Kingfisher Through the Leaves

Heads or Tails?

My FIRST VIDEO!!! Grizzly Catching Salmon

O.K., so this is not yet National Geographic quality.  I had trouble staying focused for two reasons.  One - I wasn't sure which buttons to push to get the video going and how to keep it in focus.  But second and maybe more pertinent - the bear just kept getting closer and closer (way too close for my big long lens) and than he ran right straight at me to get the salmon, so I was a little tentative.  But with all of those excuses, go ahead and take a look.  Ohhhh there will be more.....

Look Who We Brought Home

Toto, our beloved kitten left us about three months ago and also left a huge hole in all of our hearts.  So.... this Saturday, Ken and Yumiko and I went to the adoption center at Pet Pals and found these two beautiful little sisters - top is Tango and bottom in Conolli.  We are in love again!

Coastal Brown Bears of Katmai, Alaska (Click on Photo for Larger View)

I've finally gotten a chance to sit down and sort through way too many photographs of one of the most exciting and wonderful weeks of my life - photographing the brown bears of Katmai National Park in Southwestern, Alaska.  I flew to Kodiak, Alaska on Saturday, August 31 and joined famed photographers Art Morris and Denise Ippolito and five other crazy people just like me who cannot get enough of photographing wildlife.  We were held over in Kodiak for two days because of the weather, but finally the skies opened a little and we got out via float plane and took a wild, bumpy ride to our two small boats anchored in the beautiful Geographic Harbor in Katmai.  The two boats - Coastal Explorer I and II captained by Chuck Keim and his wife Olga would become our home away from home for the next five days. We had the chance to observe and photograph many bears for many hours each day, twice a day.  I also caught my first halibut.  Life could not be better.  Here are way too many pictures:

Our Float Plane to Katmai

Half of us getting weighed for the
floatplane flight.  From left - Lou Newman, Anders Bjorling, Adit Merkine, Art Morris, Denise Ippolito

Beauty by the Stream

Cub Grabs Fish from Mom

Caught                                                     ........... 

Resting on Mom

"I beg you!" 

Artie and His Friend the Common Murre (Long Story)

"Could you help me up please?"

Juvenile Glaucous Winged Gull

Bear and Salmon                                                      .

Kitty and Bear (Photo by Lou Newman)

Captain Chuck Keim

"Let Me Tell You a Secret"

Cub by the Stream

Bear Checking Out Harold (Click to see the look in his eye.)

Missed the Fish

Kitty and Halibut (Photo by Lou Newman)

"Is it something I said?"

Dave Neilson

Harold Klein

Tom and Lou and a bear

Adit Photographing the Sunrise

Bear Hop

See Salmon in lower Right

Bear Shake

Gull and Salmon

Bears Sharing Secrets

Cub in Nest

Denise and Artie

No Internet or Cell Phone - Yikes!!

We thought we would be flying to Katmai today, but the weather is too bad and so we probably will not get off this island until tomorrow.  Oh life in Alaska.....   I also just learned there is no internet or cell phone connection except in dire emergency when we are on the boat in Katmai.  So....  depending on how things go today, this may be the last post until September 9.  Kodiak is a beautiful island filled with one gorgeous landscape followed by another.  Bison roaming the hills.  Salmon in the streams, bear somewhere.....  Here are a few pics from yesterday's road trip around the Island.

Bison parents and baby grazing in the hills

Denise Ippolito our Tour Leader in front and Adit Merkine my roommate from Israel in back.

Another salmon jumping

Fisherman in a stream LOADED with salmon.  They were pulling them out one after another.

Two new friends - both a bit skeptical

The Salmon Are Jumping

Well, we made it to Kodiak Island, Alaska yesterday after way too many flights.  Today we saw the salmon jumping, but no bears as yet.  Tomorrow we hopefully will take off for Katmai National Park if the weather is not too bad.   Stay tuned.