This female Kodiak Brown Bear is on a mission, get fat! It’s late September and most likely, she’s pregnant, to give birth to cubs in the den over winter. She’s eating for more than one driving her to consume as many calories as possible while using as few as possible. So then, why during the Pink Salmon run is she spending time eating grass? How are beef cattle fattened up for the market? They eat lots of grass. The Kodiak Brown bear is doing the exact same thing with the same results. This female, coming up on nine hundred pounds, seems to know how to put on the weight.

Bringing this story back only truly requires ignoring urban myths. I’m standing out in the open. No hiding the gear on the tripod, myself or any scent I might have. I’m on the same side of the river as her, nothing between us if she chooses to run the thirty yards between us. My only concern is heat shimmer and telling her story. She strolled from where she was picking through the spent salmon to eat, past me to where she wanted to graze. She gave me no never mind in the process. Standing at the river’s edge, I’m eyelevel with her when she’s munching salmon, shooting up when she’s up eating grass.

It’s a fascinating world where you might have hours of hours without making a single click. Then in a matter of seconds, you make thousands. A Kodiak Brown’s pace is, well, whatever they so desire, with little changing their mind. They work off the lessons mom taught them their first three to four years and when it comes to getting fat, one stands out. Mom said to eat your vegetables.

Those eyes! The Great Gray Owl is a gorgeous critter with the most engaging, piercing eyes. The first goal is to find them, then get them in the viewfinder and then, then, select the best background. Wait, you don’t set up for the eyes? You want to see them big yellow peepers if you have a suckie background, so it has to be a priority. One must take a deep breath and not let the moment take hold of common sense. It’s a moment you want to forever cherish in your images and tell the story that engages the viewer. This is when a fast firing rate comes in handy as the owl scans left and right, up and down, using that huge facial disk to find its prey. In that process, you watch and fire as those eyes come down the lens barrel. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Its the fun and challenge of the stare of the Great Gray.

Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day in Yellowstone Nat’l Park! We had a marvelous day with some great encounters. We came across this bear jam yesterday afternoon. We were told by an onlooker that this is “Snow,” a 10 or 11-year-old griz. It is a “known” individual. There was a Bear Mngmt personnel on scene who was doing a marvelous job keeping the public safe and informing them of what they were seeing. I was surprised just how close he was letting the bear come to the crowd, who were for the most part, well-behaved.

In late fall, bears are on a mission. They want to get the last bit of fat they can stow away before hibernation. I call it panic time. Snow was in that process. It was obvious she wanted to go up the embankment where the folks were standing, cross the road and go up the hill to continue foraging. When she made that slight move to do so, she was scolded in no uncertain terms. It wasn’t her first encounter as she instantly changed her course. While she complied and the crowd all moved to keep up with her, she started to foam at the mouth. You can see a little in the photo above. That’s one of the first signs she’s not happy.

It’s just my opinion, but we are guests in Snow’s world. It is the public that should have been made to move so she can go about her life, eating to be prepared for hibernation. Yellowstone is not a zoo but a living laboratory, which we are a part of. It’s marvelous the public can see up close their wild heritage! There are times though I think we’re walking the line.

This gorgeous, majestic American Bison Bull had just one thing on its mind. Food! It was taking its time grazing the slope, following along an established game trail. When we first came up upon it, there was no photo. I could see the trail, I saw that there was better food beyond us so we just parked and waited. Sure enough, about forty-five minutes later it started to wander down the path seeing us in the pullout, sitting on the truck tailgate. I short time later it framed up the shot I had in mind, that nice headshot vertical. It knew what it was doing, he saw us.

Almost in the heart of Yellowstone, there was ‘cous! It was a delightful trio in fact, Bull, Cow & Calf. Not a family unit, but rather a cow with calf being haunted by a bull with making another calf on its mind. If they weren’t being pushed by over-eager (and ill-mannered guests) others, the family would have spent more time and we’d gotten to know them better. As it were, it was a delightful reunion as it had been well over a decade since I’d last had glass on ‘cous in The Park!

Kodiak Brown Bears like all bears, love their salmon. We tend to think of them standing at a fall catching the salmon fresh from the creek and eating only the finest sushi. Well, that does happen but more often, they go for the easy stuff. What’s the easy stuff? You can smell it a long ways away and I’m not talking about the bears. Not wanting to gross anybody out, but the bear was eating from a stagnant pool of about five hundred dead salmon that and been dead for days and days. It was rather disgusting! If it helps, it would pick through the putrid mound for the freshest, but that’s really not saying much. The thing is, all the bears visited that salmon pile, and they all pertaked! You’re simply lucky this is not a scratch-and-sniff blog post because looks are deceiving!