Don't Cry Over...

Dont' Cry Over Spilt Milk!

Just back from the misty, moody, and mystical garden of grizzlies known as the Khutzeymateen (after my two annual spring photo tours there). As always, the Khutzeymateen did NOT disappoint (in any way!). The bears, scenes, and weather were just great!

No need to cry over spilt milk - even Ma isn't too worried that her two cubs are being a little sloppy as they nurse on an exposed sand bar in the Khutzeymateen estuary!

This female grizzly has to rank high in the animal kingdom's "world's best mom" competition. She's ever-vigilant and her two cubs - now in their 3rd spring - seem as healthy as can be (despite the fact that they're living in an area literally crawling with large and hungry male bears!). This was a real special moment - we had seen ma nursing her cubs many times before, but she always took them into the surrounding forest and all we got were quick glimpses between the leaves and branches. But this time, Ma just walked to a high spot on a sand bar and, in plain view, laid down and let the cubs dog-pile on top of her and begin suckling away! And, as is visible in this photo, the cubs were pretty unconcerned about how much of a "mess" they made on Ma's chest! I suspect she did feel just a tad exposed (so to speak) - she made a point of looking up every few moments as though she was checking that we were behaving ourselves and keeping a respectful distance!

NOTE to Billy Boy: Yep, this is the same female with cubs as you saw last year. She still has two cubs and they are a LOT larger (not really apparent here, but you'll see in some subsequent posts). And she was a better "poser" than ever!

Subject: Grizzly (Urus arctos) female with two nursing cubs
Location:Khutzeymateen Inlet, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor 500mm f4 VRII lens - hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/500s @ f8; ISO 720. -0.33 compensation compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Moderate - this is only 85% of full-frame

Like almost always, additional details about the image (including processing details and more) is available here:

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/detail_3.html.

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!

Cheers...

Brad