Polar Bear Cam

Capturing polar bears on live video isn’t easy, as they can wander more than 930 miles in a season. The polar bear cam is made possible in part by the unique geography of Cape Churchill in Manitoba, Canada, which causes the normally solitary bears to gather in the region by the hundreds every October and November.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20131125/churchill-canada-polar-bear-cam-offers-amazing-live-footage

Driving in Alaska can be challenging - watch out for bears

I have seen bear by the side of the road and I have slowed down because moose were coming onto the road and I have hit 2 deer.  I wonder what the car looked like after the bear confrontation?

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-challenge-of-driving-in-alaska.html

A Wolf Chases a Motorcyclist down a highway

If he were on a bicycle - he would be in BIG TROUBLE.

http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/06/banff-motorcyclist-pursued-by-massive.html

I saw two bears today!

I leave tomorrow on the ferry. I have been packing and cleaning. It was 80 degrees and I decided to drive to the end of the road.
I saw two bears.
The first one: I was driving along and saw a bunch of bushes along the railing on the road. Then there was a black furry head among the bushes. I looked at it and it looked at me and then it hit me - That is a bear. I had the camera next to me but as soon as I went for the camera the bear was gone. It was a cub. On the way back, i walked over to where I saw the bear and I heard crashing of bushes as something was running off.

The second bear was about 5 miles towards Juneau. I was driving along and a grown black bear was along side the road eating skunk cabbage. i stopped the truck and I might have gotten a picture, The bear was pretty busy eating so he was not worried about a picture being taken. He was in the bushes so the picture might not be very good. I will check the picture later.

I still have some more cleaning and then I can load up and be gone tomorrow.

It was quite light out at 10 PM tonight.

When I left Emmonak last year, May 08, a big brown bear ran from the garbage dump to the airport to see me off. Here in Juneau, I had two black bears see me off. A bear seeing me off tradition continued this year. In Emo, we never saw bears so it was quite unusual. After the bear was seen, a call went out on the scanner and people showed up with guns to shoot the bear if it got near anyone. That bear got out of there fast though. The villagers have the right to shoot a bear that can harm a person.

Mendenhall Glacier - ice is gone!

The ice is gone. The bears are out and seen daily at Mendenhall. Bus loads of tourists are traveling to the Glacier. People who live around the Governor's mansion are upset because buses swarm around the governors mansion now. Before she ran for VP, it was not a popular attraction but everyone wants to see it now. The governor says she would like to put a sign up welcoming them. I will also note that she is NEVER there so she is not really impacted. In Juneau float planes are taking off a lot and Helicopters are all over the glacier too. Busy place. Juneau has narrow streets that go straight up hills, so buses are a big inconvenience in the downtown area.

Having massive amounts of tourists around takes some getting used to. It used to be so quiet around here. When the cruise ships come in, Juneau changes a lot and fast.

Homer, Alaska Story: The trumpeter swans are now in Homer. A family who live on a lake invited people over for breakfast to see the trumpeter swans as the people ate breakfast. It was a yearly tradition. This year, as they ate and watched, an eagle swooped down and killed a swan and ate it in front of the breakfast gatherers. The remaining swans took off and flew in a circle above just watching their bird friend being eaten. The people were not happy. Historical Note: In Homer: There was a lady who fed the eagles for 50 years. The eagles had easy access to food. The lady died last fall and it is now illegal to feed eagles in Homer. The eagles now have to search for food. This is the first year of the new law.
(There was a big fire ripping through rural Homer this past week. We have not had a lot of rain and vegetation dried out. A burn barrel got a fire going and the wind spread the fire. 700 acre fire that blew through containment lines. It is settling down now that the wind is subsiding.)