Red Bluff Bay, Baranof Island
Fall comes early in Southeastern Alaska. Sometime last September, having gorged on pink salmon running in the streams of Baranof Island, a female brown bear moved up into the alpine zone to feed on the ripening berries of alpine meadows. The layer of fat under her thick brown coat increased. The days rapidly became shorter, the mornings cooler, and snow began to fall. Our bear found a protected site, perhaps under a fallen spruce tree in the sub-alpine forest, and settled in for her winter sleep. It was not a true hibernation but her body temperature fell to conserve energy. Sometime in midwinter our bear gave birth to two tiny hairless cubs, each weighing but a pound. Nestled against their mother for warmth, they fed continuously on her fat-rich milk. By the time she led them from the den in May their weight had increased ten-fold. They continued to nurse and grow as she led them down to lower elevation where snow melts earliest in spring. There she showed them how to dig for the roots of skunk cabbage in the forest, and sedges and chocolate lilies in the rich coastal meadows.
On one glorious morning in June our paths converged. The Sea Bird cruised up Red Bluff Bay, a narrow fjord on the east coast of Baranof Island. We listened to the birds, admired the rocks and marveled at the forest clinging to the steep walls of the glacially-carved valley, now flooded by the sea. We paused at a waterfall cascading down from a hanging valley, where once a tributary glacier entered the main valley glacier. At the head of the fjord, in that coastal meadow, we found this sow bear and her two cubs. They shared the meadow with northwestern crows and ravens; harlequin ducks, Barrow’s goldeneyes, common mergansers, and mew gulls floated just offshore. Later, some of us explored the fjord by kayak and others returned to the meadow on a Zodiac cruise, where the photo above was recorded. It was a magical morning in a magical place: Southeastern Alaska.
Fall comes early in Southeastern Alaska. Sometime last September, having gorged on pink salmon running in the streams of Baranof Island, a female brown bear moved up into the alpine zone to feed on the ripening berries of alpine meadows. The layer of fat under her thick brown coat increased. The days rapidly became shorter, the mornings cooler, and snow began to fall. Our bear found a protected site, perhaps under a fallen spruce tree in the sub-alpine forest, and settled in for her winter sleep. It was not a true hibernation but her body temperature fell to conserve energy. Sometime in midwinter our bear gave birth to two tiny hairless cubs, each weighing but a pound. Nestled against their mother for warmth, they fed continuously on her fat-rich milk. By the time she led them from the den in May their weight had increased ten-fold. They continued to nurse and grow as she led them down to lower elevation where snow melts earliest in spring. There she showed them how to dig for the roots of skunk cabbage in the forest, and sedges and chocolate lilies in the rich coastal meadows.
On one glorious morning in June our paths converged. The Sea Bird cruised up Red Bluff Bay, a narrow fjord on the east coast of Baranof Island. We listened to the birds, admired the rocks and marveled at the forest clinging to the steep walls of the glacially-carved valley, now flooded by the sea. We paused at a waterfall cascading down from a hanging valley, where once a tributary glacier entered the main valley glacier. At the head of the fjord, in that coastal meadow, we found this sow bear and her two cubs. They shared the meadow with northwestern crows and ravens; harlequin ducks, Barrow’s goldeneyes, common mergansers, and mew gulls floated just offshore. Later, some of us explored the fjord by kayak and others returned to the meadow on a Zodiac cruise, where the photo above was recorded. It was a magical morning in a magical place: Southeastern Alaska.
