Guess who just got back today? Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
July 5, 2016 7:45 PM   Subscribe

The bears are back on cam! 24/7 live coverage of Alaskan brown bears fishing the sockeye salmon run on Brooks River in Katmai National Park.
posted by jamaro (41 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- Brandon Blatcher



 
Wow.... the bear right now on camera is huge.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:49 PM on July 5, 2016


Bears know how to live. Eat salmon. Eat berries. Take naps. Long naps.
posted by rtha at 7:55 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


open mouth, receive salmon.
posted by MillMan at 7:59 PM on July 5, 2016


This is some quality white noise.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 8:03 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


I just realized that sitting in a cool stream, eating some fresh salmon is exactly what I wish I was doing right now.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:12 PM on July 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


Wow, that is actually really horrifying. The camera just got a closeup of a bear eating a salmon, and it was still flapping while the bear systematically stripped the skin off and tore pieces out of its back. I'm not sure why I didn't expect that, but I guess I kind of imagined them swallowing them whole.
posted by lollusc at 8:23 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


Thin Lizzy will be fed to the bears at promptly 10am local time. Stay tuned!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:27 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


This is wonderful. I wonder how cold that water is.
posted by longdaysjourney at 8:52 PM on July 5, 2016


Bear is not even trying to fish. Bear is just sitting in the water, chillin'. Bear needs a kayak.
posted by Anonymous at 9:43 PM on July 5, 2016


I thought Bear was just sitting in the water, chillin', but then Bear lifts his paws and Bear's paws contain a fish. Which Bear proceeds to eat in the all-natural manner described above by lollusc. Nature is a heartless bitch.
posted by bryon at 9:49 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


this is just to say

i am eating
the salmon
which are in
the stream

and which
probably
wanted to
not be breakfast

what's to forgive?
i'm a bear
so fresh so cold
nom nom nom
posted by pernoctalian at 9:58 PM on July 5, 2016 [20 favorites]


I just got home from my evening walk, the wildlife portion of which involved watching an eagle rip apart a salmon it had caught in the stream which runs through town; it reminded me that I ought to go to the bear-favored stream south of town some night this week to watch for action while the tides are low during the right part of the evening.

Our local black bears put on a pretty good show but I would definitely love a chance to go to Katmai to observe the brownies there.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:55 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


The bears are cool and all, but watching the salmon completely fail to make the jump is my favorite part so far.
posted by miguelcervantes at 11:45 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Yeah, the salmon are at least as mesmerizing as the bears. So many near-misses! And they just keep trying! Fish ladders are clearly easy mode in comparison.
posted by karayel at 12:33 AM on July 6, 2016


There are two bears right now. One below enjoying a smorgasbord of fishies. One above enjoying a delicious buffet of air since he's super slow and catching zero delicious fishies.

Watched a couple fish bounce of the rocky falls area on the left earlier and laughed my ass off because I'm horrible person.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 12:56 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


These bears remind me of my in-laws.
posted by pxe2000 at 3:23 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yaaaaaay! This is my favorite!
posted by mochapickle at 4:45 AM on July 6, 2016


Didn't realize that the camera was manned (I assume remotely) - just watched it zoom in on a bear on the far side of the river.
posted by COD at 6:02 AM on July 6, 2016


I thought I heard some noise in the background last night -- someone walking, or checking the equipment. It wasn't just the camera being zoomed, because the view didn't change. It sounded like they were inside. Is this camera inside some kind of structure in the park?
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:09 AM on July 6, 2016


I thought I heard some noise in the background last night -- someone walking, or checking the equipment.

That was Slenderbear. He can sense your fear.
posted by thelonius at 6:20 AM on July 6, 2016 [6 favorites]




It sounded like they were inside. Is this camera inside some kind of structure in the park?

There's a viewing platform next to Brooks Falls, and there are national park rangers as well as tourists there sometimes. They do chats sometimes, sort of a live play-by-play about the bears at the falls at that moment. It's really fascinating.

Katmai also puts together an ebook about the bears who visit each year. Warning: it's not all cuteness. Bears fight.
posted by gladly at 7:52 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


I find myself rooting for the salmon to make the jump when the bears aren't fishing. Damn, that jump looks hard! That must take a fair amount of energy to level up.
posted by heyho at 8:34 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


The camera just got a closeup of a bear eating a salmon, and it was still flapping while the bear systematically stripped the skin off and tore pieces out of its back.

On the upside, the salmon may finally win an Oscar.
posted by 912 Greens at 9:49 AM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Mom and two cubs in the falls now! Almost too precarious to watch.
posted by gladly at 10:41 AM on July 6, 2016


> So Apparently There Is Something Called A Salmon And It’s Freaking Adorable

Not when it's spawning, it's not. Semalparity is kind of hard to watch. The later in the season, and the further upstream, the more gruesome the creekbeds are, littered with salmon corpses and still thick with the hideous fangy wraiths of the spawning fish.

> These bears remind me of my in-laws.

Me too, my in-laws spend the summers in Alaska fishing and photographing bears, when they're not too busy guilting us for not joining them, and I am so sick of bears, tbh.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:27 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


On mammalian semalparity, aka, fucking your furry little self to death.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:42 PM on July 6, 2016


Bear cubs in the water right now! This is not a drill!
posted by karayel at 2:13 PM on July 6, 2016 [4 favorites]


Oh my god, the bear cub was leaping into the water! Mama was all, time to go. "But Mom!"
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:18 PM on July 6, 2016


aww... it looks like the stream is done. I was looking forward to having lunch while the bears, uh, had lunch. Lunch with bears is much better than lunch with no bears, at least over the internet. Lunch with bears in the same room probably leads to being lunchfor bears.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:53 PM on July 6, 2016


It's on! The ranger is giving the play-by-play and talking about the fish. No bears in sight, which is great for me. #bearhater #teamfish
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:08 PM on July 6, 2016


Bear 83 and Bear 747 being selective about which fishies they'll eat tonight.

Enjoying making up yogi and boo boo conversations for this.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 8:36 PM on July 6, 2016


So, it's clearly the freshest sashimi on Earth, but the knife work sure does lack finesse.
posted by fedward at 8:24 AM on July 7, 2016


My dog does this exact same thing but with grasshoppers.
posted by mochapickle at 8:26 AM on July 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


Bear cubs again! I think it might be regular this time of day.

Damn you for posting this, I was late for work this morning because there were 3 bears.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 2:07 PM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


Mama bear with three bear cubs rn.
posted by gingerbeer at 6:53 PM on July 8, 2016


This is my antizoo.
posted by heyho at 7:25 PM on July 8, 2016


There were 6(!) adult bears in the water a minute ago. That's a buncha bears! I was kinda half-hoping there would be a rumble or something, but not yet.
posted by hap_hazard at 7:46 PM on July 9, 2016


Wait til later this month; there will be a dozen out there at a time. Heh; and they can get cranky and competitive, so they occasionally scrap over the more desirable fishing spots.
posted by heyho at 11:01 AM on July 10, 2016


If you're more on Team Salmon, the underwater camera is on today. (Also, I use the explore.org portal for Katmai so I can see the alternate angles of the park.)
posted by gladly at 9:01 AM on July 13, 2016


True first-world problem: There are people (a man, a woman) doing voice-over commentary on the livestream at the moment and although they are not terrible and seem knowledgeable, I am used to the white noise of the river and nothing else and I HATE THEM TALKING OVER IT. Just let me watch the bears! I can provide my own commentary!

In our house this week it's been like
"How's the fish over there, Joe??"
"Good, Gary! How's by you?"
"Good! There's a nice rock I can stand on."
"Yah, I got a nice little eddy here and sometimes I can just stick my head under the water and open my mouth and mmmmf SALMON!"
"Love that!"

posted by rtha at 8:55 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


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