Month: June 2022

Mama Bear and her three cubs were heading home after a day spent at the beach. This is a rare capture from one of our several encounters with this Kodiak Brown family because all four bears are visible and distinct. It was so much fun to watch the family dynamic. We concluded that Mama Bear was a good mother. She kept her eye on her cubs and shepherded them to safety from the swift river current but let them roam and discover the world around them. The cubs seemed to know when it was time to go with Mom although one occasionally lagged behind, only to get some sort of signal and then scurry to catch up.

There were extremely high tides during the first week of our Kodiak Brown Bear adventure, somewhat hampering our access to bears. Much of the grassy flats where we successfully photographed bears last spring was under water during prime photography hours. Sometimes, when the tides went out, the water was so low we couldn’t make our way across the gravely sandbars. We did see bears during that first week though and some other critters as well, like those adorable Sea Otters. Rafts of Sea Otters greeted us each time we ventured out in the skiffs, watching us closely as we motored by and disappearing under water if we got too close. One evening when we were headed back to camp, the other skiff got hung up on a sandbar and it was going to take some time to extricate so Hiram, our guide, took advantage of the situation and Eric, Javier, and I had a few minutes to photograph a small group of Sea Otters. It was about 8:30 PM and the setting sun warmed the scene as this older Sea Otter floated nearby and seemed to ponder our presence in his waters.

Drinking water is such a normal thing. We do it every day. There’s nothing particularly exciting about drinking water. But watching a huge creature like a Kodiak Brown Bear drink water, raises this mundane normalcy to a new level. I watched this bear drink just for the sheer joy of watching this everyday activity in a new light. The bear’s fur shimmering, the droplets of water dribbling off its chin, the claws clamped tightly to the river’s edge. And of course I held the shutter release so that I have about 700 images taken in under two minutes. I gotta love that Z9! It was such an awesome experience to witness a Kodiak Brown’s everyday activities, accepting our presence and going about its business. I’m still recalling every moment of those two weeks on Kodiak Island with a broad smile and fond memories.

Here are two of the three sibling cubs we saw on Kodiak Island. Are they ever cute! And so curious. One would pop up and another would pop up and the first would disappear in the tall grasses. I would have loved to get all three in the frame but that was an elusive quest. One always seemed to be wandering off. They were all together with Mama Bear several times but one always seemed to be hiding in her shadow.

This gorgeous Kodiak Brown appeared suddenly behind us on our last evening of shooting on Kodiak Island while we were occupied shooting Barnacle Bear. We dubbed it Barney II but for me its timing made it my Goodbye Bear. At first, the bear was silhouetted by the setting sun which, at this time of year in Alaska, sets pretty late relatively speaking, especially for those of us from the lower 48. I took this at about 9:15 PM. We called it quits about ten minutes later when the bear ambled slowly away from us. But for a few moments, the warm light from the setting sun made a stunning, beautiful, and lasting memory of our time on Kodiak Island.

This little cub found a hiding place behind Mama Bear who is big enough to provide this shy cub with the security it seeks and a place to hide. The cub stuck close to its mother much of the time we watched although sometimes all three cubs wandered away from Mama. Often two were together but it was very difficult to get all three cubs in the frame at the same time because at least one of them was doing its own thing out of view of the camera. In this case, just one was close to Mama.