Fishing Bear and Traveling Ron

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 14 Comments

Brown bear with a red salmon, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

Brown bear with a red salmon, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

I hadn’t planned on photographing more bears this week, but a video assignment found me in the middle of bear country not too far from my home in Seward on Wednesday.   This is an image from that day.  The fishing was good and the salmon everywhere.  If this bear caught a male, it might peel some of the skin off, but as often as not, it would just toss it back.  It definitely was after the row in the females.  When it did catch a female, the salmon eggs were about all she would eat.  Times are good when you are living on just caviar!

In the morning I head north for almost two weeks.  Much of that time will be in Denali – I’m really excited to have drawn permit dates during the peak of the fall colors – I have been trying to get these dates for over 10 years!

I probably won’t worry too much about bears on this trip, but I would really like to improve on my coverage of caribou and moose – not to mention landscapes and fall colors.  Northern lights would be a real bonus.  If I have time, when I come out of the park for gas and showers, I will post an update here – but, it is possible that I won’t have the time in which case I’ll see you when I get back!

Straight up or on the rocks?

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Kenai Fjords, Photos, Travel 9 Comments

Close-up of an iceberg, Aialik Glacier and Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, near Seward, Alaska.

Close-up of an iceberg, Aialik Glacier and Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, near Seward, Alaska.

Here is one from my Kenai Fjords National Park trip from earlier this month.  It has been such a busy month that this trip seems like a life time ago!

I photographed it both ways, this version with the rocks along the bottom, and a version without the rocks.  The rocks give it a visual anchor, and some context, the version without rocks is more of an abstract.  So which do you like better?

I wasn’t going to post the version without the rocks – you can either scroll up until the rocks are out of sight, or use a piece of paper or your hand to block the rocks, and that will basically give you the same image.

Sunrise Bear

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 17 Comments

Brown / Grizzly Bear, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown / Grizzly Bear, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

A Brown Bear watches for salmon during a beautiful sunrise earlier this month during my Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.  Figured I better post another bear image – they seem much more popular then birds.  🙂

To get this much depth of field I combined two nearly identical images – one where I focused on the bear, the other focused on the mountain across the Cook Inlet.

Here is a quick adjustment to the image where I focused on just the bear and used f/11.  Not sure the top one is really any better.

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Horned Puffin

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Horned Puffin, near Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Horned Puffin, near Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I wanted to keep sharing brown bear photos, but figured I better mix it up a bit – plus, we did photograph other things beside bears last week, including a black bear, bald eagles and horned and tufted puffin.

These birds are so cute and colorful – they are like living cartoon characters!

Clamming Bears

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 10 Comments

A young cubs watched intently as its mother digs for clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

A young cub watched intently as its mother digs for clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I find it fascinating to watch wildlife perform a learned behavior, and watching coastal brown bears dig for clams is no exception.  Really, it is amazing!  Although they may have different techniques for opening the clams, they really can become efficient clam diggers.

This was one of two cubs I had watched as spring cubs last year.  It was great to see them still doing well.  One of the cubs had actually learned to dig for its own clams.  It had to dig twice as hard as its mother, and it struggled to open them, but you could tell he was becoming self-sufficient.

This was the other cub who had not mastered the skill yet, and would watch intently as the mother dug clam after clam.  This is what you see here.  I would think it is just a matter of time until this cub begins digging for clams as well.

Working the mud flats

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel Leave a Comment

A sow and cub heading out in search of clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

A sow and cub heading out in search of clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This sow and cub where heading out to dig for clams – a fascinating activity to watch and photograph – I’ll have more on this in my next post.

Bear Silhouette

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 10 Comments

A brown bear looking for clams along the coast, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

A brown bear looking for clams along the coast, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

If I was to expose this enough to show detail in the bear, I would have blown out the warm beautiful sunrise light.  So, I purposely underexposed this so that I would just have the silhouette and the wonderful light.

This was captured with a 600mm at f/4.5, 320 iso and 1/2500 of a second on a Canon 7D.

Alaska Bear Photo Tours

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Lake Clark, Photos, Travel 6 Comments

A brown bear and bald eagle both watch for salmon during this years bear photo tour - Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

A brown bear and bald eagle both watch for salmon during this years bear photo tour - Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Well I have some bad news, and good news regarding next years Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.

The bad news was – we have a tentative person interested in our final spot leaving me without any openings going into the prime booking season!

Now the good news – I was able to obtain another week during 2012!  I am really fortunate to obtain such a great week, as David, the lodge owner is now having to turn away groups thanks to the popularity of this location!  I am very grateful to be able to offer two trips a summer!

My second week being added is at the end of June – the 23rd to the 29th.  I will be interested to see what it is like that time of year.  I do remember comments made by Jenny, my former bear guide – she said the end of June was her favorite time of year.  Kevin, the park ranger in the area for the past 10 years (the first 4 in a tent! ) has also said late June is one of her favorite times as well.  Even Rick, my bear guide this year expressed a preference for late June.  So I’m excited to see what it is like then!

What are the advantages of going in June?  Possibly more bears, especially spring cubs.  This year they were seeing 6 spring cubs by the end of June – that was down to 1 by August.  Short, rich green grass  along with fields wildflower like lupine should be in nice bloom.  Mating activity also takes place during June offering some unique interaction and bringing more bores (males) into the area.

What are the advantages of going in August?  There are two big ones.  Fishing bears – bears catching and eating salmon is always high on the list of advantages of August.  The other advantage is perching puffin – they may not perch as much in June, but they will be flying.

If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to email or call.  I anticipate these trips will fill fairly quick – certainly by Christmas.  For more information, visit our page for the Alaska bear and puffin photography tour.