Leslie Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tuesday started out cloudy but not raining. Our prime focus for the day was bear photos. I had brought one 4 mg memory card and two 1 mg memory cards. By the end of Tuesday I realized that I was going to have to ration my picture taking. I figured that I had room for 1800 pictures and I was fast closing in on filling the 4 mg memory card.
We made two trips to the upper falls and spent several hours on the observation platform at the footbridge watching a sow and two cubs. There were three family groups of a sow and two cubs who hung around the footbridge (and very frequently closed the bridge). This cub is a yearling. It was born a year ago January. It's left front leg was injured.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475382_ERT26-M.jpg
Cub with mom.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475423_dAysn-M.jpg
Trying to nurse.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475466_mxCTw-M.jpg
The wooden gate you see in the pictures is the end of the footbridge.
On our second trip to the upper falls the salmon were attempting to jump up the falls.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475388_3hiEK-M.jpg
The male bears fish at the falls. There is a clear hierarchy of the male bears. It appeared that each of the larger bear had his favorite fishing spot and method. We were told that each bear uses the fishing method taught to it by its mother. If a larger bear determined that another bear was attempting to encroach on a larger bear’s spot, it would force a quick retreat.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475412_oJAqx-M.jpg
Occasionally we observed some conflict between the bears. Most of the males showed clear evidence of having been injured in prior conflicts. Because the male bear are a threat to the cubs, the sows don’t go to the falls.
Most of the bear catch fish by putting their face under water. Few use the method shown in the classic photo of sitting on the top of the falls and catching the salmon mid-air.
Looking for fish.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475453_3diu9-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475302_cHrJs-M.jpg
I stood there for many hours with my eye at the view-finder and my finger on the shutter release waiting for the classic picture. There were times when there was probably several hundred thousand dollars of photography equipment at the falls. Quite a number of professional wildlife photographers come each year for the salmon run. It was easy to get lens-envy considering the really advanced camera lens they were using. I thought my long lens of 300 mm was pretty good; the guy next to me had a lens of over 1000 mm.
Even when the bear on top of the falls made a play for a fish, he usually pounced on it with his mouth to the water rather than waiting for the fish to jump into his mouth.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475353_NrsKV-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475447_ZmS9y-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475434_uAGG9-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475302_cHrJs-M.jpg
When a bear catches a fish, it often takes the fish to the banks to eat. Early in the salmon run, many of the fish caught by smaller bear were stolen from them by a larger bear. It was fascinating to watch the methods the bear use to try to protect their catch. One bear I especially enjoyed would cup his fish in his hands and try to hide it while he ate it in the river.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475334_x38T3-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475343_GXjyE-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475284_eqspU-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475368_WZqgG-M.jpg
By the end of the evening the bear had caught so many fish that most had gone off to the woods to sleep. The one bear left at the falls was just eating the brains of each fish and leaving the rest. Salmon carcases littered the sandbar in the middle of the river.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475400_ayzKx-M.jpg
Since it wasn’t raining the mosquitos were extremely thick. We both wore our headnets almost all day. After awhile you get used to looking through the netting. We had bought the nice headnets at REI in Boulder. Early in the day some people would look at us as if we were dredded weirdly. Later in the afternoon those same people had purchased the cheaply made headnets at the camp store. I discovered later that even though I had on long nylon pants with elastic bands around the cuffs, the mosquitoes had bitten my knees through the pants! Those are fierce bugs!
Here’s Robert in his headnet next to the tent.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331482355_YViQc-M.jpg
Some people fihs in the same river that the bear are fishing for salmon. Sometimes the bear get annoyed at the fishermen and chase them out of the river. See the crazy fishermen!
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/331475294_Q7bTp-M.jpg
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Lots of Bears
Robert, Tuesday, July 8
This morning the weather was a little better than yesterday with an overcast but no rain. We set off for the falls after breakfast. There weren’t many salmon trying to jump the falls when we got there but soon that picked up. Yesterday we saw thousands of fish at the bridge which is downstream from the falls, Apparently that wave of fish was now arriving at the falls. There were multiple bears waiting for the fish. At times I could count ten bears in the river fishing. There are several fishing styles practiced by the bears. Some stand at the top of the falls and try to catch fish in midair as they jump. Some sit in the churning water below the falls and grab fish as the water pushes them to the surface. Some sit in the churning water and when a fish bumps against their front legs they pin it to the bottom and then stick their head under to grab it. Some stand in the river, either on a rock or in the water, and catch fish by chasing and jumping. While we didn’t see it, there are some that go completely under the water and grab fish as they swim past. It appears that most bears don’t like to get their ears under the water so this last method is unusual. When the fish arrived, most bears could catch a fish in several minutes and eat it in 30 seconds. After watching for several hours, we returned to the campground for lunch. We spent a little time in the campground and then headed back to the falls. When we got there the salmon were still there in force but there were few bears. In a day, a bear can eat 90 pounds of fish so in quick order, the bears were filled with fish. The fish weigh close to five pounds each. This time there were fish that the bears had killed all over the bank. The fish were missing skin and head and looked almost like filets you see in the market. When the fish are plentiful, the bears eat the skin and brains and leave the rest for the birds to scavenge. The only bears we saw now were the few that would come out of the woods to get a fish and then they would leave. For us, it was back to the campground for dinner and bed.
This morning the weather was a little better than yesterday with an overcast but no rain. We set off for the falls after breakfast. There weren’t many salmon trying to jump the falls when we got there but soon that picked up. Yesterday we saw thousands of fish at the bridge which is downstream from the falls, Apparently that wave of fish was now arriving at the falls. There were multiple bears waiting for the fish. At times I could count ten bears in the river fishing. There are several fishing styles practiced by the bears. Some stand at the top of the falls and try to catch fish in midair as they jump. Some sit in the churning water below the falls and grab fish as the water pushes them to the surface. Some sit in the churning water and when a fish bumps against their front legs they pin it to the bottom and then stick their head under to grab it. Some stand in the river, either on a rock or in the water, and catch fish by chasing and jumping. While we didn’t see it, there are some that go completely under the water and grab fish as they swim past. It appears that most bears don’t like to get their ears under the water so this last method is unusual. When the fish arrived, most bears could catch a fish in several minutes and eat it in 30 seconds. After watching for several hours, we returned to the campground for lunch. We spent a little time in the campground and then headed back to the falls. When we got there the salmon were still there in force but there were few bears. In a day, a bear can eat 90 pounds of fish so in quick order, the bears were filled with fish. The fish weigh close to five pounds each. This time there were fish that the bears had killed all over the bank. The fish were missing skin and head and looked almost like filets you see in the market. When the fish are plentiful, the bears eat the skin and brains and leave the rest for the birds to scavenge. The only bears we saw now were the few that would come out of the woods to get a fish and then they would leave. For us, it was back to the campground for dinner and bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)