Spawning Salmon, Brooks Falls, AK. Fish where the fish are: this grizzly has hierarchal privileges and fishes right at the top of a waterfall salmon use to spawn

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From bears in Katmai National Park to the greatness of Denali National Park, Alaska has it all.

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Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) Sow and Three Cubs of the Year, Winner of the Nature's Best Photography Highly Honored and Smithsonian exhibition competition, 2012.

The tide was out, the sand was blowing, and the wind had some rain in it - not perfect for photography, but perfect for a grizzly sow (female) and her three young cubs to clam for butter clams at low tide. The guide in our party of 3 saw this large sow slowly move toward us and said we should hold our position. Two hours elapsed as we waited and the cubs played, while their mom dug hundreds of clams up in an efficient posthole motion, carefully prying the shells open with her long nails. They slowly came closer, and the guide explained this was occasionally a defensive posture for the sow to prevent male bears from being attracted to her cubs for predation. And we watched them in the rain and blowing sand and surf. Finally, after nursing the cubs while keeping a watchful eye on both us and her surroundings, but feeling comfortable with us, she bed them down for a nap, shielding them from the wind, rain, and flooding tide for a brief moment of rest - and I took this photo, an intimate moment of trust for all.

Camera: Canon 5D, EF 600mm F4L IS USM + 1.4x tele-extender, 1/500 sec at f/8, 400 ISO, GITZO Tripod + Wimberly Tripod Head, TENBO Rain Covers (yes, it was).

Honorable Mention Award in the Defenders of Wildlife Photo Contest (2012), this young bear was grazing in deep sedge as our drift boat silently slipped past. The nose "knows" - a pop-up occurred, and this was taken with a 400mm handheld on a canon 5d mark2, approximate distance 20 meters. I love the inquisitive tilt of this bear's head - grizzlies are always evaluating possible sources of food (as is their nature) but in this part of AK they are not used to seeing humans.

Sow grizzly clams to feed her triplet cubs-of-the-year, Katmai, AK

Spawning Salmon, Brooks Falls, AK. Fish where the fish are: this grizzly has hierarchal privileges and fishes right at the top of a waterfall salmon use to spawn

The Great One - Denali - the highest mountain in North America. The park in front is an 8,000,000 acre wildlife haven - North America's Serengeti - Denali National Park cannot help but put our stature in our environment into a more humble perspective.

A rare moment - this sow was increasingly tolerant of our party of three, viewing her from afar in a boggy bug-filled rain. The smaller of the two cubs climbed on her back and remained for awhile, staring at me, and the big black opening of a 600mm lens.

Fish where the fish are: this grizzly has hierarchal privileges and fishes right at the base of a waterfall salmon use to spawn

Sushi in a river: A young bear sits down in the river to enjoy the benefit of his fishing expertise. Many brown bears (Grizzly) are not that adept at fishing, but this one could easily catch his fill in the fast-moving water.

Spawning Salmon, Brooks Falls, AK. Fish where the fish are: this grizzly has hierarchal privileges and fishes right at the top of a waterfall salmon use to spawn

Canon EOS 20D |

More details: exif |

Original size: 3504x2336 |

Current: 800x534 |

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Keywords: salmon grizzly brooks falls grizzly bear catching salmon

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