Alaska: Coastal Brown Bears

This yearling brown bear cub warily watches us as its mother pays no attention. The three to four hundred pound sow in the background is concentrating on digging up clams buried in the tidal flats along the coast of Alaska’s Katmai National Park. Although the cub is naturally both suspicious and inquisitive, the bears in this area neither associate humans with food nor consider us a danger. We’re just a part of the landscape as long as we respect their space and not act in a way that alarms them.

In case you are wondering, this image was taken with a long telephoto lens. We are nowhere as near as this image implies. And that’s the way we like it, both us and the bears!

All Photographs © 2018 John Grusd Photography. All Rights Reserved.