"Wait--I'm Eating Dandelions and I Could Be Eating THAT!?
Meaning me--looking directly at yours truly. Of course, maybe that isn't what he/she was thinking. Perhaps it was just deciding on a pose?
This is Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada--my first foray into the Canadian Rockies and hopefully not my last. I was wowed by what I saw, but my trip was sadly rushed. I simply drove through Kootenay NP, and then spent less than two full days in Banff. That's not how I like to travel but had spent "too much" time in Oregon and Washington (as if one COULD spend too much time there) and a deadline was approaching. I arrived on the 19th of June and was supposed to be in Wash. DC by the 28th--and had 2700 miles to drive and two major stops left on my itinerary.
Anyway, I happened upon this bear who was munching on Dandelions only about 30 or 40 meters from the parking lot I'd stopped at. I got out of my car to start taking photos, never straying too far from the safety of my vehicle and only getting perhaps two meters closer. Eventually, he moved much closer--to within 15 to 20 meters. I remained outside of the car, but now stood right next to it--with the door open. In spite of being much closer, the resulting photos weren't as good--not that any of them turned out particularly well. It was completely overcast and hardly had time to set up my tripod. At 300mm, keeping the camera steady enough was difficult. At its closest approach, it did make one brief bluff at charging. By this time, there were about 20 others nearby, so an actual charge was unlikely in the extreme (I recall reading that a grizzly--and this was a grizzly for those that didn't recognize it as such--had never charged a large group of people).
Mediocre photos or no, it was SO cool to be so close to such an amazing creature.
"Wait--I'm Eating Dandelions and I Could Be Eating THAT!?
Meaning me--looking directly at yours truly. Of course, maybe that isn't what he/she was thinking. Perhaps it was just deciding on a pose?
This is Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada--my first foray into the Canadian Rockies and hopefully not my last. I was wowed by what I saw, but my trip was sadly rushed. I simply drove through Kootenay NP, and then spent less than two full days in Banff. That's not how I like to travel but had spent "too much" time in Oregon and Washington (as if one COULD spend too much time there) and a deadline was approaching. I arrived on the 19th of June and was supposed to be in Wash. DC by the 28th--and had 2700 miles to drive and two major stops left on my itinerary.
Anyway, I happened upon this bear who was munching on Dandelions only about 30 or 40 meters from the parking lot I'd stopped at. I got out of my car to start taking photos, never straying too far from the safety of my vehicle and only getting perhaps two meters closer. Eventually, he moved much closer--to within 15 to 20 meters. I remained outside of the car, but now stood right next to it--with the door open. In spite of being much closer, the resulting photos weren't as good--not that any of them turned out particularly well. It was completely overcast and hardly had time to set up my tripod. At 300mm, keeping the camera steady enough was difficult. At its closest approach, it did make one brief bluff at charging. By this time, there were about 20 others nearby, so an actual charge was unlikely in the extreme (I recall reading that a grizzly--and this was a grizzly for those that didn't recognize it as such--had never charged a large group of people).
Mediocre photos or no, it was SO cool to be so close to such an amazing creature.