Bears have arrived at Kokanee Creek Park.
Usually, it is earlier, but while black bears have been here for a few days, they seem to be a bit late this year. Well, it was a good huckleberry season at higher altitudes, but one reason for the tardiness is apparently some fresh paving on the mountain side of the highway. The equipment and traffic this entailed seems to have postponed their arrival.
But they are here now. There were eight seen a couple of evenings ago. The attraction is the spawning run of Kokanee salmon, and the black bears need to fatten up before hibernation.
However, this year’s bears only turn up at dusk. This is a variant on their earlier year’s appearance of coming at any time of day. Skittishly, they seem be trying to avoid people, but their timing makes it difficult to take pictures. While I watched last evening, there were two adult bears, plus a mother and two cubs, but the low light and the skittishness left me with only pictures of three of them.
In the dim light, the camera would no longer focus on the mother bear and her two cubs. The bears were off to the side of the creek waiting for some people to disperse.
The first bear to arrive is seen with a captured Kokanee salmon. Photo by Cynthia Fraser.
This black bear looks cautiously up at people on the bank of the creek.
