Bear Family - McNeil River Sanctuary, Alaska

Continued from a previous posting...more images from McNeil River Sanctuary, the highest concentration of brown bears in Alaska. I’ve been posting these large dominant bears fishing and feeding at McNeil River Falls for the last few posts, now it's time to focus on bear families – sows with young cubs.

McNeil Falls is a premium fishing place for dominant males. Many sows with cubs tend to hang out at the lagoon away from large males where the McNeil River flows into the ocean. The Chum Salmon steadily swim up the current through the lagoon towards the spawning grounds.

During one of the days at the Sanctuary, a group of us were led by a guide and we waded across the creek. We walked along a narrow rocky shore under the cliff along the lagoon while the tide was low and hiked through the grassy hills to the falls. During the peak season of the salmon run, more than two dozen bears including multiple families spread across the lagoon to feast on their share of salmon. Those families with young cubs often stay at the narrow shoreline under the cliff – that’s the only pathway to the falls where we were hiked each day.

While mother bear fished for salmon in the shallow lagoon waters, the cubs curiously checked out the surroundings… playing, wrestling, and falling asleep in the sun.

As we were slowly walking under the cliff, a bear family was nearby and we hoped the family would move away. Another bear family with three spring cubs walked toward the family that we were watching. It made the mother bear nervous, so she turned around and headed in our direction followed by two cubs! 

They got closer and closer… as you can see in my photos. We were instructed to stand close to the cliff and not to move because any sudden movement could trigger the bear’s instinctive reactions causing an incident. They came very close… the mother bear was huge, almost the size of a car! I was frozen, every one of us seemed to stop breathing… then I heard the mother bear’s breathing and grunting, she walked right in front of us, only a few feet away! The cubs walked behind their mom and one of the cubs was very curious and approached us… Our guide shooed the cub away. The cub obediently turned to its mother as we just watched the family pass by as they marched into the meadows…

Another family is leaving in a different direction. All this excitement happened on our first day as we headed to the falls.

We saw the same bear family another day while traversing. The mother bear caught a fish while the cubs gathered around for the feast. They finished a whole salmon in just a few minutes.

As mother bear went back to the water for more fish, the cubs’ playtime resumed. Under the harsh midday sun, the back lighting was a photographer’s nightmare.

Here are another family with three small cubs playing in the grass.

Large bear action in the falls are always interesting, but I personally enjoy observing and photographing the sows with cubs.

I’ll update with more images from McNeil River Sanctuary on my next blog posting. Please check back in a few weeks!

"River of Bears" - McNeil River Sanctuary, Alaska

Photographing bears in their natural environment has been my passion since early in my career. I have visited some prime bear viewing areas before, but Alaska's McNeil River is truly outstanding!

The McNeil River Sanctuary is located in the remote wilderness on the Alaska Peninsula along the Aleutian Mountains just north of Katmai National Park & Preserve. McNeil River Sanctuary contains the highest concentration of brown bears (grizzlies) in the world during the peak season of the Chum Salmon run in early July through mid-August. As many as 80 bears congregate at the river. The area was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1967 and enlarged to a preserve in 1993. The sanctuary allows only 10 visitors per day for a four-day period with permits scarce and at a premium during the peak season.

I arrived at the McNeil Sanctuary in late July by seaplane. The area is truly remote where access is permitted by seaplane or boat and is without road access. The closest town is Homer on the Kenai peninsula, 100 air miles across Cook Inlet. As the flight approached the lagoon at McNeil River, I could spot a number of bears from the air.

McNeil Falls, the bear viewing spot, is about a 2 mile hike from the camp. An armed naturalist from the Alaska Fish and Game, led us to the falls. We were not allowed to leave the camp by ourselves. We were instructed to walk close together so that bears think we were one big animal instead of individual humans. Crossing the river mouth at the lagoon and waiting for bears to pass by, the 2 mile hike took us 2-4 hours. Approaching the McNeil Falls for the first time, I was amazed that two dozen large bears were standing in a tight spot!

Bear activity was everywhere! As large numbers of salmon continuously came up the river, bears energetically fish. 

Visitors are divided into two groups and sit closely together on the two gravel viewing pads. Bears often walk by within several feet of us. A large bear, the size of a small van it seemed, walked right in front of us and it was really intense, but no one has been injured or been killed since the bear viewing program in McNeil River began. Following strict rules, humans and bears have been coexisting in McNeil for over 50 years.

After a successful catch and quick devouring, it is back to fishing again.  My problem was figuring out which bear to photograph.

Fights can break off at any moment. Tensions among the bears was high.

McNeil Falls is dominated by large males whereas sows with cubs hang out at the river mouth and lagoon area. While the mother bear fishes in the lagoon, cubs play at the shore, sometimes not so far from us. We often stopped by the lagoon and had to wait for a bear family to pass by. Capturing the cubs playing with each other was one of the best parts of this trip.

During an intense 4 days at McNeil Falls, I shot several thousand photos... it took me a month to go through all of them, made some selections, deleted a bunch, and finally the post processing began. It'll take at least a few months to complete the entire work... I will slowly update my blog with new bear images.

Bear Photography in Katmai Coast 3

The afternoon of the 2nd day in Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park, 3 new people arrived with tons of camera equipment. Two of them were photographers from France; they paid extra money to have their own guide. They were on a 6 week project in Alaska. Another man was a retired bio chemist; now he is a bear enthusiast. He has been staying in Hallo Bay about a month every year for many years! Wow, it is very expensive to stay there for 3 nights, but a month, I have no idea how much it cost! He brought a high-end camera, a bazooka looking telephoto lens, and HDR video camera.

Between morning and evening excursions, we had a few hours of relaxing time. However, we weren't allow to leave the Camp area by our self, so I just took a shower and hung out at the main galley. The main galley is a big canvas room with kitchen and dining area with cozy tables. I liked to hang out there and chat with other guests in the galley.

Hallo Bay Wilderness is an environmental friendly operation with only 5 guest cabins. The guest cabins are also made of canvas with simple bedding, sink with a container of water, table and heater. The showers and bathroom are a separate building. The windmill generates all electricity for the camp. We were only allowed to eco-friendly soap and shampoos. i am amazed with their environmental policies for the entire camp. In the remote wilderness, it was still luxurious. Since there were only 10 guests per night, everybody got know each other and become friends. i had a good conversation with a couple from Ireland.

After early dinner, our evening bear viewing session began. we walked through the same way as the morning; along the beach, went through the woods, and tidal cove; it was a high tide at the evening, so no bears hanging around the area. we passed the cove, and then walked up to the meadow. Another 2 groups were already sitting the edge. 2 bear families (each had 2 cubs) were grazing fresh green grass under the sun. The cubs rolled over the grass, and their mom kept eating...

A boar showed up from the woods, far right. One of the bear families got nervous. The mother stopped eating, rose her head up and started huffing. She slowly moved away from the boar, toward to another family in front of us. Boars sometimes kill cubs so that he will be able to mate with the sow. Isn't it terrible? Anyway, the family moved close to another family. Another mother got very nervous for the family moving to them, and began huffing loudly. Then, she walking toward to us with her 2 cubs! They stopped 20 feet away from us, but still looked nervous at other family approaching. The boar came very close to the area where the French photographers were at. Their guide successfully shooed the boar away. However, the nervous bear family moved closer to the family that was 20 feet away from us. The family closer to us got very nervous and started moving closer toward us. They seemed to be coming straight toward us... Our guide Herb stood up and showed a flare, and told them, "no, no," but they were coming to us. I was frozen and hiding behind of Herb and my husband. Someone in our group; German guy, kept taking photos of the approaching bear family. I could only shoot one - a cub's face with bad exposure. The family was stopping and huffing for a while in front of us, and then finally passed about 5 feet away from us. it was too close! I was sweating! The guide, Herb joked, "Sorry guys, we can't get any closer than this." It was after 9 p.m and the bright sun was still above us.
We repeated these kind of bear viewings the next day. Then, the following morning, the small plane picked us up on time and took us back to Homer. Viewing and photographing huge bears close by without fence was an exciting experience. I felt very special feeling toward those magnificent animals.

Bear Photography in Katmai Coast 2

The 2nd day in Hallo Bay was a beautiful sunny day. After having breakfast with the other guests, we were divided into two groups. Each group had its own guide. Following our guide, we walked along the beach, and then entered the dense woods. We walked on the trail, but there are some bear trails that cross the human trail. Bears can pop out behind the trees at any moment.

The view was opened up in front of us; The scenery was breath-taking - tidal coves and snow covered mountains were the backdrop. And, there were bears down below!! Two bear families - each had 2 cubs! They were digging clams on the beach. We were looking at them from the hill at the edge of the woods for a while. One mother bear laid down on her back and began nursing! Her 2 cubs nursed on her for a while. That was a beautiful moment. We walked down to the tidal flat and enjoyed seeing those 2 bear families from a far. They were digging clams for a while, and the 2 cubs began play fighting... I still couldn't that it was a real experience out in the wilderness - it was like a being in a nature show.
Then, the mother bear walked toward us gradually - followed by her 2 cubs. Looking with my telephoto lens, they got closer and closer... Actually, they were coming close to us. They were only 20 feet away; the mother bear stopped and sniffed the air. according to our guide, bears can recognize an individual by the smells like dogs can. Oh, my goodness, she was very close! I was about to back off, but the guide told me not to move. Bears may think I'm prey if I move quickly. The bear family walked by 10 feet in front of us. One cub curiously approached within 5 feet of us. Even a cub, he is bigger than me! The guide showed him a flare and calmly told the cub, "no, no..." My heart was beating hard, fortunately, the cub turned to the mom and passed in front of us.
The mother bear stopped at a rock very close by, and licked at the little shells covering the rock. One of the cubs copied her. My finger was on the shutter button. She climbed on top of the rock, and sniffing the air for a while as she paused for the camera! It was a perfect shot!

After the bear family left, a fox showed up on the beach. He was also digging clams just like a scene in the movie: "Grizzly Man."

We already saw a lot in morning, but there were more bears at the meadow near the tidal flat. We explored the meadow at the evening.

This story will continue...