Brown Bears in Alaska

Hi, On Wednesday, July 25th, I had the opportunity to visit Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska. The purpose of my trip was to photograph Brown Bears, the largest of the Grizzlies, fishing for salmon.

Every summer salmon return from the ocean to the stream of their birth to spawn and die. This provides a wonderful opportunity for animals, particularly the Brown Bears, to feast. Brown Bears must put on weight to carry them through hibernation. They typically will eat about 20 fish per day.

We flew to the park from Anchorage in this plane. It has a capacity of 9 passengers plus a pilot.

What follows is a small sample of the many photos I took. All but the last were taken from platforms, one just below the falls and one right at the falls. The bears were below us, and they were interested in fishing; not in us.

People also fish in the stream. Needless to say, if a bear gets close they move on.

A mother and three cubs wandered onto the beach between and our plane just as we were about to board the plane. We immediately moved into the woods behind the beach until they were well past us.

Thanks for looking.