Grizzly

Now and then, I think photography would be a lot easier if I shortened my list of photography subjects that I like to take pictures of. I would have a lot less to carry if I just took landscape pictures or just flowers. Or maybe just take pictures of birds; I can find them year-round. Or how about just predators? I can spend a lot more time watching out for them and getting better pictures with more opportunities. But I would be tired of sitting on my butt while waiting.

Over the last number of years, more of my free time has been spent focusing on things close to where I live and learning even more about the nature that is found within this place. Occurring naturally as I started realizing what I wanted to read, listen to, and watch documentaries happened to be about the area and species I’m directly familiar with. In this small part of the world, which is not that small, there is so much to see and learn. Just yesterday, I started reading “Grizzly Bear Science and the Art of a Wilderness Life” by Bruce McLellan. Even after reading the first couple of chapters last evening, I learned something new about this big guy and all the other bears like him.

Life is a lot easier when you know what you like and, just as important, what you don’t. But you still want to be challenged in life, both physically and mentally. Mentally, there is so much to learn about the subjects I like to take pictures of. There is no magic camera that can replace learning. Not only do I get to challenge myself on getting better pictures of the various subjects but I also learn how they are all connected. As for the physical part, what better way to stay active and healthy than to keep getting out there to enjoy nature and get pictures of all the moments I come across.

Now, regarding this picture. Before anyone asks if this grizzly, M122, is still up. This last fall, after spending a lot of time outdoors exploring, I was able to see him soon after one of our few snowfalls. It was in the second half of November, and I think a few days later he called it a season. For the last several years in the Bow Valley, the bear season starts when he wakes up and finishes when he goes to bed. If that pattern continues, the next bear season will start in a few months.

Grizzly

We had just gotten out of the woods on our hike, I started scanning the slopes on either side of us. I would say about eighty or ninety meters away from us were two large, dark-like objects. I thought, those can’t be rocks. We stopped so I could take my binoculars out and have a look. As soon as I got them in focus, I could see two young grizzly bears. Both were sitting back and looking around. They looked to be three years of age. I wondered if they were two cubs that were pushed away from their mother this year and were going to spend a year or two together before going their separate ways. A minute later, I saw something moving below them behind a tree. It was a large grizzly. It was their mother. She looked at us for a few seconds and went about her business. Then they moved into the trees near her, with her cubs right behind her.

 Our hiking plan was to continue walking away from the general area, and that’s what we ended up doing. Looking in their general direction a few times with no luck of seeing them again. All three looked very healthy. The mother had done a good job of gaining the weight they needed to survive the coming winter. We could see she had been digging in the area for roots, a lot of work for the much needed calories. Until it's time to sleep, the search for calories will continue. October is the month when most bears will go to sleep for the winter. It was not a good berry season in the valley in some of the places this year, and not much better higher up. The bears had to move around to find food elsewhere they needed. This mother, with experience behind her, knew where to go to find the food she and her cubs needed. She would be passing this knowledge on to them so they could survive on their own. And one or both were females, they would know how to look after their cubs one day.

Grizzly

Dandelions grow from seeds that have germinated, after remaining in the seeding stage for 8 to 15 weeks. As the plants grow up from the ground, the roots go deeper into the ground. The plant grows leaves that are between 9 to 30 centimeters long, the roots can be 18 to 54 cm long underground. The bud will sprout from the upper part of the roots. The flower can bloom during all of the growing season, but tends to bloom most often in spring in The Rockies. The flowers will open and close depending on the weather. Each plant can produce up to 12 flowers each year. With each flower producing 174 seeds, one plant can produce over 2,000 seeds. On an acre of land, 240 million seeds could be produced annually. Each seed comes with its own “helicopters”, called the Pappus. The seeds spread by the wind and by all of us who have blown on them. The seeds that find a sunny area will grow into a new dandelion. But for some dandelions, the ending is different.

Black Bear

The other week I went out birding during the evening. Sprayed on my favorite summer cologne, “Deet 30% by Chanel for men '', placed the bear spray canister on the outside of the pack and off I went. With lack of heat and smoke and a nice breeze moving through the trees, it was good to be out. I saw a small hawk in the woods, perched on a fallen tree. But before I was able to put the camera on it, it flew away. But the Lesser Scaup with three offspring were in no hurry, who I saw soon after. A few hundred meters later as I came around a turn, about 20 meters in front of me was a nice surprise. A young black bear must have heard me or saw me through the shrubs because it was already a couple of feet up a tree for safety. I touched my bear spray, but seeing the bear was more scared of me than I was about it, the spray stayed put. Nonetheless, seeing there was no way to create space between us for me to pass, I did a 180 and left the bear where it was. I connected with another trail, but on my way back from that trail, I heard a sound to the left of me. I looked into the tall grass toward the shrubs below the trail. A bear’s head popped up and looked at me. It was another black bear, but this one was cinnamon in colour and a year older. The trail was wider, so I moved to the other side of the trail and kept walking while looking toward the bear. It stopped looking at me and went back to eating the white dogwood berries. I stopped for a quick look, all I saw were moving shrubs and a couple of ears. Before I got to the car, I got a close look at a perched Great Blue Heron on a fallen tree. I got some images and I left. Another good bird walk. In the mountains, it’s rare I only come across birds during the bird walks. Always have to be ready for anything. This season the buffaloberry crop has not been good at all in the Bow Valley, the bears are travelling a lot to locate the calories they need before they head for the den in a few months.

Grizzly Family

The day I came across this mother griz and her two four-month old cubs, it was a cold mixed weather evening. It was less than two weeks since they had come out of the den and walked to the bottom of the valley. The setting was beautiful, early summer, the mountains still covered by the previous winter snow. Plenty to eat for the hungry mother, she would have been half asleep while nursing her cubs who were born in January. She now needs to add weight for herself and to keep producing milk for her cubs. I had missed seeing this female with her previous two newborn cubs in 2019. Sadly, she lost one of the cub at the start of the season and sometime toward the end the second cub. Most likely to an adult male grizzly. Last year, she mated and enjoyed a great berry season, which helped give her more weight coming out of the den and two healthy cubs.

But, this natural occurrence is called infanticide, which involves the killing of young offspring by an adult animal of the same species. It was to take place again about 24 hours after this picture was taken. Infanticide is not only just part of wildlife, it was a practice that took place throughout human history around the world as well. In nature, it’s just as common as in the past. I first learned about it listening to my unofficial teacher, David Attenborough, when I started watching wildlife documentaries as a kid. The practice is very common among the members of the Felidae family, among lions, tigers and other cats. It does not stop there, it has been observed throughout the animal kingdom, from the microscopic world, to insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. In bears, it’s assumed for some of the reasons it occurs, for the male to be able to mate with the offspring's mother sooner and as well to remove future competition.

Twenty-four hours after the picture was taken, about a few kilometers away. The mother and her cubs were busy eating, in came a storm in the form of an adult male grizzly bear, out of nowhere. The mother was doing her best to protect her cubs, the cubs running for safety and the male chasing the cubs. When the storm had passed, the male was nowhere to be seen and no sight of cubs. The area was closed off to let the female grizzly deal with her loss.

Just off the top of my head, this year so far, a couple of black bears were lost on the road, a female grizzly F156 on the highway, leaving behind two yearlings and a female grizzly F130 on the railway with one of her yearling, leaving behind the other. These unnatural deaths are much harder to take. With natural occurrences, as sad as they are, that is the way of nature. As the years pass, the joy I had watching the two little cubs playing, having a small fight for ten seconds and just hanging out with their mother. Will be the memories that will dominate my thoughts when I look back at this image.

Grizzly

With wildlife I have little to no control with what type of image I’ll be coming back with, or even if I’m going to get an image. Every time I go outside, it’s with the hope of enjoying the outdoors and perhaps I’ll come back with a few good images. I’m happy with one good image. If I could control everything in front of me, I would always get the pictures I want. Knowing that’s not possible, I had to change my mindset and challenged myself to find an image of the wildlife that I will like in all sorts of situations. An ideal picture for most is the bear clearly in view and looking toward you when the picture is taken. I have seen many for whom the picture is more important than the animals, they will whistle, yell, honk their horns and more to get the wildlife to look toward them for an image. Often having a good day and getting a good picture is about mental attitude. Every day when I go out, I have very little control of what the world is going to do, but all the control how I’m going to react to it. Same goes for this bear’s picture. I tried to play no role with what the bear was going to do next, But I saw a good image of the situation in front of me, I took the image that I liked, reminding me what the mood of the moment was when I saw this bear walking on the side of the road.

Grizzly

I got this picture of the well-known larger male (M122) grizzly in November. Whenever I see the image, a lot of things go through my head, far beyond the morning I got the picture. From the first time I saw him many years ago, to all the times since. He’s no longer the dominant male grizzly he used to be, that should not be a surprise. The average male grizzly lives into their mid 20s, M122 is about 22/23 years of age. The last few years, including this one, he has been seen with bad scars from his battles, on his body and most of all on his face.

This season was no different, with his encounters with males and few with females. After one battle he hung around a meadow for a few days, waiting to recover and be on the move again. It’s the life of a dominant male, always on the move from the time he wakes up from his deep winter sleep to the day he is done for the season. M122 does not want to move into the background and take it easy for his last few years, we figure on his last day he will go out fighting. Looking closely, you can see some of the scars from this year. 

Over the years I have seen him a number of times, each one more interesting than the last. One of my favorite encounters was this summer. I was driving into Kootenay NP, chasing a beautiful rainbow. Parking lot for one of the trailheads was coming up, and I was going to pull in there and take a picture of the rainbow. I parked the car and stepped out with the camera in my hands under the falling rain.  As soon as I looked toward the start of the trail, M122 was coming onto the parking lot. He was less than ten meters from me, he looked toward me as I got back into the car. I changed my lens, lowered the window and took his pictures as he ate berries. He was making his way deeper into the Kootenay NP along the road.

I got back into the car and drove in the same direction, I passed him as he was moving and grazing. About a km ahead there was a better spot for the rainbow that was still in the sky. The rainbow lasted for 15 to 20 minutes, getting more than a few pictures. I sat back and removed the water from my equipment as I watched for the bear that was moving in my direction.  I saw the shrubs move, he was moving at a good speed and no one else was the wiser. With the lack of winter coat in the middle of the summer, you could see more of the battle scars he was carrying. He comes out of the shrubs, onto a small open space. Like a happy cub, he hopped/trotted across it. He was having fun. I smiled as he reached the other end, he slowed down and walked into the shrubs. Then into the woods behind, making his way to his next adventure.

Grizzly

When going for a hike, the body gets to decide when it's enough. The mind tends to get one in trouble. For me the right length for a hike is where I can still follow through with the plans for the following day. For this hike I hit the road as soon as daylight showed up. About a kilometer in, I was off the road to check what was happening along the river. When the final destination is not that important, going from A to B as fast as I can is also not that important. It’s more like Billy in the Family Circus, always taking the long way.

About 5 kilometers in, I wandered away from the road toward the river again. Among other things I saw a day old grizzly bear tracks in the snow, heading in the same direction as I. Got back on the road, taking pictures along the way. Two kilometers later I see more grizzly tracks, this time on the road, clearly visible in the light fallen snow from the night before. Tracks were the same size as before, of a large grizzly, but these were only a few hours old. The bear was wandering on the road before going in the direction as I. Not far from the road, it rubbed on a tree before moving farther away. From there I decided to stay on the road as the walk continued. I was getting warm, another layer came off and I kept the camera in my hands after trying to take a few pictures of chickadees I came across. 

I was about a kilometer from the last track’s sighting, 60 to 70 meters in front of me a large grizzly bear popped onto the road, one paw at a time from the left side. It was M136, or better known by his street name, “split-lip”. He looked toward me as I stood there, middle of the road with my right hand touching the bear spray container. After a quick look he started crossing the road and I relaxed. He stepped off the road and a few seconds later he started moving away from me. Soon he was out of my sight, I then walked to the spot where he got on the road to observe and take pictures of his fresh tracks. The legs were still feeling good, but this was a good time to listen to the mind. And it was telling me to head back.

Grizzly

According to researchers, play is a voluntary behaviour that is repeated several times and it does not seem to have an obvious function. For example, bear cub running, and not from a large male grizzly. We have seen dogs and cats playing and some of us have seen wildlife playing. Just have to pop onto your computer and it does not take long to find a video of bear cubs playing for example. I have seen the behaviour with my own eyes of four month old cubs to a 22-year-old male grizzly playing. Birds have been observed playing, reptiles and the list increases as more studies are conducted. The challenge seems to be trying to find the reasoning behind it, what are the benefits of using all that energy for playing. 

One theory is it may increase a brain’s functionality, helping increase the number of neuron connections. Which in turn can help the animals anything they do, hunting, mating, etc…, increasing the chance of surviving in the wild. 

But when I saw this cub and his mother playing with each other, it was easier to see for those of us lucky enough to observe bears a number of times. I was not thinking why, all I could do was smile and remember to take a few pictures. It was one of my favourite moments watching them take turns chasing each other.

Grizzly

Why did the grizzly cross the road? Joke aside, in regards to this adult male grizzly, why did he show up in the front country. He might have crossed valleys, passes and more to get where he was spotted in the Bow Valley one evening. Eating berries, which at least in the front country, are everywhere. Which is very good news for the two species of bear and all those other members of the wildlife who consume berries.

Every season few bears get spotted in the front country that did not or do not call it home. Often during mating season large males show up looking for mates, this year was no exception. I saw one very large male who I had not seen before, courting a female that spends her time between the front and back country. 

During the berry season, bears are willing to travel to get the calories they need to survive the coming winter. Perhaps the valley he calls home, the berry crop there is not as good, so in search for food could have led him into the Bow Valley. With plenty of food for a number of weeks, its worth for this bear to be in an unfamiliar land, avoiding larger males. Just so he can put on weight for the deep sleep, he will go into this fall.

Or, he could have been looking for a new home, a place where making a living is easier than where he’s from. Time may provide some answers or it may not, nature is full of mysteries. For now, he’s a healthy bear, with no visible battle scars and is getting lots to eat. 

Grizzly

Most people who have seen a grizzly, usually see them eating in a field or on the side of a road. And for this reason most of us have this unrealistic image of a grizzly bear as to what it does when not eating.  Even those studying grizzlies or guiding in area where grizzlies are frequently spotted, don’t know everything about a grizzly. They know lots, more than most of us, but only when we start putting our collective knowledge together we start getting an understanding who they are. Even then, these apex predators are full of surprises. 

 M136, shown in the image, has been going after grizzly female’s cubs for the last few years, this year he had success. Killing one of the two and half year-old cubs and them consuming it over two days. A colleague could not see but could hear from his truck the bones of the cubs being crushed as it was being eaten. M136 was not planning to leave behind much, even going after a Common Raven, who had grabbed a piece of meat.

M136 has gone after other cubs successfully and including killing and eating a sub-adult grizzly few years back. What remained of the sub-adult grizzly was found including the GPS collar he was wearing and M136 was not far from the scene. Some of the reasons for this behaviour by grizzlies and other species are to reduce competition for mating and for food.

 The day I got this picture of “split-lip”, his street name. An injury he got when he was a young adult during a fight with another grizzly. I was in the middle of a parking lot and scanning way up with my camera for Mountain Goats. When I heard some sounds across the parking lot in the grass, it was M136 eating dandelions. He took a quick look at me and continued with his dinner. Perfect, he knew I was in the area and was not concerned with me. My goal became not to have him be concerned about me and forget about looking for goats. I got a few images of him, including this one, with him leaving behind his business card as he crossed the parking lot to consume more dandelions.

Grizzly

I was making my way home and was about to come around a turn to descend on the road I was travelling on. Just before I was about to do that, saw him walking along the road. The large male 126 was taking his time, stopping to dig up roots to eat. He was in no hurry, he was less concerned about covering the distance and more with taking in calories. I had seen him a few weeks before, he was doing a good job holding his weight. Being 12 to 13 years of age and having the weight on him, there are only few male grizzlies he has to worry about. Being near the start of the mating season, he’s going to be covering lots of area looking for females too mate with. With dark clouds moving it and the temperature dropping, a small snow storm moved in, giving me a better picture than I had expected before heading home. Leaving him digging a hole to look for food.

Grizzly

It was the middle of a snow storm, I was out exploring, seeing what was out there, seeing what had moved through. Came across wolf tracks in a few different places, heard two howls in the distance. The pack it seems was separated. Came to an open area, looked east and there was something in the distance moving in my direction, slowly. Pulled out my binoculars and through the snow I could see it was a large grizzly, moving through the falling snow middle of November. It was M122. Exchanged the binoculars for the camera, it was tough trying to get the bear in focus. I got this picture of him from the distance, he is a bit out of focus and with many falling snowflakes front of him. In the end, I got a pretty good representation of what I saw that morning, before leaving the area until I saw him later that day. But that’s a story for another time.

Grizzly

I was heading back to the town of Banff after another fun day, I decided I needed to look for mountain goats first. As I was getting ready to make a right turn on the highway, I looked across, saw vehicles stopped and folks looking through the fence. Just by the reaction, it looked as if they were looking at something large and it was heading east. I kept that in mind as I went to look for goats. No goats, I headed for the town, did some birding and with just over an hour left before sunset. I decided to go and take sunset pictures, but first I wanted to see what folks were looking at along the highway, it might have been a bear and see if it came onto the side road.

Luck was on my side, it was a large grizzly and he decided to take the side road. It was taking its time, walking on and along the road. I backed up and called Banff Dispatch, if the bear kept going east, in about a km it would come across about 20 or more photographers near the road getting ready to watch and take pictures of the sunset. Knowing the road well, I watched the bear from a few hundred meters away. He was not in a hurry, taking his time. There was one small vehicle behind him, with three ladies from the states inside. They were going in the same direction and were afraid to drive by the bear. They kept the windows closed and were excited and afraid, even more when we later had a chat about the grizzly M126.

The bear after defecating on the middle of the road, went into the woods and it seemed he was not coming back out. I updated dispatch with what I saw and told them I was taking sunset pictures soon and would update them if anything changed. Now I had to make a decision, about half a km away was a large grizzly bear, I was parked 10 meters away from where I wanted to take a picture. There was still about 30 minutes before the sunset, but with the clouds moving in, the time was now. My car facing the direction where the bear would be coming from, set my camera in the car to go out, take a picture and back in my car. About 100 meters away were the rest of the people, with no idea about the grizzly. Just as I opened the car door, the grizzly came around the turn, walking the middle of the road. That evening there were going to be no sunset pictures for me, I took the attached picture and then backed my car toward the other photographers to let them know. Saw flashing light, help had arrived. Two wildlife colleagues who were having a busy evening, rolled down their windows, both smiling. As we all looked at the large grizzly walking middle of the road toward us, one said, “Amar, so where is this bear you call about”. I smiled, looked at M126, 12 to 15 years of age and easily over 400 lbs. “it’s that small cub walking toward us.”

Grizzly

More then few times I have seen this cub sit down and stare off into the distance. I wonder what’s going on in its head.