The Rugged North Coast

A calm, overcast day on the water.

Sandhill Crane

Who knew the north island had Sandhill's? An unlikely encounter with five Sandhill Cranes today. This crane is being chased by an adult crane. I'm not sure what the issue was was—entertaining to watch and photograph.

Dancing through the rock weed.

One of five Sandhill Cranes I found recently.

Sandhill Crane

Doing the Dance

A Sandhill Crane is interacting with a larger Crane. If I had to guess, it was challenging the other—a lot of wing flapping and noise.

American Mink

Watching me as I was talking photos of the Sandhill Cranes. I saw something move in my peripheral and this little gal was about four feet from me. She was too close to focus on and of course ran as soon as I made eye contact. She stayed in the area foraging for the hours I was there.

Up a tree.

Mom was at the base of the tree instructing her two little guys to stay put. This is not a very clear image I thought I would share a glimps of what I saw.

Seven Black Bears

During our 150km 4x4 road trip yesterday, we spotted seven bears along the way. This Mother Bear with two cubs was grazing in a creek bed; once she saw me, she sent her cubs up the tree behind her. Her hackles immediately raised a bluff charge imminent it happened a moment after I took this photo. Back to the truck before you could say, Mother... Bear. While I photographed them, Shane and I stayed on the other side of the creek with a deep embankment between the bears and us. This photo is cropped.

Rhinoceros Auklet

We found a lot of activity around the herring baitballs.

Rhinoceros Auklet

We watched them fly in and out of the baitballs (herring schools that form in a ball shape near the surface of the water). Often they had a fish in their bills on the way out, not sure if they are looking for a peaceful place to eat or feed young.

Fork-tailed Storm-Pretel

Talk about erratic fight, this sea bird was extrememly difficult to photograph while bouncing on the water.

Fork-tailed Storm-Pretel

Fork-tailed Storm-Pretel

North Island Inlet

We climbed to 3500ft in my friends 4x4 to reach this peak for sunset. This gave us a 360 degree view of the North Island.

Looking south.

The north island is very mountainous. We used my friend's 4x4 to reach 3500ft.

Climbers

It is amazing to watch how agile bears are.

Forest Black Bear

Forest Black Bear

Meet my latest find, Han Solo. I was describing this bear to my friend Kevan when the word solo came up in our conversation. The three white chest marks connect into a deep "V". A good-looking bear that I see daily.

Black Bear

It was setting up my trailcam to see if there are any bears at this location. Turns out yes there is :) Taken with my camera.

Solo

Hey you're new here. Once the bear realized we were there he leaned in for a closer look.

Portrait of a Black Bear

A cropped close up of the new bear I am calling Patches.

Fuzzy Bear

Every Black Bear is unique both in looks and character. This bear has a curl to its gorgeous thick fur.