We are addicted to cams that allows us to watch, for hours on end, the brown bears of Katami National Park, part of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, an active set of volcanos, in Alaska. If you go on to explore.org you will see dozens of cams to choose from all over world. Water holes in Africa, bird cams for those of you with an ornithological bent, cameras under water in oceans and rivers and aquariums, but the brown bears of Katami are our Zen.
There are several rivers and falls with cams where the bears gather to catch salmon. Salmon can be seen jumping the falls, and sometimes there is a brown bear at the top ready to catch them in midair. Other bears fish at the base of the falls. There is Brooks Falls cam, Riffles cam, Brooks Falls low, River Watch Bear Cam, and several others, some devoted to other wildlife like Bald Eagles. But Brooks Falls cam is our favoritie - the above link will take you to our favourite cam.
Lately we have been captured by a female brown bear. She has one cub and is not the dominant female of the groups. She is smart and persistent and lately very finicky. The other day she was fishing and this large dominant brown bear- #747 - kept charging her and stealing her catch. Undeterred she kept fishing, moving to various parts of the falls to try and avoid 747 to no avail. We found ourselves yelling at the cam and 747 to leave our girl alone.
Today as we write this, she is back at Brooks Falls. 747 is nowhere to be seen, and today, unlike the other day, she is fishing by putting her head under water.
Now here is what we have learned about brown bears and salmon. When they catch one, they strip the skin off one side first and eat it, then strip the skin off the other side and eat that, and then bite into the stomach and flesh area. Birds flock around the bear and wait for the pieces of salmon. Sometimes a wolf lurks in the background and will dart out and steal a fish.
Today our favourite girl is fishing and when she catches a salmon, she strips off one side and eats it and then gets this very bored look on her face and with great indifference lifts her massive paw and lets the salmon go and then returns to her fishing. A very finicky bear indeed and we are charmed by her.
It is shaping up to be a long, hot holiday weekend and we have a feeling we will be spending a large part of it, inside, sipping a cool one, watching bears fish in Alaska.
Go on the cam and check our Katami National Park and tell us whether you have ever seen a more beautiful place on earth where nature works so exquisitely well in balance of bears, fish, birds and the surrounding marshes and plains.
Happy Fourth Of July. "When in due course of human events....."(you know the rest).