Congregating bears

This summer, the bears of Seymour Canal seem to be congregating in larger numbers compared to last year. The blueberry and salmon berry bushes have exploded with fruit, thus bringing in the bears in big numbers. The salmon runs have been relatively light, but there are still plenty of fish to be caught and munched streamside. With the abundance of berries and availability of fish, we've had to use all of our fingers and toes to count the bears we're seeing. In one day, we counted 18 different individuals utilizing the creek or adjacent berry bushes. At one given time, I was surrounded by 11 bears, all within sight up and down the creek. With the arrival of the heavy quantity of heavy hitters, we've seen some very interesting interaction between sows with cubs, subadults, and adult males. Some spooky situations for spring cubs, stressful situations for young subadults recently kicked out by their mother, and one hair raising scene in which I saw the largest boar of my life (I can't accurately estimate his weight, but he dwarfed a bear we know to be roughly 600 pounds; I'm thinking he's at least in the 800 pound range)...

Stripping the bushes for sugary salmon berries, this dark chocolate adult female feasted in the bushes near us for over an hour. She also retrieved a rotten salmon from the bushes- the discarded catch of a previously successful fishing bear.

Too many ideal captions for this photo. Do I go with "she's roaring her frustration over the lack of a suitable mate," or "she's serenading the creek with her favorite Rage Against the Machine tune?" Turns out, she was simply snatching all the salmon berries she could find, using her large omnivorous cuspids to intimidate the berries into falling into her mouth.

This tall drink would qualify as an aforementioned "heavy hitter." He wandered up and down the creek for a half an hour or more, without taking any fish from the water. A few other bears, mostly subadults and smaller females, immediately vacated the area as he approached. He certainly is a stout bear, but not the biggest we've seen this summer.


A downstream view from our observation tower.


The matriarch. This bear is believed to be 24 years old, having been born in 1986 (she's a very easy bear to recognize, given her frosted/blonde colored ears). She's seen some adversity in her day, as you can see her nose has taken a major hit or two over the years. She arrived to the estuary this spring with an obvious angulated fracture in her rear right leg. An injury like that could have happened any number of ways. It's possible she took a fall crossing an avalanche schute in the spring or fell from a slippery rock or log while trying to cross a stream or ravine. In any event, her leg has managed to heal enough to apply light pressure. Some days are better than others. Some days she walks with a slight limp, other days she tucks her leg up and walks with her remaining three legs. She scratches her head with her broken leg, and oftentimes stands on her hind legs to get a better view of the spawning fish. Commonly, an injury like a broken leg would mean the end. We'll have to wait and see. Since she is in her mid twenties, she's had years to perfect a fishing technique that wastes minimal energy and catches numerous fish. From our observations, this bear has caught the most fish this summer, despite her injury. And she's even starting to develop a good sized summer belly full of fish flesh...