Spending Time With a Happy Bear
The Alaska grizzly bears are fearsome creatures. They are the apex predators and when we, armed with nothing more than a camera and some bear spray, enter their environment we are at a distinct disadvantage. I am stating the obvious of course but that is something that I realize when I see one of these beautiful creatures coming from an Alaska forest to the river to fish. The feeling must be like what our ancient ancestors felt when they were in the presence of a wild animal that could easily make them its dinner.
It is scary to one degree and exciting in another, but I made the decision to find and photograph them so I make decisions in my planning that will decrease, but not eliminate, the possibility of something going wrong. In this case I decided to take a small group of photographers to a favorite place of mine, the Russian River on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. It is a place where the bears want only to feed on the fish in the river. And because there are fish in the river there are humans fishing there with the bears. When humans give the bears their space, the bears go about their business. They want nothing more than to eat fish.
There’s a boardwalk with short walkways branching from it that gives access to the river. The boardwalk is there to protect the natural embankment on the edge of the river and to allow access to the river for fishing. It is a great place for photographers to walk and wait for a bear to come from the forest to fish.
Not long after my group arrived, we heard from some fishermen that there was a bear just down the river from us. We walked cautiously but quickly down the boardwalk until we found a walkway that gave us a view of the bear on the opposite side of the river.
As we quietly sat watching and taking our photos the bear wandered onto a small gravel beach area and found an interest in something near a log. I looked through my 600mm lens to observe what it was that was holding his interest. It became clear to me that someone who was fishing there left in a bit of a hurry and left their lunch and he was making a quick snack of a sandwich and a bag of potato chips. He was elated and at one point laid down on his side, rolled over on his back and rubbed the side of his face in the chip bag. It was hilarious to watch such a happy bear roll around and play as if he was a cub again.
Once he was finished with the lunch, he found a fishing road holder that was left near where he found the snack and proceeded to play with it. He was having such a great time with it as he inspected it, chewed on it and then swung it around and twirled it like a baton. I must admit, if I disregard the fact that the bear was eating and playing with what was human litter, I really enjoyed watching him playing and acting like he had no care in the world. It was certainly a change in the typical behavior that I observe there and more of what one would expect from a bear in a circus.
I always picture the bear photos that I’m going to get when I visit the Alaska grizzly bears before I go, and they are all imagined to be these wild and dangerous feeling images. On this trip the photos of the bear eating lunch and playing with a toy in the sunshine may be treasured even more. It was quite an experience.
