In the last post, I put in a lot of technical stuff that you need to know a bit about to get the photos you want. I don’t like to stay bogged down with all that technical jargon, so I will continue on with how to get a great picture and have fun doing it.
We don’t normally have to go very far to find interesting subjects in the neighborhood. I have sat in the comfort of my home and taken great photos of birds around the feeders. I do recommend that you put up some natural looking perches for them to sit on. The perch is often what makes a so so picture of a bird into a great photo. A good perch can be something like your used Christmas tree, a stump or a dead tree snag with a natural looking back ground that can be focused out in your camera settings. I don’t particularly care for a bird feeder as the backdrop, unless you are selling bird feeders.
Look for some scenery in your area also. Don’t get lulled by complacency into thinking that nobody wants to see any thing around here, just because you are used to it. There is beauty wherever we live. I can get used to seeing the boats in the harbor and walk right past them without a second look, but someone from a different town or province will be enamoured by this sight. One advantage you have to your own neighborhood is that you are there in all different kinds of weather and light conditions. If you see a great sunset coming, it just takes a minute to get to the marina for a very interesting photo opportunity.Get to know the area you are in so you can find the best viewpoints. Once you have scouted a scene, you will be able to get there quickly when storms or light conditions are changing.
It took me about 2 hours to get this Great Blue Heron to trust me enough that it would carry on fishing w
hile I crept close enough to get a decent picture. His body language warned me every time it seemed to get nervous and when it finally got comfortable enough that I could creep closer. This heron has caught a gunnell for supper.
Scouting wildlife is also essential so you begin to see their patterns and get to understand their body language. Body language of animals is a universal language that we all have the ability to recognize with practice. You can learn by watching you own dog or cat. Watch for the subtle differences in posture as you meet another dog while you are walking your own. Most wildlife act very similar to our own domesticated pets. Body language is the universal, inter-species lingo that announces if you are to become prey, mated, or if you are within someones safety zone. With wildlife photography, I believe it is unethical to enter into that “personal space zone” that we all feel comfortable with. This is the zone where we figure we can run away from the danger encroaching upon us. If you get much closer we may have to fight to protect ourselves or our families. Over time, certain critters will allow you closer than others and we each have our own comfort space requirements.
Use camera gear that is appropriate for the kind of shooting you want to do. If you want to get a full frame photo of a friendly dog, you don’t need as large a lens as if you want a picture of a wild bear. You might want a long telegraphic lens to photograph a bee hive but a single bee in a flower will require a macro lens. These different equipment requirements also allow you to be comfortable;e with your subject. Not everyone is comfortable having bees humming around your head as you try to picture them with a m
acro lens.
I would start clicking the shutter as soon as I would see the large transient orca fins periscope out of the water and hope that the whale would swim into my shots. It is too late to wait until you see the whale, then find it in the viewfinder and start shooting.
When you do get an opportunity to get your picture, take lots of photos. Keep that shutter clicking. It is not costing you anything but a bit of time on the computer later. It is very difficult to get just the right expression on a bears face. It is very tough to get all the puppies to look at you at the same time. What does it take sometimes to get everything standing still, facing the same direction with every body’s eyes open.
Play with different camera settings if you have the chance. Try opening the aperture to get a different depth of field. Change the shutter speed to try sto
pping action, or blurring it if you want to emphasize speed. In the foxtail photo you can see the background blurred out by opening the camera aperture to something like f-8
Foxtail is a weed where I come from. It can cause damage to grazing animals digestive tract and plug up radiators on equipment. For a short time of the year it is very beautiful and colorful.
Check the background behind your subject often. Is there a distracting rock or a bright spot? Often you can just move over a few feet to make a much more interesting result. Look around to make sure danger is not encroaching into your own personal safety zone while you are concentrating on your subject. Most of the time your subject will be more aware of their enemies than you will be so pay attention to what they are doing.
Try to get down to the same eye level as your subject. The subject is then on even terms with the viewer of the post making it much more interesting and intimate.
Don’t forget to take your eye from the viewfinder. Look around, enjoy the place, the critter, and the overall feel of your surroundings. Get a sense of your emotions and what other people around you are feeling. These senses are what will make your pictures special for you years down the trail. Photo albums are full of memories even if the pictures are not technically correct. Just by opening one of the old albums, I can be transported back years in time to remember great places, adventures and friends. All the photos in this article are taken within 5 minutes of where I have lived.
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 24 March '11 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
We have made our way to the magical place and found the most rare of birds, the biggest bear and the most spectacular sunrise poking its glorious light over yonder peak. Our favorite camera is ready to shoot, batteries charged, a new storage card and the right lens is on with the cap off. Click you go and nothing happens. “Format card” blinks in your viewfinder. “Oh crap! how do I do that? where is my book? crap, crap, crap!” or worse, you cry in frustration.
Before you go out on a shoot, fire a few test shots at home. We are using digital equipment and it doesn’t cost anything to waste a few shots to make sure everything is working properly. Delete what you shoot and begin your trip. Even before the trip, I will preset the camera’s settings such as “white balance, aperture, ISO,” then, put the long lens on the camera. While wildlife shots are what I am looking for, I am also looking for pleasing environmental and scenic photos. Generally with the latter shots, you have time to change your lens before the light gets away on you, unlike most wildlife. If you have the short lens on the camera and the otter pops out of the water beside you, it would be rare if you had the time to dig your long lens out of the bag, change and be ready to shoot before the critter is gone. Of course, if money is no object, you may have a camera with a long lens and a second body with the shorter lens with you.
White Balance is one of the settings that you can program into most cameras by pushing a couple buttons in your camera’s shooting menu. This setting is telling the camera photo processor what kind of light you are shooting in. Cloudy, Sunny, Flash illumination, Artificial neon lights or automatic settings all help achieve different photographic results. These settings may need to be adjusted through the day as light changes, but start your day with what you are going to be doing. On my camera, I have the ability to take a photo and then change the white balance setting to get an idea of what each setting looks like. You can become very “artsy” with this if that is what you want to do. Until you feel comfortable with the various settings, most cameras can be set to “automatic” and you will get fairly decent results. If you are shooting in your “Raw” format, some post processing programs will also adjust your white balance.
Set your “ISO” setting as the ambient light changes through the day. The higher the ISO is set, the more light will get into your camera processor and so the faster shutter speed you can shoot your picture. The faster the shutter speed is, the more likely you will get less blurry photos due to your shaky body or quick movements of the critters in front of you. Generally, the higher ISO you shoot, the more likely you will get some degradation of photos because of “Noise,” or colored dots and undesirable grainy pictures. Shoot at the lowest ISO you can to get great quality photos, even in big enlargements.
I shoot most shots in a setting called “Aperture Priority.” This setting allows me to get the depth of field I want; that is what is in focus in your photograph. The wider you open your shutter, say F-5, a smaller area will be in focus. At F-22, you will have almost all of your picture in focus. The camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed to compensate for the light coming in to get a properly exposed picture. The wider your aperture is set, then your shutter will fire quicker thereby stopping speed and body shake helping to make a clearer photo. The smaller your aperture is the slower will then be your shutter, making some shots impossible. If you want that shot, the only option is then to use an external flash or raise the ISO to the point where you are satisfied with your results, but you may have too much noise to end up with a contest winning shot.
If there is plenty of light, I will set the camera to “Shutter Priority” where I can adjust how quickly I want the shutter to fire. If you are taking a picture of a Hummingbird flying, you need to get that shutter up to around 1/1500 of a second to stop the wings. That requires you to open your aperture as much as possible to get the proper depth of field, possibly raise the ISO to something like 800 or more, or use a flash, even in daylight.
There are many other settings you may want to use in the more expensive cameras. Camera manufacturers have all advanced way beyond the old brown Brownie box we used to use. We are really carrying around mini computers that have the amazing ability to record what we are seeing in front of us. Most camera allow you to shoot in an “Automatic” mode if you want to and get some great photos. When you start playing around with the settings, you increase the likely hood of getting better photos more consistently. You do need to practise and play with your machinery, read your manual and shoot with people who have similar equipment. There are some good courses to take through colleges and some camera shops. I also enjoy reading many of the camera magazines available at the grocery store or the books in the photo department of your bookstore and library. Some great tour companies also put on great photography only tours where you go to a very exotic location to take pictures under the guidance and instruction of a photo professional. Join an active camera club in your town if you are interested in socializing with like minded people and critiquing photos.
Photography is a great hobby that can be enjoyed by all people. Get out there and record what is happening in the world around you. You are recording history. Who knows, you may even be able to sell a picture one day.
If anyone has any tips, please pass them on in the comments section.
To be continued…
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 7 March '11 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Once we have found an interesting wildlife subject, many of us are interested in preserving our memory of this moment with a photograph. We all have different reasons for making pictures.We may want to have a reminder of when we saw our first bear, we may want to remember a magical moment with friends, prove that we actually saw a certain creature, some of us use the picture as a model for a future painting or myriad other ideas or reasons. I do understand some of the reasons for getting a photograph but I always remind my guests to take their eye from the viewfinder to better understand the ambiance around them. I often catch people who are so excited to see a beautiful bird, that they will finally get a picture of, that they miss the environment, the song, and the pure beauty of their subject. If you get a sense of the weather, the song, the smell or the forest, lake or light and the actions, inter-actions and the total space both you and your subject are in, at this magical moment, your photos will have much more meaning. Even if the picture does not come out as you remember, you can keep it as a treasured keepsake of a wonderful experience long ago.
What kind of camera should you buy, is a question we have all asked. These days, there are so many choices to make that it is difficult to choose just one model. Do you want something light and compact or are you willing to carry a huge monstrosity wherever you go? Do you want to take video or stills, or both? When my wife and I take a trip, we each carry our own choice. I carry a DSLR with a couple of lenses while Fay carries her little compact digital. Both cameras take very good pictures, if you use them properly. For flighty birds, jumpy animals and kids you need a DSLR. These cameras use inter-changeable lenses that have the ability to focus very quickly and continuously. Many of the compact cameras need time to focus, so it is almost impossible to get a clear picture of moving critters. There is nothing more annoying than clicking the trigger and the bird flies away before the camera can focus and trigger the shutter.
Brand names are people’s own choice just like people’s choice of vehicles they buy. Do a bit of research on the Internet and you will find the equipment that will do a good job for the right price. I enjoy many discussions with fellow photo enthusiasts about Nikon, Canon, Sony or Pentax. I have taken great pictures with two of that list and of course seen great pictures from all of them. I think the key is to get to know your own camera, play with it in different situations, practise with it before you go on your first holiday and carry the manual with you. These cameras are getting very complicated with more settings than many of us will ever use, so read and practise before you need it.
Some of my best photos are in my mind; fleeting times that I did not have time to get the camera out. I have missed many photos in the past because I did not have my camera with me or did not have it ready to shoot. Last summer, I left the lodge in the boat, early in a beautiful morning, with my camera snuggled securely into it’s protective case. I had not yet arrived at a place I was expecting to see anything worthwhile to photograph, when just a few meters away, out of the ocean depths, popped a River Otter with a Dungeness Crab meal in it’s paws. It paused for about 8 or 10 seconds to see if I was a threat, plenty of time for me to get off a few shots, if my camera had been out and ready to go. Helplessly, I had to enjoy the moment with the otter, which I enjoyed anyway, but was sorry that I had missed such a valuable shot.
How many times have we all gone out, taken 2 pictures and the battery goes dead. I always carry 2 or 3 batteries with me. I always try to keep them charged right up. The batteries that come with modern cameras are very good; they can be charged up without running them right down. They will take many pictures between charges, I think mine can do several hundred. If you go to another country, make sure to carry a electrical power converter. They are cheap but invaluable.
Carry extra memory cards with you. These cards hold many pictures and are good storage units, so carry a few along. Airport x-rays don’t hurt them. It is always a good idea to download your cards onto your computer or other storage device after a great day of super pictures, so don’t forget the downloading cord or a card reader.
I use a water resistant, padded backpack to carry my equipment in. It has room enough for a couple lenses, a couple camera bodies, laptop, spare batteries, cards, tissues, cleaning kits and identification. All my gear has my name printed onto it in case of theft or loss as well as business cards inside the bag with my contact info. My backpack is the size approved as carry on luggage for the airplane, so I am carrying all my valuable electronic gear with me. Don’t forget to insure your gear with an insurance rider on your household insurance plan. It helped me pay for an expensive repair to my large lens after I dropped it and broke it in half. It did not pay for an expensive camera that got wet in a rainstorm.
I do have a monopod and a tripod, which I confess, I rarely use. I find that with most of the situations I am in, there is little room or time to set up and use them. Boats don’t bob still enough to provide a stable support, even if there was room. Birds are very quick as they flit through the underbrush or scurry about for worms. I compensate for my shakiness with camera settings that I will explain later.
To be continued…
Tags: Camera gear for wildlife photos, Electronics insurance
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 4 March '11 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
I want to do a series of articles about finding, seeing and photographing wildlife. I hope these articles will help you better enjoy the beautiful wilderness and wildlife in our backyards and countryside.
How to Spot Wildlife
I was raised on a small farm in Northern Alberta and we hunted for our table fare. Without moose, deer or grouse, our large family would have gone hungry more often than not. Our ability to feed our family depended upon our knowledge of the woods and our ability to see our prey. I enjoyed many experiences in the forests and hills looking for animals to eat and to photograph. I have taught my kids and my wife to become very proficient at finding animals as we drive around the countryside on day trips or holidays. The ability to spot animals has added a new dimension and broadened our enjoyment of any outing. I now spend my summers as a wildlife guide showing people from around the world all the fantastic critters we enjoy in B.C.
Some of the easiest and most common things to see here are birds. My incomplete bird species list has over 120 different species that I have seen around the Campbell R
iver area. Birds are easy to spot, they are on every street, in every garden and lining the beach wherever you walk. I don’t think you can go for a walk anywhere in town, along the sea walk, the Quinsome River or in Beaverlodge Lands in any season without seeing several different species of birds.
Camouflage helps to conceal this robin in the crab apple tree until it moves.
Get yourself a good pair of binoculars to help increase your pleasure. Binoculars are one tool that is worth whatever you pay for them. The more money you spend, the better quality you will have. Better quality glass will allow you to look through them without any eye strain, once they are adjusted to your eyes. Get a set that are light enough to carry around your neck. Waterproof glasses are a necessity here on the west coast. You may not need a powerful glass such as 10x or 12x, as a quality pair of 8x will do very well as the shake from your body will not be as magnified as much as the higher power. As important as the power, you need to be able to gather as much light as you can. For example, a pair of 8 x 50 will be brighter than a pair of 8 x 42, especially in shadows or at dawn and dusk. Binoculars can be used to find birds and animals as well as isolating smaller parts of a big scene. You can get a good sense and feel of a snow capped mountain from down here on the dry road with good glasses. They will last you many years and provide hours of free entertainment as you try to identify a bird species list of your own.
You do have to practice in order to be able to spot birds and animals as you wander the wilderness. The more time you are out there, the easier it will be to see animals. The quicker you spot an animal, the safer yo
u will be as you are walking down a trail along the river. Imagine you have to get out of a boat along a forest trail and you are unable to spot a bear and her cub. You will get to know the places that animals like to feed, walk or sleep. .
Can you see the mother and the cub in this picture?
Get used to watching edges. Edges are the borders between different habitats such as a field and the bush, Animals use edges as security. They can wander into a field to eat where they are exposed to many eyes but can quickly step into the forest if they feel threatened. Another edge is the beach. Bears often come down to the beach to feed on inter-tidal life but with a few steps can be into the security of the dark woods if they feel insecure.
Birds are famous for utilizing edges of all sorts for their favorite hangouts. Most bird species are found very close to the habitat edges that they are designed for. Smaller birds such as a winter wren will flit about in the lower brush. Shore birds are most often found at the edge of the water picking through the mud for insects and seeds. You will hardly ever see an Oyster catcher from from the waters edge as the tide drops.
You will also get to observe many different types of textures as you spend more time in the outdoors. Animals and birds have a different texture to their fur and feathers than trees or rocks and stumps. Even though camouflaged, there is a subtle difference when you are used to seeing it.
Your eyes will notice movements, especially out of your peripheral vision. Quick movements are more noticeable than slow movement. Watch for ripples in the water, tree or br
anch movements and the actions of other animals or birds around you.
The ripples in the water forewarned me that something was wading in the river toward our group. Get ready! Do you see the bear emerging?
You also need to look for parts of animals. Not often does an animal show it’s whole body. Most often you will see the ears or horns sticking up out of the grass. Sometimes it will just be the silhouette of it’s back or head that you see. Many of us expect to see some preconceived notion of, say a bear; this huge raging beast running all out toward you, rather than a benign solitary animal grazing grass.
I spend a lot of time every year showing people from around the world our plentiful wildlife. It can be most exasperating when someone can’t see the animal that is grazing right in front of us. Most people are amazed that a large bear can hide on the beach right in front of us just by standing still. It just takes practice to better enjoy the gifts of the wilderness.
Tags: How to photograph wildlife, How to spot wildlife
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 2 March '11 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
It takes a long time to bring a book from idea to a real copy. Seasons of the Grizzly took one year from start to end result with the help of a local designer and printing company. I thought that was a long time.
The Wild Salmon Odyssey has taken almost two years. The actual writing took a few months and the artist, Ted Rechlin, spent a few more months compiling his work. This was the easy part. I spent a year looking for and waiting for replies from Canadian publishers. I finally stumbled upon AEG Publishing and Strategic Book Marketing who took on this project. All correspondence has been via email, so I have run the full emotions from excitement at finding a publisher, to exasperation with my computer and my own lack of computing skills. Whatever happened to good old snail mail? Some parts of the whole process went very well and some seemed to take forever, especially when I had an artist who was getting impatient and I had deadlines I wanted to make. It has been a very steep learning curve, but I am happy to have finally completed the first steps. Now comes marketing, a very simple word with huge possible consequences. Marketing is something not all of us are comfortable with, including me. Self-promotion is not my long suit, so I will once again be depending upon the anonymity of the computer and the Internet. I hope my computer survives without any major dents. I am looking forward to working with Strategic Book Marketing in the next and most important step to the success of our hard work.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ecological tale is a powerful eye-opener for all ages
The Wild Salmon Odyssey follows the life-cycle story of two salmon, Humphrey and Sally, as they migrate their way through danger, swimming thousands of miles to reproduce.
Their epic journey faces man-made and natural threats, while the fish search for food. Join Humphrey and Sally as they grow into strong adult salmon. To spawn, they struggle valiantly over waterfalls, past hungry seals and grizzly bears, so they can return to the river of their birth.
A glorious depiction of wilderness and the battle for survival by its inhabitants, The Wild Salmon Odyssey describes in unique terms how these creatures heed nature’s plan.
THE WILD SALMON ODYSSEY (ISBN: 978-1-60911-883-9) will be available on November 22, 2010 for $18.50 USD and can be ordered through the publisher’s website:
About the Author: Robert Scriba, a wildlife guide living in Campbell River, British Columbia, finally has the time to appreciate Mother Nature’s gifts. “Age and life experiences tend to make me reflect on the damage we have created ourselves and how can we give something back in compensation. I have learned how important salmon are to the environment and have witnessed what happens when they do not return as expected. Every day we are bombarded with bad news about the plight of the wild salmon and how slowly regulators are responding.”
Tags: Robert Scriba, salmon life cycle, Salmon migration, salmon predators, Seasons of the Grizzly, Ted Rechlin Illustrator, The Wild Salmon Odyssey
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 30 November '10 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
Tuesday I made my weekly trip to the Oyster River hatchery on a chilly Nov. morning. There was no snow on the ground in Campbell River but there was about 3 inches on the ground along the Oyster River. It
was too cold to do anything with the fish, so I walked along some of the less used trails around the hatchery site. Icicles hung from some of the overlying branches, built up by the splashing river rapid below. It was a cool, calm, grey morning so I could hear the birds twittering in the underbrush whenever I stopped my crunching feet. On the trail in front of me suddenly appeared a trio of Spotted Towhees, hopping along the old track looking for any seeds that may have dropped overnight. At first I thought they were robins, but they did not have that distinct robin hop, pause for a listen, then hop again. Red breast and grey bodies show similar color patterns, but the Towhee is a bit smaller and has a longer tail. I did not have my binoculars and had only the short lens on my camera, so it took a bit to be sure of what I was seein
g.All along the trail I was using were black bear tracks and side paths. The bears have been regular visitors to the area all summer and fall and have been seen many times by all of us. There is a young bear, quite brave, who scours the side channels for any spawned out and dead salmon. Same with a mother bear with two cubs, not quite so brash, but unafraid of the conservation minded humans. All four of the bears will be hibernating under a tree or a stump somewhere in the nearby area. They are all looking for the final calories that will be stored in fat reserves that will be badly needed through, what promises to be, a cold and long winter. I followed some of the bear trails to see if I could find a den site to no avail. They did use fallen trees as bridges to cross some of the water channels. I am not as agile on these snow covered trees, so did not try to balance my way over the ice covered waters. It reminded me of a time I crossed a dead tree bridge with my own kids when Trina slipped and was left hanging upside down over a water puddle. To her chagrin and embarrassment she has been the brunt of many remarks since then.
As I continued my stroll through the tall trees, I could see signs of other animals that use the area also. Mink tracks, ravens and gulls were scouring the river banks for dead fish as well. Squirrel tracks had pounded a skinny trail between a few coniferous trees and cone caches buried in the ground. Deer, wander aimlessly, snitching the tops off some of the course browse they need to keep up their energy reserves. 
Deer, I think, also chewed off some of the sweet bark from the base of a maple tree. A tiny, brown winter wren rustled through the lower shrubs and salmon berry bushes with it’s identifying tail pointing to the sky. Look, up in the skeleton of the big leaf maple is a pair of eagles, watching over the snow blanketed landscape. There is a sense of peace in the forest after the first snowfall of the year. The tracks in the snow show that the critters have to make a living outside too. Some of them seem to be making last minute arrangements before their long sleep. As I write this story today, a fresh snow fall is burying old sign but promising a whole new crop of tracks to investigate soon.
(let me know if you think something other than deer chewed this tree.)
Tags: big leaf maple tree, black bear tracks, deer tracks in the snow, Oyster River Hatchery, Spotted Towhee, walking in the snow, wildlife sign
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 25 November '10 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
It is now the season for the large Christmas craft shows that happen each year around this country. As one of many vendors at these sales I get to participate by putting my hard work on display as temptation for the public to see and purchase. For most of us these shows are our only public displays so we have to make the most of our time and money for beautiful and functional displays, sale locations and saleable stock. In many cases we have to invest large wads of cash months in advance of the show to reserve a spot in a community hall. Some of these shows are becoming more and more expensive to enter, any where from $300.00 to $1500.00 for a 10′x10′ space. We have to sell alot of stock just to pay for the booth, so we need to choose carefully when picking a show to enter. We have to decide if a certain town or city has an economy to support the show. We are all there to sell our stuff, not just entertain the visitors, although that is part of why many of us go to craft fairs. Some of the vendors spend months to make stock for display in hopes of tempting some hard earned cash from some body’s pocket. Many vendors go year after year in hopes of building a clientele and a reputation for nice works of art or good food. Most of us work on very limited budgets, so we need to make some money in order to make it to the next show. We all like to support the organizers of the local shows so that they stay full, beautiful and diverse so the public visitors do not become bored with the same old thing year after year. We all need the public to buy our locally made handicrafts, food and art as a demonstration of faith in our own communities. Many of us send gifts around the country and the world and what would be better than a locally designed and manufactured photo, book, calendar or jewelry, clothing and pottery. This past summer, our best sales were to tourists from outside our region. If it would not have been for them, we would not have had any sales at the farmers market. Please get out and support the local vendors at the Christmas Craft Fairs in the area this season. You will be helping to keep our local craftsmen and women employed, your money circulating in the local economy and you will be promoting tourism and pride in our own community.
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 17 November '10 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
My fourth season as a wildlife guide at Knight Inlet Lodge has just wrapped up for another year. This season was eventful in a lot of different ways. Once we think we have things figured out, Mother Nature throws us another curve or reveals more of her inner secrets. Thankfully, due in part to a mild winter and a huge pink salmon run in 2009, we were presented with a set of triplet bear cubs by a bear we call Bella. Their antics and drama were the highlight of many of our guests trips and the cause for more than one set of tears. We witnessed a wolf attempting to steal one of the cubs from Mom, but due to good training and obedience, the cubs all hustled up a tree when told to and Bella was then free to deal with this potential predator. We think that the wolf was more successful later in the season, as one of the cubs went missing in early September. There were plenty of oohs and aaahs as we were allowed into the estuary nursery to witness the three cubs contentedly suckling Mothers rich milk. Once full, the family curled up in a heap of bears to have their afternoon siesta. Lenore and Peanut also spent the season around the cove and we marvelled at how quickly Peanut grew and matured in his second year. These bear families stayed around the estuary all season as guests and guides alike enjoyed the curiosity of the cubs as they explored their home, constantly on the lookout for danger and food.
A pair of eagles added onto their nest in the corner of the cove and began setting early this spring. We watched patiently, waiting for the first sign of an eaglet sitting on the nest, however, it did not come to pass. After a month or more, the parents abandoned their duties and went on with their own lives. We wish them more success next year.
Mating season was exciting with Bruno, Pretty boy and two other male bears hanging around to create some excitement and choice for the girls. There seemed to be more boys than girls to us this year.
We had time to spend with the little creatures of the cove and the river this year. As the moms and cubs explored the shoreline we noticed many of the struggles that the local birds have daily. I was watching a merganser mother with two babies when suddenly an eagle settled into its predatory glide path to pick up one of those chicks. One of my guests suddenly and unexpectedly leaped to her feet and began waving her arms and yelling at the eagle. The eagle slammed on the brakes, hovered for a couple moments about ten feet above it’s prey, trying to figure out this crazy human, then left to ponder the situation from the safety of a nearby spruce tree. It decided to try again and the woman once more did her dance and song in the skiff to the benefit of the merganser family. I and the rest of the guests did not know whether to laugh or chastise the woman for disrupting Mother Nature’s greatest bird predator. She spoke only broken English, but her French was well understood by the marauding eagle who left to find less protected prey. The lady exclaimed in her best English, “Not babies, you can have fish, not babies!!”
As the tide begins to flood the est
uary, sand lance begin to emerge from their muddy lair. Alert gulls, crows, ravens and eagles await this event daily, and we spent some time one morning observing this drama. We got the skiff maneuvered into the tiny channel in the mudflat amongst the screaming and diving gulls. The water was clear and shallow enough that we could see the fish squiggle out of the mud but lie or float helplessly for about a minute before finally coming back to their senses. In this minute was when the scores of birds were having their feast of fresh, stunned, sand lance. What drama happening in front of our eyes when from afar it seems as if the estuary is empty and boring.
Butterflies on foxglove, sapsuckers in crab apple trees, spide
r webs spun over huge distances are all topics for observation, discussion and wonder. A pair of Transient Orca cruised quietly into the cove one misty morning to the surprise and delight of us but to the chagrin of the dolphins and seals. Rain, fog, wind and sun all provided the everyday beauty and challenges due to too much or not enough, depending on your point of view.
Once again, the end of the Wild Salmon Odyssey of pink salmon run failed to materialize in the Glendale, unlike the record sockeye run in the Fraser River system.. We were not expecting a huge run, but we did expect more than the approximately 20,000 adults that did slowly arrive and disperse throughout the river and the spawning channel. It made for slim pickings for the salmon predators that depend on their healthy numbers for their own health and well being. The bears continuously paced the river shorelines looking for shallow water salmon or dead and weakened carcasses to eat. Some of the bears such as Lenore and Peanut adapted to eating barnacles and mussels on the inter
-tidal shoreline. They along with Bella and her two remaining cubs spent hours digging rice root and other bulbs and roots from the sedge flats. All five bears looked to be in fine shape the last time I saw them near the middle of October, so they should be OK. The other bears appeared to be fat, but not overly obese, so I trust that they will continue to find fish until they finally go into hibernation sometime in November.
Our season opened and ended this year with The Vital Ground conservation group. They left us with their message: “Where the earth is healthy and whole, the grizzly can roam!” We wish the bears a good sleep and hope to see you next spring.
Tags: Eagles prey on Mergansers, Glendale River salmon returns, Grizzly bears eating roots, Knight Inlet Lodge, Salmon migration, sand lance, Vital Ground, wild salmon odyssey
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 29 October '10 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
The last few weeks of the season at the lodge demonstrated to me how we as humans can let our emotions and meddling get in the way of Mother Nature’s grand plans. As a demonstration project at the lodge, we have a fish hatchery. In this hatchery we raise coho salmon. Last fall we went out and caught a female and a male coho salmon from the river, stripped her eggs and fertilized them with his milt. All winter long they were incubated in the plastic incubator, safe from the ravages of predators and flooding rivers. This spring, once they were all “buttoned up” we placed them into the trough in the Interpretive Center where we fed them a large healthy diet of commercial fish food. By September they had grown to an average size of 4.5 grams, maybe 3 or 4 times the size of wild coho raised in their natural riverine environment.
Once we deemed the river had enough water after the dry season and the water temperature cooled down to be comfortable for the salmon, we began releasing them into a quiet pool in the Glendale river.
3200 coho fry were released with our best intentions and wishes for a safe journey to the Pacific Ocean and back in three years from now. This is our first instant of meddling with Mother Nature. Many people believe that hatchery raised fish should not be allowed as they have a very unfair advantage over naturally reared wild salmon fry due to their much larger size. The larger fry may have a bit of a setback until they learn where to find food in the river rather than having it dropped to them daily from above. They may also need to learn to watch for wild natural predators who are looking for a meal, especially large dumb fry. Once they become accustomed to their wild habitat, the large fry will begin to eat natural food such as insects, bugs and smaller salmon fry. That’s right, they will be eating their smaller wild cousins who did not have the advantages that the large, human fed, fry have had. Humans first mistake even though we mean well. We believe that we are trying to help the river out by raising a few more fish who will grow up to be large coho, fun fish to catch on a rod and reel for our benefit. These fully grown coho also bring back nutrients from the ocean that will eventually feed the bears and the forest around the river. These are all valid, positive justifications for our interference, however we do not really know the true cost to the river. Are these behemoths eating more wild fry than we released, thereby resulting in a net loss of coho in the long run? We have no way of knowing for sure.
The next potential interference we noted was the predators of the wild coho fry. We watched as a Great Blue Heron sat in it’s fav
orite fishing hole daily, snatching coho fry from their hiding spot in the shallows. Now I know that herons are having a rough time of surviving along the coast and are protected by law, but this murderous fish poacher was starting to bring my own style of western justice out of the self imposed mothballs. Henry would sit in front of we humans and brazenly catch wild coho salmon fry day after day, hour after hour.
He would only abandon his fishing hole if a grizzly approached too close for comfort, then he would croak his complaints about the injustices in his life, as he flew to safety in the alder trees above. Don’t think I didn’t wish I had a sling shot or a twelve gauge handy to protect the salmon fry. What was the use of all of our hard work raising fry only to be eaten by a fish poacher like Henry the Heron?
We got lots of discussion mileage out of this demonstration of the salmon’s role in life. They are themselves predators put on earth to “eat and be eaten.” It is their role in Nature’s grand scheme: eat all they can and feed over 150 different species of predators during their short life. Along their epic odyssey, they will transfer their body weight of nutrients gathered from the open ocean back to their natal river where, they will procreate their species, then die, leaving their large rotting carcasses to feed the river, the bears and eagles and fertilize the forest.
Let us quit interfering in this perfect plan. Let us make it as easy as possible for the wild salmon to make their already dangerous journey, unimpeded by our meddling.
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 26 October '10 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
Over the past month I have had the opportunity to go fishing in the waters surrounding Campbell River twice, using two different methods. A couple weeks ago My sons and I went with a friend north through Seymour Narrows to Plumper Bay, Deep Water Bay and up to Chatham Point where we trolled at various depths to find the elusive salmon. Even though we were in the midst of the largest run of Sockeye in modern record, we were skunked. There is a difference in fishing and actually catching fish, which is becoming all to familiar to me. I have yet to catch a salmon using all the heavy rods, downriggers, lead balls, hootchies, spoons and gear that is lined up on the shelves of our local sports stores. If the scenery and the company was not so good, one could say that the money spent was wasted, but it was not. The water was flat and the sun shone all day. We watched the eagle try his luck and a variety of other sea birds working hard to feed themselves too. Tugs towing huge barges loaded with containers and another tug and log boom waiting for slack water through the narrows. Seiners and trawlers also plied the waters looking for the salmon with varying degrees of success. We tried for rockfish in the fast flowing waters at the mouth of the narrows and just enjoyed the scenery of the inside passage. The highlight of the day was a visit by a large pod of Orca. I had never seen these magnificent animals do anything but breathe or show their dorsal fins, but today they were performing. In Nodales channel an orca with a broken tip on his dorsal fin was full body breeching, tail slapping and spy hopping. I could not help but to be amazed by the power it must take to get that huge body out of the water and land with a giant belly flop splash. We pulled up our gear and spent an hour with many other boats watching these displays of exuberance as the pod of about 30 whales swam slowly past a fish farm headed north east. This is what makes whale watching so much fun and such a popular visitor attraction to Vancouver Island.
This past weekend I tried a more traditional and quaint type of salmon fishing with my visiting brother in law. We hired local guide, Jeremy Maynard to row us in his traditional tyee row boat. We met at a very dark 5:00 am. The tide was low and a couple maurading racoons scurried for safety as we staggered through the darkness to the dock. The boat was launched and we piled into the calm, foggy waters north of the pool. This boat felt rather tippy, so we all kept our movements to a minimum lest we all end up in the cool drink. Once we got to the tyee pool, a fancy dance ensued as Jeremy had to get past us to his rowing position without a dunking. Several other boats were already fishing in the fog as seen by the green, red and clear marker lights scattered along the deep water line. Back and forth he paddled as the tide flooded, dodging other boats trying not to hook each others lines. We used traditional “knuckle buster” reels, 20lb. test line and plastic pugs with a single barbless hook. Back and forth we paddled, reeled in to clear weeds, and shivered in the early dawn. The Quadra fog horn and the ferry horn sounded regularly as the sun slowly lit the gloom to full daybreak. A whoop was heard from afar as someone got a fish. Another whoop and holler echoed through the dark as two boats got tangled up. The bell sounded the success of an old angler who finally got her tyee, a chinook salmon over 30 lbs. She now becomes a full member of the Campbell River Tyee Club. At 8:30 we finally called our fishing over as giant fish breeched all around us. We did not hook onto one of these giants, but enjoyed the experience very much. Tales of fishing exploits were told, politics of salmon were argued and best of all, we stayed upright in our boat.
Tags: Campbell River Fishing, Orca, Tyee Club of Campbell River, Whale watching Campbell River
Posted in BigOldBear | No Comments »
Posted on 15 September '10 by bigoldbear, under BigOldBear. No Comments.
hile I crept close enough to get a decent picture. His body language warned me every time it seemed to get nervous and when it finally got comfortable enough that I could creep closer. This heron has caught a gunnell for supper.
acro lens.
pping action, or blurring it if you want to emphasize speed. In the foxtail photo you can see the background blurred out by opening the camera aperture to something like f-8
