LIMITED EDITION PRINT - In early August, large numbers of brown (grizzly) bears congregate to fish along the confluence of two streams in Alaska's Katmai National Park during the annual run of Sockeye Salmon. It is a critical time for the bears, as they are bulking up in preparation for their upcoming winter hibernation. Because of the sheer abundance of food during this time of year, you can have up to twenty or thirty bears within sight at any given time. Or of course you can have zero. Grizzled old males with torn ears and other battle scars, big healthy, dominant males, and younger males out on their own for the first time are all part of this mix. As are also mothers with their first or second year cubs. For obvious reasons (the risk of predation from larger males) they tend to stay to themselves, away from the males. While the mother is often off fishing nearby for herself and her cubs, for the cubs this is an important learning experience. An opportunity to watch their mother fish and to attempt to master the skill on their own, with often hilarious results.

This scene of a mother and one of her cubs is from the end of the day, after many hours of fishing in the rain. Photographed in 2022.