JDW Photos and Life

Enjoy two more mushrooms growing on the forest floor surrounded by tiny ferns. These shots are a little deceptive in scale as both mushrooms were very small. The ferns are about the size of a blade of grass. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

After spending our morning photographing the bears, we rested a bit and then headed out to Fort Abercrombie State Park. There are some great hiking trails through the forests that make you think you are on the set of spooky movie or some enchanted land. Capturing the broad dynamic range from the dark shadows to the bright spots of sun peeking through the canopy is a challenge. Most all of the photos I will share in this forest are a blend of 5 different exposures trying to capture the scene. The forest is constantly going through decay and growth. You see moss covered trees and ground plus plenty of ferns and fungi. This tree is still very much alive while supporting a variety of organisms. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

A long post today. If you are not into stories, look at the photo and move on! This is the last of the bear photos for the majority of our trip. I only photographed one more bear during our stay (a future post) so you get my bear story now. This photo is somewhat typical of the Kodiak rivers during the salmon run. You see the fishermen huddled together when a bear is near. As the bear moves from one part of the creek to another, anyone in the departing section is calling to the next set of fishermen to be aware. The common term when a bear is on the move toward you is "Hey Bear". When you start hearing a lot of "hey bear"s, you need to be paying attention! My daughter and I decided to go fishing one morning in this same river (Buskin River) at this same location. We are all dressed up in our waders and are fishing with salmon egg sacks. On the day (9/17) of these bear photos, there were salmon everywhere. On the day we went fishing, there were few to be seen (typica...

The first job after catching a fish is to take it to the bank (pun intended). Once there, that big bear paw finishes the job and it's mealtime. Do you see what I see in the background? More about that tomorrow. All the action attracts the attention of one of the cubs so it's time to high-tail it to see if there are any leftovers. Despite being family, it is best to approach a bear eating her salmon VERY carefully. You see the cub trying to read whether mom is ready to share just yet. The seagull decides he does not need to be very close at this stage and quietly walks away for the moment! Mom left a few scraps and headed back into the river and caught another fish taking it to the nearest bank once again - much further away from us. The other cubs slowly made their way back to mom as she was getting a bit far away from their morning nap location. I'm sure they knew their time at this river was about to end and it would be time to go back into the woods for the day. Thanks, ...

As mom entered the river, she took pause to survey the situation so I decided a little B&W silhouette would be a good choice. Not long after, she went fishing with a big splash. Sure enough, she grabs a nice sized salmon by the tail. As typical, she then hauls it to the bank to eat it. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

As mom headed to the other side of the river bend, two of the cubs collapsed back down while the other watched where mom was going. Do you see what is in the foreground? Yes, that is a destroyed fly rod when a fisherman had to leave quickly. I'm assuming that was a spare rod or something since he wasn't carrying it at the time of departure! Ol' Salmon Eye decided it was time to pester the nearest sibling again while the third cub tried to ignore them both. The ruckus continued and interrupted his nap anyway - besides, we don't want mom to get too far away. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

Mom finished crossing the stream and headed towards the cubs. As she came out of the river, we could see just how big she was! She barely paused at the cubs for a moment to make sure everything was OK.  All three cubs had nestled down in a heap to relax and/or snooze a bit. She then continued to the other side of the river bend to continue her hunting. You have to accept a bit of motion blur in these photos due to me watching the bears instead of paying a little attention to camera settings! Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

While the cubs were napping and playing around with each other, mom was out in the river still fishing. These are NOT quality photos. I failed to manage the back-lighting and odd color balance as I continue to endorse my title as amateur photographer. To get rid of the blue haze and a better brown on the bear results in everything else golden. The first photo shows her snorkeling in some relatively deep water (with a nice gull capture in the back). The second photo shows her success! The third photo shows her continuing to cross a deep section of the stream. The final photo shows her take a quick look our way to make sure we were behaving before she continued the crossing to her cubs. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

You remember the cub that first played with the rod case? Yeah, ol' wormy butt. He went across the stream to pester his other sibling that was taking a nap. I have erased the tapeworm and cropped the photo such that the end of it at at the lower right of this crop. I am convinced that salmon must be laced with tryptophan as two of these cubs wanted to sleep! The second cub that was playing with the rod case joined the other two and sat down right in front of the sleepy sibling! It was almost as if she was asking for a back scratch with those great claws! Sleepy bear had to move and that must have scratched her itch as the bear is giving a similar look a dog gives when getting a tail scratch. He then stops enjoying the attention and realizes we are staring at him! He really did not care. All three headed off into the thicket shortly after this photo. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

I have more graphic photos of tapeworm if anyone really thinks they wish to see it. At its worse, there were three worms ranging in length from 2 feet to well over 10 feet as he walked away. After wormy-butt left the other cub alone, she decided to check out the rod case too giving it a few good chews. But even that got a bit boring and it was time to move on as the other two cubs had joined forces across the river a bit closer to mom. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

The two cubs continued to wrestle a little longer. The instigator rolled her to her belly and then walked away like come on! I believe the other just wanted a nap after breakfast. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

One of the cubs decided it was time to play after that headshake. The best way to get your sibling interested is to grab a mouthful of neck. Note how the non-instigating cub has not changed position an any of these shots (yesterday and today) until more aggressive wrestling. I wonder if salmon have an equivalent to  tryptophan in bears as this bear looks to be in a trance and wanted to just lounge undisturbed! We WILL continue this wrestling match. Ok, dude.... enough is enough - get off me! I'm not kidding you worm infested nasty brother!!! Yes, I could have edited the tapeworm out of this photo but it is nature and I like nature (though I don't like tapeworms). You know that warning that states consuming raw fish can lead to problems? Well, this cub has an intestine full of problems (with later photos as further proof). That rod case got a really close view! Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

After watching the sunrise and moving around a bit, we drove down down to the Buskin River (very near their house). This area is a formal state park and is a popular fishing location. You walk from the parking lot down a wooded semi-steep embankment to the river. The river makes a bend at this point so you can see two directions. People were already up on the bank as a mom and three cubs had taken over the area pushing the fishermen out of the water. There is a small rock island in this bend that had two of cubs lounging after their salmon breakfast. Breakfast was so good, one of the cubs decided he looked good with some salmon "eye shadow" for the morning! You can see a bit of what was keeping them entertained in this photo. The cubs were playing with fishing gear left behind following a hurried move away by the fisherman. The bears come in relatively quickly and all you can do is keep your distance. If you are fishing in the river, you don't always have a path back to w...

Heavy clouds can be a curse in wildlife photography but scattered morning clouds are ideal for sunrise shots! The road between the house and downtown Kodiak has a nice overlook facing east southeast to view the sunrise and the city / harbor. There is something satisfying about seeing locals stop at this location, drink their coffee, and then head on into work. The locals appear to truly appreciate the beauty this place offers. We did not do anything exciting on 9/16 but we were greeted with a great sunrise on 9/17. To watch a sunrise, you really need to have 30 - 45 minutes set aside as the colors and views are constantly changing during that time. We were taking Lauren to work this morning so our time a a little abbreviated but we still saw a great sunrise. These three photos were taken at 5 minute intervals (10 minute total lapse). The sunrise was still not for another 35 minutes after the last shot. These photos were all hand-held as I didn't mess around with a tripod. Thanks, D...

After picking up the crab for dinner, we walked around a bit to appreciate the boats in the harbor. The skies were heavy overcast all day making for a very dim light. However, those conditions can help bring out the bright colors of the boats. Another bonus was very little wind that evening providing relatively quiet water for the photos. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

We visited the Kodiak Lab Aquarium in the afternoon. It had recently re-opened to the public following the COVID shutdown. They had a touch-tank full of critters. We saw several families enjoying the experience. There is not a lot to do in Kodiak if you are not hunting and fishing. This lab is one of the few opportunities. They also had a multi-story aquarium with some decent sized fish but it did not make for good pictures plus the glass needed cleaning. I was able to get a view of one of the crabs (no clue the type) in the aquarium. After leaving the aquarium, we went to the docks and bought some Dungeness Crab off the boat for dinner. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/