The salmon are running upstream again at Brooks Falls, Alaska, and the grizzlies are in the water waiting to take them.
Go here to watch live; it’s one of nature’s great spectacles.
A screenshot:
The bears are quite patient: I’ve been watching a while and haven’t seen a nom yet.
Somebody get those bears some bagels and cream cheese stat!
b&
I saw a salmon! The grizzlies didn’t seem to notice though.
Salmon and bagel! Yum.
A bear in the middle just got a fish….
b&
I don’t want to tell them their business but shouldn’t they be facing the other way, so the fish are swimming toward them?
That was my thought too.
Maybe the fish can’t tell a bear’s rear end from a rock? (There’s probably an off-color joke in there somewhere.)
Maybe the bears can more easily catch the fish on their way back from failed jumps up the river?
Bear in the front near the camera just got a fish and left, and the bear behind him moved into his spot. Must be the good spot.
Besides fishing, what human job does this most closely resemble?
Fonzanooning?
I had to look that up, but it was well worth it!
My Google-fu seems to be failing me….
b&
Jackie Mason to the rescue.
I don’t remember what we used to call this mythical activity… way too much time has passed.
In our family, when we were kids, the term we used for a person that engages in that activity was “murfenderfer.” (sp)
No idea of the etymology except that we first heard the term, and the activity, from our parents, teasing us at bath time.
Thanks…I think.
Now I’m just afraid of Rule 34….
b&
How ’bout a hybrid of panning for gold and grasping for dollar bills in a whirlwind.
Top left bear gets a fish and the bear behind it get all submissive and needy.
The bear was in the rear because of being submissive! I just saw the submissive one move to the front then move back and far far away when the original bear came back from its snack.
Patience is a superior survival characteristic.
The impatient never survive beyond a year or so of adulthood (I speculate).
Of course, patience can be mistaken for divine intervention (e.g. I sat and prayed and prayed and prayed and a fish finally showed up…my prayers were answered!!)
They should douse for fish. It’s very effective in finding aquifers if you look long enough 😉
Looks like the bears are getting doused just fine already.
It’s funny how such potentially ferocious monsters can suddenly look all sweet, innocent and cuddly when they’re licking their lips and patiently waiting for a bite to eat. I’m watching it thinking “Ahh, how sweet” but if I met one in the wild I think that’d be the last thing on my mind!
The Stop-and-drop strategy might work.
Then again, it might not.
….said the guy exiting the woods minus half his face and his entire right arm 🙂
I was there a few years ago, and all the bears were fishing forwards. This must’ve been “Backwards Fishing Day.” If you go there, be careful, especially in the tall grass near the falls. The Brownies go there to nap after feasting, and I damn near stepped on one, who rose to his/her full height, took a good long look at me, before resuming his/her repose.
So, what would you recommend, Depends?
I had stronger bowels and bladder then, but it was still a close thing!
Strangely, just a few moments before, a Chicago Cubs cap floated down the trout stream we were working, very near the falls. Coincidence…?
That definitely would have had me worried.
It’s funny how when you see bear documentaries (which inevitably feature for the most of it bears eating fish), you don’t get the sense, as you do with this, just how patient and focused the bears are.
I was thinking the same thing. Documentaries just show the highlights.
Well, what else are they gonna do? It’s not like they’ve got decent wireless reception up there. Hell, I bet they don’t even have DSL, the poor things.
b&
I’ve been watching the bears do this all day and they seem a little dim-witted. One would think the bears would have come up of a more systematic way of catching salmon, given that they’ve been sitting around all day waiting for the fish to come to THEM.
I’ve smart ones perch on top of the waterfall in the middle of the fish flow, snatching them out of air. Either the smart ones… or the dominant ones. Last year, anyway, there seemed to be a definite pecking order.
Five minutes, five noms… all to the hugest bears, who also seem the most aggressive about it. Small dude on the waterfall has the worst record. Fish flying by its nose every couple of seconds.
Camera is focused right now on a couple of cubs at the side of the river. Mom just walked over to check on them and then went back to the stream. Thanks for posting this link again. I loved it last year and am glad to see it this year.
🙂 , again!
I am going to call it the FLY-CAM. It is cool when a fly crawls the camera lenses recording the Bears and Salmons.
Does anyone know why the bears don’t eat where they catch the salmon? They move a few yards away before nomming and then return.
I just saw one nom! Awesome!
Mom and bunch of babies there right now!!!! (8:41pm EST)
…and did you see the fish practically jump into the mama bear’s mouth just now?!!
Yes! If you haven’t seen it yet, please watch the video they have up about the momma bear and cubs.. freakin’ awesome.