1908_6303 Predator
This is the same Black Bear featured yesterday, known as Georgina, in full predator mode. She has caught a female Pink Salmon, but has her eye on a second salmon, glimpsed in the pool at the lower right (we're looking at the top of its head). She had wounded and disabled this fish when she saw a splash and chased down the one now in her jaws. A moment later she finished off the first salmon. A great feast on days when the salmon are running.
Not all days are like this. Water temperature is one of the keys - if the water is too warm, the fish stay offshore and wait. Meanwhile the bears gather on shore and wait. The photographers wait, too. It's a waiting game.
On this day, a fine, misty rain was sprinkling down, the temperature was cool for late August, conditions were right and the salmon were trying to sneak past half a dozen bears to reach their spawning pools upstream. Some made it and some didn't.
Photographed on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2019 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
1908_6303 Predator
This is the same Black Bear featured yesterday, known as Georgina, in full predator mode. She has caught a female Pink Salmon, but has her eye on a second salmon, glimpsed in the pool at the lower right (we're looking at the top of its head). She had wounded and disabled this fish when she saw a splash and chased down the one now in her jaws. A moment later she finished off the first salmon. A great feast on days when the salmon are running.
Not all days are like this. Water temperature is one of the keys - if the water is too warm, the fish stay offshore and wait. Meanwhile the bears gather on shore and wait. The photographers wait, too. It's a waiting game.
On this day, a fine, misty rain was sprinkling down, the temperature was cool for late August, conditions were right and the salmon were trying to sneak past half a dozen bears to reach their spawning pools upstream. Some made it and some didn't.
Photographed on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2019 James R. Page - all rights reserved.