Grizzly Bears

[DNPhoto]

I had a chance to visit an area of British Columbia that I had not been to before. Bella Coola is about a 5 hour drive west of the regular north south Highway that runs up the center of BC. I was only there a few days on my holidays but I managed to time it to see some grizzly bears. The water level was very low and the salmon were waiting in the ocean for a big rain storm. There are usually more bears around but due to the lack of salmon the numbers were down. Most of these photos were taken the first day. The second day it was raining. Unfortunately, it didn't rain enough to get the salmon running in great numbers. Enough of the back story, here are the photos.

A mother grizzly was teaching the cub how to fish. It was cool!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8068103214_f0961839e3.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068103214/)
Grizzly Mom and Cub 13 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068103214/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8066342547_a1899610e4.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8066342547/)
Grizzly Mom and Cub 5 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8066342547/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8453/8068097869_a93616517e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068097869/)
Grizzly Mom and Cub 9 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068097869/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/8068099882_bdfab82c3f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068099882/)
Grizzly Bear Cub 4 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068099882/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr

There were other bears that came by to fish as well.


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/8068462937_cabec7c76d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068462937/)
Grizzly Bear 11 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068462937/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8029/8068462690_3aae89aac9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068462690/)
Grizzly Bear 17 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068462690/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr


There were some salmon in the river but not as many as there should have been. This guy looked a little sad to me.


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8030/8068579028_f45bb24efd.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068579028/)
Grizzly Bear 23 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068579028/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr




http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8310/8068584233_5e8e0ac1f5.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068584233/)
Grizzly Bear 26 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9453805@N07/8068584233/) by Dan Newcomb Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/9453805@N07/), on Flickr


Luckily, we had a park ranger that made sure the humans and bears didn`t play together. She was armed only with pepper spray. I had a few personal cannons in the camper just in case a bear wanted to chew on someone`s head. I would hate to have to use one. In the end everyone behaved themselves.

Thanks for looking!

[Runmonty]

Great series Dan, thanks for sharing these.

[Iguanasan]

Excellent set! I really like peeking into the world of these bears.

[GJK]

Nice Series, well done!!

[Marko]

awesome set - Extremely well done!

[Richard]

Quite a set!!! love number 4 with his tongue out.

[Hillbillygirl]

Awesome set Dan. Love the one searching with eyes underwater, the "sad" one, and that last one shows the raw massiveness of these beautiful creatures.

[kmunroe]

great job on the bears Dan

[DNPhoto]

Thanks for taking the time to look at and comment on the photos everyone! I hope to get back some day to get more photos. Very cool animals.