Bears Around the Globe

Beth · **Posted:** Sat Jun 18, 2022 2:10 pm

1st day of summer!!
Summer 2022 in Northern Hemisphere will begin on
Tuesday, June 21

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Yay, Beth! Then on our 2nd day of the live bear cams and of the summer, that evening we get this:

GABear Mod • an hour ago
Welcome To Bear Cam Live chat coming up on Wednesday, June 22
Brooks Live Chat Channel: https://explore.org/livecam...
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Brooks Falls Bears in less than 10 minutes! :5val:

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Grazer (128) and her 2 1/2 y/o cubs were the 1st seen on the cams. They started in the riffles, then seen below the falls, back to the riffles and then back to the falls area and up the path shore side of the fish ladder and out of sight. Will try to place captures and videos and place here later.

Gif by Rita Peace&Love:

Grazer with her girls in the riffles.

Gif by Oh_Arana:

Grazer pouncing for a fish.

Gif by Cruiser:

One of Grazer's girls looking cold, wet and I don't know...maybe she has to pee! Hahaha!

Gifs by scooch:

Grazer slipping up the path and away for now. Also had a gif of "Her girls hustle to follow her out", but while it showed at the time, it no longer works. They were topside of the falls and had to run across them to catch up with their Mom who was leaving.

Mike Fitz in response to the question of Grazer emancipating her cubs this year:

Mike Fitz, Resident Naturalist Mod
It's unlikely now, so late in June. I predicted she would separate from her cubs this spring since Grazer separated from her first litter when they were 2.5 years old. I think we can expect to see this family together all summer.

Improvements to the cams this year:

GABear Mod • 5 minutes ago
Huge shout out of Thanks to our Great Explore Tech Team for all the hard work and improvements for our cam viewing:

Tech updates this season:
River watch has an upgraded 4k camera. Still only streaming in 1080 due to bandwidth, but its a beautiful picture.
Lower River West (the alternate lower river camera that is live during the August and October outage periods) has a new camera.
the UW salmon camera has a new 4k cam as well. Still only streaming in 1080 for the same reason.
Falls Low has a new camera. Its an upgraded model of the old one, but still only a 1080 camera.
Significant power upgrades at dumpling to keep the network online longer during low sun periods.

Beth · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:27 pm

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

I placed some gifs above to show the 1st bear visit of the season on cams by Grazer and her girls, took a break and they have returned already!

Gif by Blair-55:

Grazer and her girls resting poolside.

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

No, no...you're too old for that!

Gif by Blair-55

Grazer correcting one of her girls who I think she thought was going to try and nurse.

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Another Mom on the Lower River cam with her 2 cubs.

Capture by Blair-55:

This Mom at the LR with her cubs has not been ID'd as yet, if she is I'll place here. Edit to add: The consensus is this Mom is 132.

And a gif by DanteV2000 of Grazer finally at her favorite fishing spot. The girls are over near the ladder waiting, but not in view here:

Grazer at her favorite fishing spot with a salmon jumping.

gigi · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:38 pm

Thank you so much for posting links to the pictures. Grazer and company were a force to be reckoned with last year- I can't imagine the mayhem they will create this year! :biggrin:

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Right gigi it could be a hot mess, I think they have been referring to them as the "Grazer Girl Gang"!

Another bear seen awhile ago this evening crossing near the falls was Divot. Divot has already emancipated her cubs earlier this spring and is alone now this season. She was seen mating with an unknown boar up on Dumpling Mt. recently when the Explore techs were up there doing their work. She has a noticeable scar around her neck (it is the indented area) from a snare that was removed by the Rangers years ago in the summer of 2014. She had to be captured and the snare removed in order to save her life. She had a cub with her when they captured her who was afraid of the Rangers and what they were doing to his Mom, but he stayed close enough to keep an eye on her and them. The video of that rescue is long, but worthwhile when you have the time and if interested. I will place it below the gif of her from this evening.

Gif by scooch of Divot crossing near the falls this evening on 6/21/22 to go up the path.

These are Divot's cubs in a capture taken by Birgitt late summer on 9/3/21. You may see them this summer as sub adults on cam. They may or may not travel together, but many siblings do that 1st summer after emancipation for awhile at least and may seem a little bewildered at times as they navigate life for the first time on their own.

"Mission to save Bear 854, Divot, from a wolf snare"

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

And last, but not least we finally saw a boar on cam on this first day and it was Walker (151). He is one of the big boars at Brooks, but maybe not as tall as some. He has a healing wound that he came back with possibly from a fight with another boar for a sow as it is the mating season. Before the cams came up he was seen by staff or visitors some time ago and the wound looked worse then. He is referred to as "Hot Walker" sometimes as last year when the Rangers were doing a live chat and were discussing the bears, the sound was not working (they were unaware) and the viewers followed the closed captioning and that was misinterpreting the words the Rangers were saying and "Hot" before Walker was one of those words.

Gif by scooch of Walker on the evening of 6/21/22 at the falls. There is a gull standing on the rock watching him in hopes he will catch a salmon and it will get the scraps. Gulls are referred to as "Alices" as there used to be a bear here named Ted who they frequently gathered in large crowds around...You know "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice"!

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

We also got to see some others that live at Brooks Falls during the summer on this first day of cams.

Capture by Brenda05, Bonaparte Gull.

Capture by ian.swift, A Salmon trying to jump the falls. (The falls are 6 feet)

Capture by grandmaj who thought there might be an owl on the ground. (She is a viewer who is well known for capturing things that others usually don't notice and being right about it.)

Capture by DanteV2000, a trout as seen on the underwater (UW) cam.

Capture by Bookmom, Alices (Gulls) out and about waiting for the bears.

Capture by DanteV2000, a Merganser (duck) who dove underwater looking for something to eat and was on his way back to the surface.

Capture by Blair-55, a Bald Eagle at water's edge.

gigi · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:10 am

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Grazer and her cubs have been around again this morning, but she left with her crew and some think she saw this one coming in:

Capture by Elanya, look out the largest boar of them all, 747 is arriving to the falls!!

Capture by WinterchillsCO, 747 in the J (jacuzzi). He was seen earlier this spring when he arrived by staff with his right ear hanging and some other fresh wounds...all healing now and most likely from fighting for rights to a sow to mate with. His left ear was wounded in a previous season. Now he is going to have 2 wonky ears, but still the biggest boar of them all as in Kodiak size. He was estimated to weigh about 1400 lbs. a few short years ago per a scan done. For the 1st time he was the Dominate Male in the hierarchy of the bears last season. Previously 856 was the top male for around 10 years with the exception of 1 year that he was injured and not around much. Everyone is wondering if 747 will retain his title or if 856 will make a comeback (he is also a very large boar and is the tallest of any there) or if it will be one of the other males.

Capture by Cruiser showing some of the current wounded side.

Gif by Cruiser, 747 having a shake before he heads up the path.

Gif by Blair-55 of 747 around noonish Alaska time all dry now and doing a little of the "cowboy walk" that they do when they see the presence or smell another bear to show dominance.

:dancegirl:

Visitors to Brooks Falls say the bears are much larger than they appear to be on cam.

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Here's a wonderful close up of 747 from his visit earlier today:

Capture by Bookmom, frontal portrait of 747.

gigi · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2022 7:21 pm

I appreciated bringing the links here. 747 definitely looks a little worse for the wear!

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

YW,gigi! Currently one of the fan favorites 909 and her cub referred to sometimes as Lil Bean or Roxie by some are on the Lower River cam. They are up and moving now. But were having a rest earlier. A 1st time Mom last season she came back with 2 cubs, but lost one. She was only 5 years old then and normally they do not have cubs till 6 or 7 or so. She was very unsure initially, but gained confidence over the season as did Lil Bean and as I said before, they become some of the favorites here.

Capture by ian.swift, 909 and Lil Bean resting as seen on the lower river cam.

Capture by bulbul, they are on the move.

Capture by Cruiser, headed toward the falls.

Gif by Rae_Rae, but it looks as if they detoured and went topside of the cutbank instead.

gigi · **Posted:** Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:23 pm

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Handy Dandy reference for the bears' preferred fishing spots at Brooks Falls updated by Cruiser, I believe. These fishing spots are mentioned by viewers as to where certain bears are currently located on the Brooks Falls cam to fish and/or eat.

To see in full, be sure to scroll up and down.

SWINWK · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:41 am **Posts:** 12697

Will end the day with a couple of gifs by Blair-55 of the 909's playing earlier. Moms do play with their cubs sometimes, but the Mom's with single cubs seem to make an extra effort as their young do not have a sibling handy to play with. The 2nd gif was a pleasant surprise.

909 in a playful run with Lil Bean.

909 playfully pulling along Lil Bean by or near her ear and Lil Bean's response! Catch her Lil Bean!!

:egg15:

And the following photo and capture shows 747's beautiful "peg ears" he was known for before he sustained the injuries and how they look now.

Side by side capture by Goof_n of 747 in 2022 with his healed injury of the left ear from a previous season and the current healing right ear injury and a photo of him from 2019 showing his intact "peg ears" he was known for.

:egg15:

A capture of 747 by Bookmom.

Not sure if 747 will be top bear this year, he just has a general look of defeat.

:egg19:

And a gif by SteveCa showing a wildlife moment in time.

It's hard to see, but the ducklings scrambled to the adult just in the nick of time!!

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