Black Bear, Steep Creek, Juneau, Alaska – Image 2681

As referenced in last week’s photo, I took the photo of this black bear gingerly carrying a salmon out of Steep Creek in the exact same spot as the photograph of the great blue heron. I had watched the bears over the summer and had noticed they regulary moved through this section of stream. I decided to stake the area out. After ten hours of waiting and shooting, I was rewarded with two quality calendar images. The salmon enter Steep Creek sometime in the last week of July or first week of August, and more than ten black bears patrol this mile long stream until the salmon stop appearing late November. This photo illustrates the month of September in my 2011 Juneau Alaska Calendar. Enjoy the photo and thanks for visiting. Camera body: Nikon D300, Lens: Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, digital capture, ISO 200, hand held© Mark Kelley