Tuesday, August 27, 2013

2 days and 2 bears in wells gray provincial park


We saw a traffic jam up the road and I noted this wee fella munching along the roadside so I stuck my camera out the window and took a shot and glad I did as a moment later he vanished into the dense underbrush. Taken with a 300m prime lens, this is a highly cropped image. 

Brilliant color dew-dropped blossoms greet us in the park.


Now back to our previous mystery bear.
The shoulder hump seems very defined, that and the light color claws is why I gauged this to be a young grizzly. I have seen many black bears of all colors, grew up around them though never saw one with such hump definition or such a defined face profile. I now wish I had closely checked the foot imprints in the dirt to see how they looked.





poster identity profiles taken from fish and wildlife site http://www.fws.gov/pacific/lawenforcement/Sam%20Stuff/Aug%202009.html


Characteristics of a Grizzly Bear


As fast as the water flows

Helmcken Falls, Wells Gray Provincial Park BC.
 It was overcast and cool so I wore a slicker just in case.

 Absolutely stunning falls with spray mist climbing the canyon walls.
 The trail along the ridge affords a spectacular view of the falls.


Earlier in the day I captured a surprise shot. I was manually focusing on the female chipping sparrow who was rapidly fluttering her wings and when the shutter clicked this is what I got; a second later the male was gone. On that note, have a great day.


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Grand vacation; The Bear Tale of exploring BC in comfort.

Hello all, well it has been one fantastic summer for my sweetie and I. We took the plunge and bought a used truck and trailer to travel through BC for six weeks, whoo-hoo! It was the best camping experience, I am still savouring the thrill of not having to battle mosquitoes all night long. Oh how I love our little trailer, it's nice to have a bit of comfort at our age. We are not extravagant people, we go out camping cause we like to hear the frogs and early birds sing as we waken, the trees creak an talk with the breeze, and gentle licking waves upon the shore, so no tv or radio for us, just pure nature.
Face to face; and speaking of face to face with nature, my sweetie got to meet this fella face to face with about five feet of air, very still air between them when he was getting the trailer ready to hook up to the truck.  Gerald jumps into the trailer motioning hands while speaking to me yet no sound is emitting. "what" I say and read his lips as he repeats soundlessly while pointing that there is a bear outside. Excitedly "where" say I promptly opening the screen door of the trailer, "o-there" and quickly close the screen then attempt to take this shot.
The photo is blurry cause he was that close as I excitedly take a shot through the doorway of the trailer, what an adrenaline rush.
 We waited till he moved on a few campsites away then took a few shots with telephoto lens as we did not want to add stress to a scrawny hungry bear. With due diligence we stopped by the info booth at the entrance to Wells Gray Park to inform them of the bear as I believed it to be a young hungry Grizzly but staff said the ears were too big so this was a cinnamon black bear as the Grizz are at higher elevation this time of year but I believe it to be a young grizzly as it does have a shoulder hump and light color claws.
Anyone out there have an opinion as to identity?
Have a great day all and big bear hugs to ya!