A Snack @ Sunset
In the autumn the best place to find a rare Spirit Bear within the Great Bear Rainforest is normally along one of the salmon-filled streams within the forest itself. This bear broke that rule more than just a bit - not only was this bear out in the open and visible for miles, but it was fishing directly in the ocean itself! He (or she) was having an absolute field day rounding up the fish (both carcasses and those which were "barely" alive - like the one it has caught here) and happily munching them down! We found later that this particular bear really doesn't like other bears - basically it's terrified of them (tho' it seemed pretty comfortable with humans!). And that's why this bear was fishing on the barnacle-covered shoreline - there were no other bears in sight and none could easily sneak up and pilfer its food!
As both the warm, warm tones of this shot and very the long shadow of the salmon show, we caught this guy grabbing a bedtime snack just as the sun was setting. We didn't have much time to watch or photograph this bear, but even in the few minutes we spent with him are scratched indelibly in my memory. Just such a fantastic autumn scene - and one only the Great Bear Rainforest can deliver!
NOTE: For those who aren't familiar with Spirit Bears, they are a rare, genetically-based colour variant of the good ol' Black Bear. They can be encountered wherever black bears are found, but for some reason are found in high occurrence (10-25% of all black bears) in only one small part of British Columbia, Canada.
Subject: Spirit Bear (
Ursus americana) with a fresh catch
Location: Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens @ 400mm
Exposure: 1/400s at f6.3 ISO 2200. No compensation from matrix metered exposure.
Other: Hand-held from floating Zodiac
Crop: This is about 97% of full frame - just a real small tweak for composition.
More info about this shot on my website...including processing details (and a considerably larger version too)...
http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/.
Comments and feedback greatly appreciated...probably better to view larger version prior to doing so...
Cheers...
Brad
PS: To Luke and other Nikon shooters: I just put the finishing touches on my review of the AF-S 80-400mm VR lens yesterday - you might find it interesting. It's right here:
http://www.naturalart.ca/artist/fieldtests/AF-S_80-400mmVR.html 
Comments
8 commentsWell processed as expected,
TFS
Steve
It seems from your photos that it's not often that these areas get light like this? Mostly overcast/gloomy?
You don't find yourself needing ND's or fighting harsh sunlight too often in the Great Bear Rainforest. And when it does come out the steep-sided fijords and valleys ensure it won't be out for long (but if it is out, it's usually directly overhead!). So...yes...this shot is a bit of an anomaly for the Great Bear. Besides all the usual positives of the diffuse light to photography, it also also ensures that very few bears or wolves die of skin cancer in this region...
Cheers...
Brad
I found the fish slightly mixed with the BG but when opened the large file, it wasn't so.
Jagdeep Rajput