activity finally got the best of her – she wandered into the calm pool just as she had done numerous times before, sat down, cradled her catch under her arm and promptly nodded off. Unfortunately, her nap was fairly short lived since her little slumber pad also happened to be an active byway for other bears traveling to and from the River – after a few moments of blissful slumber she was rudely awakened by other some other denizen splashing through the water. Even though the scene was short-lived, it was a once in a million moment that I was lucky enough to document and capture with my camera.Time
This shot was captured in late afternoonLighting
It was an overcast day so lighting was uniform with good saturated colorsEquipment
Canon 5D MkII; Canon EOS 70-200mm f/2.8 lens; Gitzo TripodInspiration
Simple - I love taking photos of wildlife especially bearsEditing
I do all of my photo editing in Lightroom. With this particular image the contrast was increased quite a bit (overcast light could really tolerate a lot of added contrast), highlights were brought way down, white increased and shadows brought way up, lastly added clarity and vibranceIn my camera bag
This totally depends on what I'm doing and where I'm going. Always have my polarizing and neutral density filters, but I like to travel as light as possible so do as much preparation as I can before heading out. Mainstay is my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and I also take a longer lens which is generally Canon 100-400mm f/4.0Feedback
Be patient, observant and always be ready to snap the shutter
