Shore Lunch

Coastal brown bears feed on nutrient rich salmon before hibernation.

Fulfilling a dream of mine, I finally made it to Katmai, Alaska, the kingdom of the bears.  My goal was to capture imagery of coastal brown bears feasting on the last sockeye salmon run, and so we chose mid-September for our adventure. I focused a good amount of time on my remote camera in order to capture some of the different behaviours of the bears and their very individual fishing techniques. Utilizing my underwater housing to contain my remote camera gave me a little extra peace of mind, should the remote end up being knocked or dragged into the water by a curious and very environmentally aware bear. Placing my camera along the edge of the shore, I chose a location that seemed to be where the bears frequently hauled out their catch of salmon and immediately consumed it. With some craftiness of my own, I was able to bury a 150' cable that allowed me to trigger the camera from a safe distance. To keep the bears attention away from this very pricey foreign object, I covered my gear with rocks and driftwood left on the shore from receding waters. This naturally camouflaged the camera and it worked perfectly, as the bears went about their business of being bears uninterrupted. The water housing also dampened the sound of the shutter, another plus to capturing more natural behaviour. Pictured here are a pair of adolescent bears who were part of an inseparable threesome we called, "The Chargers." This nickname came from their fishing tactics of charging full steam ahead though the water for salmon. This boyish full-on charge to catch fish didn't prove too successful, so anytime one made a catch the other two were close in tow, in hopes of a shared meal.