In the Field

Keeping a Close Eye on the Competition. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. May 31, 2024.

I love spending time in the Great Bear Rainforest in the spring. While the BC coast doesn't have a spring salmon run that draws in large numbers of bears, the coastal inlets that have estuaries are big draws for the bears. Why do the bears congregate in these grass- and sedge-covered estuaries? For several reasons, including to feed on the grasses and sedges, and to breed. And that breeding activity leads to a ton of interesting dynamics between the bears, including courtship between males and females, competition between males for females, and a whole lot more.

I captured this shot when two male-female pairings of bears met on a grass and sedge covered intertidal zone. The dynamics between the bears was fascinating, particularly between the two males. In this shot the male bear in the foreground was much larger than the male in the background...and the smaller "background bear" was keeping an extremely close eye on the bigger bear. In contrast, the bigger male virtually ignored the smaller one - I'm sure these bears had interacted lots before and their dominance relationship between them was very cleared defined. I also suspect that the smaller male was in a huge conflict here - it very likely wanted to run and distance itself from the larger guy, but at the same time he was likely very reluctant to leave the female (both females are just outside the field of view of this photo) he had been actively courting. Anyway, there was a whole lot of testosterone, tensions, and stress in the air this evening...and it was fascinating to witness and photograph.

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this tension-filled tête-à-tête:

• Keeping a Close Eye on the Competition: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 4.3 MB)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

1. These images - in all resolutions - are protected by copyright. I'm fine with personal uses of them (including use as desktop backgrounds or screensavers on your own computer), but unauthorized commercial use of the image is prohibited by law. Thanks in advance for respecting my copyright!

2. Like all photographs on this website, these images were captured following the strict ethical guidelines described in The Wildlife FIRST! Principles of Photographer Conduct. I encourage all wildlife photographers to always put the welfare of their subjects above the value of their photographs.

3. This image was captured during my Spring in the Southern Great Bear Instructional Photo Tour in late May and early June of 2024. Each year I offer trips into two different parts of the Great Bear Rainforest as well as two tours into the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary (to photograph grizzlies, of course!). Details about these trips can be found on the Photo Tours page of this website.

Behind the Camera

Keeping a Close Eye on the Competition. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. May 31, 2024.

High Efficiency* Compressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 2500.

Nikon Z 9 paired with Z Nikkor 400mm f2.8S @ 560mm (built-in TC engaged). Hand-held from floating Zodiac. VR on in Sport mode. Dynamic area (M) AF area mode.

1/400s @ f4; -0.3 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Keeping a Close Eye on the Competition. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. May 31, 2024.

Initial noise reduction and capture sharpening on the .nef (raw) file using the DeepPRIME XD algorithm of DXO PhotoLab 7.7 Elite (using the appropriate lens/camera optical module).

Subsequent adjustments to the adjusted linear DNG file (exported from PhotoLab) and conversion to 16-bit TIFF file (and JPEG files for web use) - including all global and selective adjustments - made using Phase One's Capture One Pro 23. In the case of this image the only global adjustment was an overall increase in Brightness (mid-tone exposure). Selective local adjustments performed using Capture One Pro's layers and masking tools. In this case numerous small adjustments and minor tweaks were made on 5 separate layers, with most of the tweaks being associated with "exposure balancing" and contrast adjustments (such as adjustments to clarity, highlights, shadows, etc.).

Photoshop modifications included insertion of the watermark and/or text.

Conservation

Keeping a Close Eye on the Competition. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. May 31, 2024.

Species Status in Canada*: Special Concern (May 2002).

While Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) are not technically listed as "Endangered" in Canada, they have been extirpated from most of their historical range. Grizzly Bears are far more sensitive to intrusion/disturbance in their habitat than are Black Bears and are being increasingly forced into marginal habitat by human encroachment. The Great Bear Rainforest along the central and northern coast of British Columbia is one of the last strongholds of the Grizzly Bear in Canada, and even this population is coming under increasing pressure.

On December 18, 2017 the government of British Columbia banned grizzly hunting across the entire province. This major conservation victory came after decades of tireless work by many dedicated conservationists and ecologists and, most importantly, it reflects the opinion of the vast majority of British Columbians. And, it means that AT LEAST while the current government remains in power grizzlies are finally "safe" in British Columbia.

Now that we've at least temporarily won the battle to save grizzlies in BC, it's time to re-focus our efforts toward protecting ALL of BC's carnivores, including Gray Wolves, Black Bears, Cougars, Wolverines, and more! Simply put, there are no ecological, economic, or ethical arguments supporting the trophy hunting of carnivores.

*as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada