LAKE EVA - CHICAGOF ISLAND
Excitement never ends…. this morning we woke up to Steve’s (our Expedition Leader) voice but not at 7:00am, like it regularly happens, it was a little earlier, this time it was to announce that we had our first sighting of a brown bear (Ursus arctos). A few minutes later we spotted 2 more bears, they were closer to the shore and we could tell they were having breakfast, eating a bunch of barnacles from the rocks and a few servings of beach rye grass. Bears are omnivorous; they eat nearly any edible material including: fish, small (and some large) mammals, birds, insects, fruits, berries, nuts and succulent vegetation. Now was the time when we all needed to be quiet, so we wouldn’t scare the bears. They have poor sight but excellent hearing and sense of smell. We spent quite a long time watching them and seizing every opportunity for a photo. Brown bears are distinctive from black bears mainly by their prominent shoulder humps; they are very territorial and their behavior is unpredictable under the best circumstances.
While the bears were finishing breakfast, we continued out trek towards Lake Eva for the morning activities - hikes and kayaking. We knew we were in the middle of bear central, so large, tight groups continued on, chanting and exclaiming “Yo bear” to make our presence known to all local bears. In brown bear country, sane people walk slowly, talk and whistle and shake cans full of pebbles. Prolonged observations are best conducted from trees, as brown bears don’t climb tress.
And I have to say that our techniques were a success… we all came back in one piece and thrilled after one more taste of the amazing wilderness of southeast Alaska.
Excitement never ends…. this morning we woke up to Steve’s (our Expedition Leader) voice but not at 7:00am, like it regularly happens, it was a little earlier, this time it was to announce that we had our first sighting of a brown bear (Ursus arctos). A few minutes later we spotted 2 more bears, they were closer to the shore and we could tell they were having breakfast, eating a bunch of barnacles from the rocks and a few servings of beach rye grass. Bears are omnivorous; they eat nearly any edible material including: fish, small (and some large) mammals, birds, insects, fruits, berries, nuts and succulent vegetation. Now was the time when we all needed to be quiet, so we wouldn’t scare the bears. They have poor sight but excellent hearing and sense of smell. We spent quite a long time watching them and seizing every opportunity for a photo. Brown bears are distinctive from black bears mainly by their prominent shoulder humps; they are very territorial and their behavior is unpredictable under the best circumstances.
While the bears were finishing breakfast, we continued out trek towards Lake Eva for the morning activities - hikes and kayaking. We knew we were in the middle of bear central, so large, tight groups continued on, chanting and exclaiming “Yo bear” to make our presence known to all local bears. In brown bear country, sane people walk slowly, talk and whistle and shake cans full of pebbles. Prolonged observations are best conducted from trees, as brown bears don’t climb tress.
And I have to say that our techniques were a success… we all came back in one piece and thrilled after one more taste of the amazing wilderness of southeast Alaska.
