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Bear On the Porch.....
In between Earthwatch groups, we would have a four and a half day break. The break would consist of shopping, cleaning, data entry, and a little tiny bit of relaxation. Also, since most of our breaks for the last 4 groups were consumed by rainy weather, we spent most of the time indoors. Our indoor area was a home made octagonal cabin. It was roughly 20 ft by 20 ft. it had 2 doors and 2 large windows and a smaller window over the sink.
It was through these window from inside this cozy cabin that we had a chance to encounter some spectacular animal events. The windows turned into 3 miniature IMAX screens for our cabin fever plagued days. Theaters one and two looked out over the meadow behind the cabin and theater three had a nice view of the porch and the pathway that lead down to the stone covered beach. In theater number one, we saw a pair of coyote pups scamper across the meadow. In theater number two, we saw eagles perched high up in the trees surrounding the meadow. In theater number three, we saw a squirrel chase Stellar Jays off of the bird feeder. It was in theaters one and two that we became accustomed to seeing The Black Bear Performers.
The Black Bear Performers made an appearance in our last four consecutive breaks. The Black Bear Performers even made an encore appearance for group number seven. The name of the production was Waking Up To an Air Horn is Easy to Do. Group seven was caught off guard by the surprise production and after the initial shock, group seven applauded and gave them a thumbs up review. They even wanted to nominate the solo performance of this young sub adult bear for an Oscar.
It was hard for me to tell group seven that this performance that they just witnessed could not hold a candle to the production of Mother Bear and Her Three Cubs. This was an emotional roller coaster. The first scene was filled with excitement when the sow and her cubs sauntered across the meadow and then sadness when the left the meadow to head over to Mary Anne's. Oh the anticipation we felt for scene two to begin and the fright that occurred when it started. It was here in scene two that the mother bear sent her cubs to play in the woods while she put on her Oscar winning performance. The mere presence of her walking on the porch left Heidi speechless. The other impressive thing about Mother Bear was her level of confidence as she bit down on our cooler of meat (which was sitting on the porch) and popped the lid open with her paws, claws and teeth. Mother Bear was larger than life at this time. She even had us on our knees begging her to stop (terrorizing us) and after it was over she had us on our feet screaming for more (meat). Yes, it was here in theater three that Mother Bear put on her Oscar winning debut to a captive audience of three.
Less Drama, Bear on the Beach......
Well the mother bear was seen on more than one occasion. I actually saw her and her cubs on the beach twice. Both times, I was heading down to the burn barrel and turned my head to see Mom and three cubs. The first time she was about 50 yds away and the second time she was about 75 yds. Both times she sniffed the air and slowly moved off the beach and into the trees. She definitely wasn't afraid of me but she definitely didn't want anything to do with me either.
We had seen her and the cubs prior to the day on the porch when they would walk the meadow munching on berries.
We also saw her on the porch three more times after she had opened the cooler The only thing hurt in this whole ordeal was the cooler. The white cooler has it's inside showing where the bear's teeth tore through the plastic casing and revealed the dense Styrofoam insulation.
Killer Whales.....
Killer Whales also known as Orcas, do live in the area of our research. Unfortunately, Heidi and I never had the opportunity to see one. If you go to the Animals of Alaska Page, you can see a picture of an Orca. The picture was taken during group two. We didn't arrive until the day after group two left. The pods of orca move throughout Prince William Sound and only made one appearance for the Earthwatch groups.
Photos Below by Chris Pearson
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| The Mountains of Sheep Bay in Prince William Sound |
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| Mountains in Denali National Park |
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