Showing posts with label coastal bear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coastal bear. Show all posts
Hallo Bay’s Arthritis Bear Finds a Home in Virginia
Wednesday, 1 December
Several weeks ago, I came home to a surprise. There was a tube mailer propped up against the garage door. I hadn’t ordered anything; nor had Mui (not to my knowledge, at least), so what could it be?
Imagine my delight when I opened the tube to find a canvas print of the Hallo Bay bear that we had dubbed “Arthritis Bear” because he seemed to have some difficulty walking.
Welcome to Virginia Arthritis Bear!
The print is a thank you from Captain Lee of the Single Star. Shortly after we returned from our bear viewing trip on the Single Star, Lee had asked if he could use some of my photographs for promotional purposes. It was my pleasure to share my images and I told him to take his pick; Arthritis Bear made the cut.
From my desk, I get to see Arthritis Bear all day.
There was no question in my mind that I’d be framing the print. Where to hang it was the dilemma. In the end, I decided to take it to my office at work so I could visit with Arthritis Bear all day long! Considering the long hours I’ve been putting in recently, I’m glad he’s been there to keep me company.
Photo op with my buddy!
Lee has a 120 x 96 inch (3 x 2½ meter) print of the photograph for the Single Star booth. Arthritis Bear has already been to one travel show; I understand he was very popular with the kids. Next, he’ll be traveling to London, England.
Not every bear can say that he’s an international traveler!
A Glorious Morning at Hallo Bay
Friday, 20 August: Part I
We had one more morning to sit with the bears before we began our return trip to Kodiak. Wanting to make the most of that time, we were up and about by 6:00a. We hurried through the blueberry pancakes Lindsay had prepared for breakfast and headed to shore.
The horizon is trimmed in crimson as the sun rises.
The mountains are bathed in the soft light of morning.
Our morning got off to a good start. What would have made it great? If the wolf sprinting across the beach had waited to show up after we were already ashore. The rising sun was like a spotlight and the wolf was literally glowing against the brown-sand beach. As we were still wading ashore at the time, my camera gear was still tucked away in the wet-bag. I’ll have to be content with the image recorded in my memory banks … let’s hope it survives the passage of time.
There were plenty of bears on the mudflats already; all waiting for the salmon to come in on the turn of the tide. We decided to set up on the mudflats too. The light was golden; the skies were blue. It was a perfect morning to get my reflection fix.
Double the viewing pleasure.
Arthritis Bear snoozes in the warm sun …
… but he is quite aware of our presence.
Let me explain about Arthritis Bear. When this big boar finally got up, it was quickly apparent that he was having a difficult time walking. His gait was slow, and he seemed to be staggering and swaying as he made his way across the mudflats. There were no apparent wounds, so I can only assume that his difficulties were age-related; the moniker seemed fitting. That said, he seemed to be in good shape, so he was obviously not having any problems fending for himself.
A memento of our visit with Arthritis Bear!
[photo courtesy of Lindsay]
Keeping company on the mudflats.
But Mom, I wanna play!
Curious Cub!
Family Portrait
It was a mostly peaceful morning, but one of the sows and her twins did give us a thrill or two. They were off in the distance, coming steadily our way, so we just sat and watched them. At first the sow and the cubs were walking together. As they got closer to us, however, the distance between them grew. By the time they had reached us, we were literally between the sow and the cubs.
I have to admit there was an “oh, oh!” thought that went through my head at that moment. It’s really not a good idea to get between a sow and her cubs. But the sow was very relaxed and didn’t seem to mind since we were not the ones initiating the contact. We stayed calm, quiet, and seated; with Eberhard ready to scare off the sow if necessary. It wasn’t. She patiently waited for the cubs to sniff around us before hustling them off. Perhaps she was teaching them to recognize the two-legged creatures that come to visit every once in a while. It was an experience that is indelibly etched into my brain!
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Left: “Mirror, mirror on the mud; tell me who’s the fairest bear of all!”
Right: Like mother, like cubs!
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Closer and Closer!
We didn’t just do bear-watching on the mudflats this morning; we did some people-watching too. Although there were no other boats anchored in Hallo Bay, three small aircraft did fly in and land on the narrow beach. After deplaning, the passengers gathered, shoulder-to-shoulder, and walked the length of the beach before disappearing from view. I was surprised that they would leave behind the easy bear-viewing we were enjoying. But hey, no complaints from us; we liked having the mudflats to ourselves.
A fly-in trip is another option for bear-viewing.
After about two hours, the bears started moving off the mudflats; fishing time was at hand. We followed, but decided to stay on our side of the creek so as not to risk getting stranded as the tide continued to come in. Finding a high spot from which to watch the action, we enjoyed one last hour with these magnificent creatures.
Our high perch gives us a different perspective …
… of the bear action.
I like the contrast of the sun-bleached driftwood against the sand and sky.
And so our long-awaited bear-viewing trip came to a close at Hallo Bay. It was fantastic; it was glorious. It exceeded our expectations in every imaginable way; and in some unimaginable ways, too. We experienced thrills; we experienced chills; we experienced quiet, peaceful moments. We made memories to last a lifetime.
I’ll leave you with one last bear photograph. It’s probably not an image that would speak to most, but it spoke to me.
Sparkle Bear
Bracing for what the Shelikof Strait might have in store for us, we left Hallo Bay to begin our crossing back to Kodiak.
A Stroll on the Mudflats
Thursday, 19 August: Part II
Instead of going to a beach and sitting down to watch bears immediately, we did something different this morning — we walked across the mudflats to get to our bear-viewing site. It was a welcome opportunity to squeeze some exercise into our day. Not only that, the walk gave us a better feel for the land the bears call home.
Lee drops us off at the beach on the other side of these rocks.
as Eberhard leads us off, i stop to photograph the scenery Looking
out from our landing site.
We started to follow Eberhard, but didn’t make it far when a pair of bald eagles on a nearby cliff caught our attention. As we hurried to get our cameras out of our wet-bags, one of them flew off. I managed to catch a shot or two as the second one took off to follow its mate.
Ever majestic!
The mud was slippery, sucking at our wading shoes, as though trying to stop us from venturing forward. Undaunted, we hooked arms and sallied forth, making frequent stops along the way to photograph the breathtaking scenery.
How can we not stop to enjoy scenery like this?
You know I’m a sucker for reflections; is it any
surprise that I stopped to take a photograph at this pond!
We made our way across the mudflats, wandering through waist-high grasses along the way. We made sure to make plenty of noise so that we wouldn’t surprise any bears that might be hidden from our view. There were signs of bears everywhere, but we didn’t have any close encounters of the bear kind.
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Paw prints and fresh scat … good indications that there are bears in the area.
no bears, but we see a juvenile bald eagle. It is so well camouflaged
that we can barely tell he’s facing our way.
We’ve been wading ashore from the skiff since our first day on the Katmai Peninsula. And we’ve certainly waded across some shallow streams in order to reach our bear-viewing spots. But this outing found us fording a swift-moving, deep creek. I was surprised at how strong the currents were. (And even more surprised when a salmon swam right between my feet; it’s a wonder I didn’t jump and land on my butt!) Shorty that I am, at one point, the water was well-past my knees. Arm-in-arm, Mui and I made it across without getting dunked.
This was an experience that has given me a new appreciation for what the salmon have to overcome in their upstream quest to reach their spawning grounds.
No, Mui, I’m not budging another inch until you get out here and give me your arm!
We were rewarded for our efforts by a bear that showed up at our viewing spot within minutes of our arrival.
The bear checks us out …
… and then crosses the stream and disappears.
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Left: Why do we wear waders?
Right: so we can do crazy things like this!
(in this instance, mui’s taping salmon with his underwater camera.)
The sow with the triplet yearlings that we’d seen from a distance yesterday graced our presence for a while too. They munched on some grasses on the other side of the creek while the sow watched us carefully. Then, satisfied that we were no threat to her or her cubs, she crossed the creek and started her salmon vigil while her cubs looked on.
The sow keeps an eye on us …
… as do the cubs.
More courageous than his siblings, this cub dashes across the creek to join mom.
Once safely across the creek, the cubs wait for mom.
The sow returns from her fishing expedition, but she's nervous …
… about a boar that is approaching them.
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When the boar gets too close, the sow jumps in to show him who’s boss.
The boar got the message and turned away, taking a roundabout way to get to the creek. In the meantime, the sow hustled the cubs back into the rocks and out of our view.
That was our signal to pack up and return to the Single Star. Admittedly, like yesterday afternoon, this morning was also slow as far as bear action was concerned. But we’re not disappointed that we came to Kukak Bay. We really enjoyed our walk across the mudflats. For a few hours, we were the only humans around to enjoy the spectacular landscape. And that was special.
Farewell Kukak Bay!
Bidding Kukak a fond farewell, we weighed anchor for our next destination.
Kukak Bay
Wednesday, 18 August: Part III
We left Geographic Harbor around 11:00a; destination: Kukak Bay. The Shelikof Strait, as Lee described it, was “blowing 25.” Conditions weren’t that bad really, but after being anchored in calm waters for two nights, the movement of the Single Star was decidedly noticeable.
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Left: Kukak Bay is marked with a green star.
Right: Google map showing our anchorage in Kukak Bay.
By mid-afternoon, we were anchored in the bay and on our way to shore shortly thereafter. We set up on a gravel berm overlooking a shallow creek and settled down to wait for the bears to show up.
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We’re all bundled up; it’s windy and a bit chilly here.
The only bear around is pretending to be a boulder!
waiting for the salmon to come in on the tide is boooring!
It was indeed a slow afternoon at Kukak Bay — both for the bears and for us. A few bears came by to see if there was anything of interest in the creek, but their visit was rather short. Obviously, we weren’t appealing enough to keep their attention for long (and that’s a good thing!). A couple of bears took naps nearby, rousing themselves briefly to look around before resuming their second favorite pastime. There was at least one sow with cubs, but the family remained in the distant rocks, looking a little nervous … maybe they had heard of the incident at Geographic Harbor!
Hello to you too.
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A few more visitors to brighten up our day.
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The bear behind Eberhard gets up and looks at us,
but doesn't come to visit.
Do you know what time the salmon will be here?
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When this bear started digging in the mud after sniffing around
for a while, we were sure he was after a clam. We were wrong.
he was just scratching out a comfortable seat for himself.
While visiting with the only other person on the beach,
Eberhard has a close encounter of the bear kind.
Since the bears were not cooperating, I turned my attention to a Greater Yellowlegs wandering around nearby. I was afraid to scare the bird off as I inched my way down to the edge of the water, but my concern was for naught. It just went about its business as though I didn’t exist.
can you guess why this wading bird is called yellowlegs?
the bill of the greater yellowlegs is twice as long
as the diameter of its head.
After a while, concluding that the action wasn’t going to get much better, we called Lee to pick us up. The hot bouillabaisse that he and Lindsay had concocted for dinner was the perfect thing to warm us up after our rather chilly outing.
Our anchorage for the night.
Intriguing cloud formations at kukak bay.
It was a quiet afternoon for us. But you know, I welcomed the change of pace. After all the bear action at Geographic Harbor, it wasn’t so bad to just sit back and relax on the beach for a couple of hours. Now to get a good night’s rest!
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