In Focus Daily

As we watched from across the Uganik River, Mama Bear rolled over on her back to allow her three cubs to nurse. They pounced, each one claiming a teat. Mama was patient and unflinching despite obvious raw patches resulting from baby teeth clenching too tightly. We saw this mama bear and her three adorable, but rambunctious, cubs every day on Kodiak. It’s so much fun to watch the cubs as they learn to enter the water, swim, catch salmon, and play. One seemed to be unable to leave Mama Bear’s side, one trailed far behind doing its own thing, and the third, somewhere between the other two. They make a delightful family unit.

Kodiak Bear cubs are soooooo cute! We’ve been really lucky this year to see so many cubs and they have almost all been COYs, cubs of the year, meaning they were born this year. We saw a total of 19 mothers and cubs on an afternoon shoot a couple of days ago. This is one of the younger-looking cubs. We called its mom Golden Bear because her coat was lighter and more golden colored than the other moms and her cub seems to have a lighter coat. Since I’m from the Golden Bear State, I am particularly fond of this cub and its mom.

There are many blessings to being with Kodiak Brown Bears. One is expecting the unexpected. We were drifting down the Uganik River in search of Kodiak Brown Bears late one afternoon when a Cross Fox appeared traveling along the edge of the river. We were ready with our cameras in our laps so we were able to capture the unexpected. And what was unexpected, you ask? What we thought was a Silver Fox was actually a Cross Fox.

We’re back at Rohrer Bear Camp on Kodiak Island in Alaska. Yesterday we motored up the Uganik River and found a mother Kodiak Brown Bear with three adorable cubs. One of the cubs stood up to check us out. I prefer to think of it as a welcome back greeting.

As I walked back to my room after breakfast this morning, I saw pink clouds in the sky as the sun was about to come up. I had 30 minutes to kill before we needed to meet to fly into Bear Camp so I grabbed my camera and walked down to St. Paul Harbor. It was a gorgeous view to start the day.

Commercial fishing around Kodiak Island winds down significantly by mid-September due to commercial fishing restrictions and shifting fall weather patterns. Walking back from dinner last evening, we passed St. Paul Harbor where the dock was crowded with moored fishing boats.

The clouds were a welcome sight as we approached SEA-TAC yesterday morning. We were delayed leaving Sacramento because of a minor mechanical issue and then prevented from taking off from there because of traffic in Seattle. By the time we were cleared for take off, it was clear I was not going to make my connecting flight to Anchorage. I’m headed to Kodiak and luckily our flight from Anchorage to Kodiak is this afternoon so my delays yesterday won’t affect my getting to Kodiak. Despite the disappointing delays, we had Joan, the most marvelous Delta flight attendant, who kept us all informed of how the delays would affect the connecting flights of many passengers, including recalculating wheels down time to give passengers a realistic idea of whether they could make their flights. The delays eventually caused missed connections for at least three flights, mine included, but one group had a chance. What amazed me was that passengers actually listened to Joan who asked that we all stay in our seats until those passengers, all coming from the rear of the plane, could walk to the front of the plane. I have heard flight attendants ask this and rarely do passengers comply. It kind of restored my faith in people. And, Joan was determined to keep her passengers happy so she gave me some extra bloody and some extra Mary for my Bloody Mary. A nice way to relax after realizing I was going to be spending my day in the airport. Taken with iPhone 16 Pro.

Some birds are unforgettable and one of those birds is the Pale-mandibled Araçari from Ecuador. Such a clown and such a charmer.

The look of sunrise changes by the moment at Monument Valley. One moment before the sun appears, the sky is brilliant red. Once the sun climbs in the sky, the colors change. On this morning, the colors changed from red to orange to saffron. The sun radiated beams and silhouetted East Mitten.

Sunrise in Monument Valley is usually colorful. Sometimes, in early morning, the mittens, in this case East Mitten, are silhouetted against the colorful early morning sky.

Bald Eagles are opportunistic hunters and in the fall when the salmon run upstream to spawn along the Uganik River in Kodiak, Alaska, they are there, along with Kodiak Brown Bears, in anticipation of their next meal.

A Kodiak Brown Bear looks up from pursuing the salmon swimming upstream to spawn last year. Sometimes you’ve gotta take a break.

Yesterday afternoon when I noticed that three of the hummingbird feeders were empty, I decided to refill them before I started cooking dinner. As I entered the kitchen with the three feeders, two in my right hand, one in the left, I felt a soft tickle and looked to see some bright green leaves on the back of my left hand. I quickly realized that the leaves were moving and that it was a large Praying Mantis not leaves. The Carol of the past would have shrieked and shaken it off her hand and run out of the room. Well, I must admit I let out a loud epithet and I did shake it off my hand onto the kitchen floor but the Carol of today didn’t run out of the room. Since there was no one else around to deal with the situation, I took a deep breath, put on my big girl pants, got a glass out of the cupboard and placed it on top of the Praying Mantis. Then I scooped it up with a piece of mail laying nearby and calmly walked out to the patio and dropped it onto a lavender plant. It stayed there, cleaning its antennae and its feet. I already had my 105 macro lens on the camera so I took a few shots. He looks like his prayers were answered.

Yesterday afternoon I was practicing with my long lens on a tripod with the Wildlife head to make sure I was up to speed on using it since I’ve been home for a while and haven’t used this combo in a while. Not much was going on outside so I set up the tripod inside. When I looked out to see if Spike was there, sure enough he was, sound asleep. I put one leg of the tripod outside, turned the lens in Spike’s direction and fired away. He didn’t wake up even when another hummer showed up and buzzed around one of the nearby crepe myrtles. It wasn’t long before Spike sensed something because he suddenly looked up and zoomed off to protect the other feeder, quickly returning and falling asleep again. And, it looks like Spike’s got only one spike left, on the top of his head.

Yesterday’s CBS Evening News reported on the sighting of a rare bird in California, the Purple Gallinule, that is bringing bird lovers to Irvine where a young Purple Gallinule has found itself at the Irvine Ranch Water district’s San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. It is only the eighth documented sighting of this bird in California. I am from California and I have seen this bird many times but just never in California. I appreciate the fact that I have been privileged to see and photograph this bird, as an adult, not in California but in Florida.

Sapphire, Emerald, Periodot are three gems that describe this flying gem, a male Broad-billed Hummingbird. With Sapphire coloring his throat, Emerald gleaming on his sides, and Peridot sparkling under his wings what else could you call this hummer but a gem? Taken July 2025 in Madera Canyon, Arizona.

And just like that, Spike’s spikes are gone. He will still be known as Spike but in just a few days, most of his namesake spikes have disappeared and have emerged as feathers. Next time I shoot him, I’m sure all of the pin feathers will be gone.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be back in Kodiak, Alaska photographing Kodiak Brown Bears. I am excited to be returning to that pristine world and to watching these massive bears consume equally massive amounts of salmon. As we drifted along the Uganik River last September, this bear looked up at us while it munched on the remains of a salmon carcass on the shoreline. It seemed not to notice the fish paddling near the surface between us, dorsal fin and tail protruding from the water. The bear had a choice. It could continue to consume what remained or chase after a moving fish. It made a choice to keep munching on what it had in its claws.

My little Anna’s Hummingbird has a name! I realized that I have to call him Spike. His head is covered with spiky looking pin feathers surrounding his eyes and under his beak. When they emerge, they are itchy and in this image, Spike is vigorously scratching those itchy pin feathers. Spike, it is!

Every moment of sunrise is spectacular in Monument Valley. The flare of the sun and the godbeams radiating from it help to define another spectacular moment.