Photo Of The Day and Natural History Commentary

This young Alaskan brown bear (Ursus arctos) waited patiently for the bruisers to get their fill and leave the prime spots above the falls before he was able to go in and have a turn. He had not really figured out how best to catch the fish in mid-air and often resorted to trying to snag them with his paw. He had seen too many Brooks Robinson highlight reels.

Alaskan brown bear catching a jumping salmon, Brooks Falls. Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Image: 17086   Species: Ursus arctos Location: Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA

Brown bear and silver salmon, Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park, Alaska, mid July

I should mention that the relatively slow motor drive of the Canon 1Ds Mark II at 4 fps meant that I was really only able to get a single good frame off when shooting a bear-catch-fish attempt, nevertheless it was such a typical behaviour that I was afforded hundreds of opportunities in spite of a light salmon run, I will post some in the coming weeks as I wade through the 4000+ frames shot during my week-long first visit to Brooks.

Tonight the little waves at Ponto were glassed off and the water was warm. A fun several hours in the water.

More Ponto photos.

My good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs recently returned from his annual July visit to Guadalupe Island, Mexico. As usual, the focus of the trip was diving, spearfishing and comraderie. For those of you who do not know Skip, let it be said that he is a skilled marine videographer with a lengthy list of broadcast credits. Recently, in addition to his hours in the water shooting video freediving and on tanks, Skip has been shooting still photographs using a point-and-shoot mounted on the top of his video housing – with impressive results. It is amazing what great images a skilled diver can make with a modern point-and-shoot digital camera and good light. Impressive shots!

Skip’s images from the July 2006 Guadalupe Island diving and spearfishing trip are here.

Happy 4th of July! The Aviara Four Seasons Hotel in South Carlsbad, just around the corner from our house, shoots off 4th of July fireworks each year. Sarah and I set up the lawn chairs on the edge of the 17th fairway at 9pm tonight to check it out – it was pretty good. I wonder, however, if this was the last fireworks display Aviara will be allowed to offer, seeing as they started a fire in the nearby brush that required fire department assistance to extinguish…

Check out the fluke on this blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) , fringed with barnacles and sporting what is almost certainly an orca bite on the left lobe:

See also whale fluke photos.