A young cub watched intently as its mother digs for clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I find it fascinating to watch wildlife perform a learned behavior, and watching coastal brown bears dig for clams is no exception.  Really, it is amazing!  Although they may have different techniques for opening the clams, they really can become efficient clam diggers.

This was one of two cubs I had watched as spring cubs last year.  It was great to see them still doing well.  One of the cubs had actually learned to dig for its own clams.  It had to dig twice as hard as its mother, and it struggled to open them, but you could tell he was becoming self-sufficient.

This was the other cub who had not mastered the skill yet, and would watch intently as the mother dug clam after clam.  This is what you see here.  I would think it is just a matter of time until this cub begins digging for clams as well.

A sow and cub heading out in search of clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This sow and cub where heading out to dig for clams – a fascinating activity to watch and photograph – I’ll have more on this in my next post.

A brown bear looking for clams along the coast, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

If I was to expose this enough to show detail in the bear, I would have blown out the warm beautiful sunrise light.  So, I purposely underexposed this so that I would just have the silhouette and the wonderful light.

This was captured with a 600mm at f/4.5, 320 iso and 1/2500 of a second on a Canon 7D.

A brown bear and bald eagle both watch for salmon during this years bear photo tour - Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Well I have some bad news, and good news regarding next years Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.

The bad news was – we have a tentative person interested in our final spot leaving me without any openings going into the prime booking season!

Now the good news – I was able to obtain another week during 2012!  I am really fortunate to obtain such a great week, as David, the lodge owner is now having to turn away groups thanks to the popularity of this location!  I am very grateful to be able to offer two trips a summer!

My second week being added is at the end of June – the 23rd to the 29th.  I will be interested to see what it is like that time of year.  I do remember comments made by Jenny, my former bear guide – she said the end of June was her favorite time of year.  Kevin, the park ranger in the area for the past 10 years (the first 4 in a tent! ) has also said late June is one of her favorite times as well.  Even Rick, my bear guide this year expressed a preference for late June.  So I’m excited to see what it is like then!

What are the advantages of going in June?  Possibly more bears, especially spring cubs.  This year they were seeing 6 spring cubs by the end of June – that was down to 1 by August.  Short, rich green grass  along with fields wildflower like lupine should be in nice bloom.  Mating activity also takes place during June offering some unique interaction and bringing more bores (males) into the area.

What are the advantages of going in August?  There are two big ones.  Fishing bears – bears catching and eating salmon is always high on the list of advantages of August.  The other advantage is perching puffin – they may not perch as much in June, but they will be flying.

If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to email or call.  I anticipate these trips will fill fairly quick – certainly by Christmas.  For more information, visit our page for the Alaska bear and puffin photography tour.

Grizzly bear at sunrise, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

We had some wonderful light on my trip last week, and the warm glow on this brown / grizzly bear was no exception!

Brown bear sow looks intently for salmon, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

We had great weather during last weeks bear photo tour!  It was such a treat, I really had fun.  The nice weather did make for some long days, but for light like this, it was well worth it!

Brown bears, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I have a brief minute so I thought I would share a quick photo from this morning.  We are having a great trip!