Lime eating Cow Parsnip






Cow Parsnip blossom






Lemon, Lime and Brandy 10' from Charlie and I

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After saying a brief goodbye to Blue, the fox, who was sleeping under our cabin, we headed out to join Brandy, Lemon and Lime. For the past week, I had been observing that many bears were feeding in one area of the East Alluvial Fan and wanted to see what the attractants were. Charlie and I were also interested in spending a significant length of time with our favorite bear family. It was a beautiful sunny day and as it turned out the last one of good weather before we were hit by a cyclone; a storm that has had us shut in for the past 4 days!

Following Brandy's tracks through the tall grass, we joined her in a beautiful valley. The family was feeding on young angelica shoots and sedge, which were sprouting up amongst a dense patch of buttercups and globeflower, at the edge of the receding snow. We sat on the sidelines for an hour taking in the bears amongst the myriad of greens set against brilliant cadmium yellows. Soon we all wandered off down a small creek-way that ran diagonally across the alluvial fan, hypnotic with waving sedge to the farside off lakeshore. I soon discovered the attractant of this area for the many bears I had spotted there. All their favorite green food groups were at their peak along this small waterway. I could smell the spearmint like aroma of bear plant stems as they were crunched off. Angelica grew here too along with Cow Parsnip now in flower. Both Brandy and the cubs were eating the Cow Parsnip stems and their magnificent white flowers. The odd dwarf willow tree afforded variety as its leaves vanished into ursine mouths. The soft variety of thistle that is common to Kamchatka was in bloom and its lavender colored blossoms added to the feast. They fed for about two hours on these plants, many of which were so tall that the family was often left hidden from view. Standing about 30 feet away we were aware of their closeness by the crunching and they of us by our smell as we were up-wind (when it blows from the direction where something is located).

We noticed a large male grizzly approaching down wind to Brandy and family. It was Walnut, a male she has known for years as they share habitat during the summer. We were curious why he stealthily approached this way, fully aware she couldn't hear or smell him because of the wind direction. We were all in a line up. We could see Walnut as he came closer. We saw Brandy's ears when they emerged over the tops of the lush growth. The cubs about 20' from us. I was considering moving to higher ground to observe the inevitable explosion. Knowing the cubs would also head for the high country if there were danger, I elected to stay beside Charlie so as not to become an obstacle on their escape route. Charlie decided to stay beside the cubs as he was considering that the male bear might be attempting to prey on them. When Walnut was about 10' from her she saw him! Never would either of us have imagined the speed and fury that Brandy instantly unleashed. It was like watching 600 pounds of hair exploding with a loud roar. (The level of her anger made us realize she was only herding our cubs when she cased them two years ago.) She caught Walnut at 50 yards and he fell on his back. Mouths clashed. We imagined blood everywhere and a wounded bear to be soon limping off. As predicted Lemon and Lime ran immediately to higher ground to watch their mother defend them. We slowly followed not wanting to divert Brandy. She returned to sniff over her cubs and cast us a sidelong glance. Soon we all continued up the slope, following a small creek. But where was Walnut?

We couldn't believe our eyes. He was only about 200 yards away feeding as if nothing had happened while not venturing in our direction. There was no sign of serious injuries. During the rest of the afternoon, the distance between us with Brandy and family and Walnut, widened. It seemed pretty clear that this was a bear that she did not consider too dangerous but that he had stepped over an invisible boundary.

Soon Lemon and Lime were showing signs of fatigue and were moaning to their mother that they wanted to be fed. She soon lay back ,with us not far off, to feed them. Charlie dropped his camera by mistake which instantly startled her. But other than stand and cast him an annoyed look, no anger.

- Maureen