What else can you do when you spend the day with eight bears. That’s right, we had a bear buffet today in the sedges. They came and went, interacted with each other and basically just lived their daily lives. I feel so fortunate to have been able to enjoy an entire day with the bears going about their daily lives totally unconcerned with my presence. Here are a few moments…

A second year cub with it’s mom entertained us with it’s antics.

It’s mating season and every boar that passed this spot where she had urinated stopped to check it out then would follow the scent looking for her.

But, the biggest, baddest boar on the flats kept all the other suiters at bay.

A male approaches the sow before being chased away by the dominant boar.

The clouds broke for a secodn giving us a glimpse of the majestic peaks.

All in all, it was a stellar day. 40 gigs of images to download and enjoy the day all over again.

Images captured with Nikon D3, D3X (mountain peak), AF-S 600mm, TC-14E on Lexar Digital Media

There is nothing cuter than babies and we scored big time today. We had a sow with two first year cubs who were trying to avoid the boars that populate the flats grazing on the sedges. We found this family way up on a rock where she could watch every direction for miles. It amazes me how they can climb such steep inclines with ease. Once she got used to our presence, she brought her cubs down and grazed near us for awhile before being chased off by a boar.

And then, when we were on our way back to the boat for lunch we encountered an Oystercatcher family on the rocky beach. Talk about cute…the chicks which were only a day or two old were the size of golf balls and nothing but fluff and legs.

A stop at the Garden of Eden yielded an abundance of wildflowers beginning to bloom.

Just below the hill where I photographed the bay we explored the rocky shore where I was totally taken with the patterns and graphics of the rocks.

We hiked another hill to photograph eagles in flight against the distant hills.

And had to photograph the sweeping view of the bay.

What an incredible day it was with more bear sightings than I can count and so much more! Everyone went back to the lodge with cards full of images and our hearts full of awe at the wonder of the Alaskan wilderness.

Images captures with Nikon D3, D3X, AF-S 14-24mm, AF-S 600mm VR, TC-14E on Lexar Digital Media.

We woke to overcast skies which was great as we had enjoyed four bright sunny days and were ready for diffused light and serious bear photography. After a gourmet breakfast of eggs benedict that Darryl prepared for us, we suited up and headed to Kaflia Bay to see what subjects we could find. To my great joy, we came across a couple of sub-adults that turned out to be the same bears we had photographed extensively last fall. It was great to see that they were healthy and doing well. We watched their behavior as they wandered around turning over boulders and digging around in the seaweed searching for any tasty morsel they could find. I loved the seaweed and rocky beach for a background.

We enjoyed our lunch on the beach before heading out in search of more bears. As the tide was coming in we found five bears on the flats grazing on the sedges. There were two mating pairs and a lone boar to choose from. We chose a pair that would provide us with good light and interesting behavior. She was a beautiful blond with a thick, lustrous coat and a beautiful dish face. He was a battle scarred warrior. We were entertained by their behavior for the next few hours as he doggedly pursued her and she coyly avoided him.

What a great day of bear photography and behavior. It was as much fun watching them and learning as it was clicking the shutter…well, almost!

Images captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 600mm, TC-14E on Lexar Digital Media

The morning began with some fog rolling into the bay dancing amongst the trees. The sun rose casting a warm glow through the God Beams before the sun burned the fog off…

With a beautiful day and calm seas ahead of us we headed to beautiful Halo Bay. It’s far to grand to capture in one frame so I created a pano with seven images using the 70-300mm in vertical stitching it together in Photoshop…

On the way back from Halo Bay we stopped to photograph the Kittiwakes and Puffins…

This is the view from my room at 10:30pm…

Images captured with Nikon D3X, D3, AF-S 70-300mm, AF-S 200-400mm on Lexar Digital Media

What a day. We had eleven different bears, one of which was on what was left of a moose carcass in the water. He was in a rocky cove with really contrasty light and when he stuck his head out I loved the look of him coming out of the dark…

We also had some great opportunities with Kittiwakes in flight…

bringing in nesting material…

Not to be outdone, the eagles were very active and we had several opportunities with eagle flight shots…

While photographing near one eagles nest we heard a funny sqwaking and this oystercatcher landed right in front of us with an egg sheel in it’s bill…

Low tide brought the bears to the beaches to clam. This guy is a lazy clammer…

I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday but, it was not over yet. Darryl prepared a special meal…oh wait, every meal Darryl prepares is special and he even made me a beautiful birthday cake. I sat there with a silly grin on my face as everyone sang happy birthday.

Images captured with Nikon D3, D3X, AF-S 200-400mm, AF-S 600mm, TC-14E on Lexar Digital Media.