Bears of Knight Inlet

During a recent adventure with my good friends Anthony and Donna, we found 3 Black Bears and 3 Coastal Brown Bears. A perfect day the water was dead calm, what a treat compared to the waves we survived in previous years.

Knight Inlet trip.

Miles of mussels cover the coastal rocks, which makes it a favourite feeding area for Brown and Black Bears. I love the landscape so I will not crop for this series.

Knight Inlet trip.

A boar climbing out of the mussels switching to berries.

Knight Inlet trip.

A handsome Brown Bear, check the colouring, his legs were dark.

Knight Inlet trip.

I cropped this photo to show more of the bear. Look at those dark legs, quite the colouring.

Four Bulls

We were out searching for Elk this evening, these four bulls were kind enough to stay for a short photo op. Lots of small trees down a sign of the bulls attacking trees to rub their velvet off. The rut is coming soon :)

Spike

Knight Inlet trip.

I love the enviroment of the coastline in Knight Inlet. With or without a bear it is so beautiful.

Coastal Brown Bear, boar

The bear is surrounded by what looks like an endless bed of mussels. Taken at 700mm

Shearwaters arrive in Blackfish Sound.

Sooty Shearwater

Take Off

Sooty Shearwater

They come in flocks of a hundred or more skimming the surface of the ocean, dive bombing bait fish with a crash and splash.

Sooty Shearwater

Take Off

Whale Tail

A Humpback slamming and splashing the water. There were other whales in the area and Dall's Porpoise that seem to agitate this Humpy.

Juvenile Heron

No fear. This entertaining floof-ball hung out for awhile

Red Fox

From our Alaska trip.

Bison and Calf

The calf looks young it was very playful jumping and running next to Mom. They were seperated by a few kilometers from a herd of 20. At the pace Mom and calf were moving I'm sure they would have reached them within the hour. From our recent Northern BC, Yukon and Alaska trip.

Northern Hawk Owl Fledgling

It was very difficult to find the fledglings once they jumped from the nest. Yesterday 2 had fledged and 3 were still in the nest. This morning two in the nest one fledged while we were there. The adults were busy keeping an eye on them as they were scattered.

Northern Hawk Owl fledgling

One of the first of five to take the leap from the nest. From our recent trip to Alaska

The Exchange

The male on the right hunts to supply the female with Red Voles which was the main diet of the Hawk Owls in this area. The female would section the Voles, have a bite herself then distribute them to their hungry young.

Northern Hawk Owl

We had been struggling to get a photo of the adults when this one flew in very close to where we were standing. I moved very slowly to the left so I could capture the green background.

Now, where are the kids?

They had 5 little darlings spread over a large area. I've seen other owls hold back feeding until the owlets gather in one area. This Mom went to where they were which kept her very busy.

Long-tailed Jaeger

Perches are difficult to come by on the tundra so the Jaeger selects the next best thing. Deadhorse, Alaska a few miles from the Arctic Ocean.

Wood Bison

Part of the Nordquist/Liard Herd. Wood Bison are making a slow recovery from being hunted to near extinction.