2019 Photographic Spirit Bear Tours

We had another wonderful autumn photographing Spirit Bears (and other coastal wildlife) in the Great Bear Rainforest. Every year that we visit this area we encounter something different, and often we encounter different individual bears too. This year seemed to be a particularly good year for the black bears up and down the coast. Many of the female bears had cubs in tow and, at least in the creeks that we visited, there seemed to be enough salmon to keep the bears well fed and looking plump. One of the big highlights of this season was that one of our regular Spirit Bears (a young bear we call Strawberry) had her first cub and we were lucky enough to enjoy several wonderful encounters with them as they ventured down to the creek in search of salmon! As usual, we also enjoyed photographing some fantastic bear behaviours, such as bears stealing food from each other, or challenging each other for the best fishing spots, as well as tender moments between the mum’s and cub’s. In addition to all this, all our time on the river bank provides excellent opportunities to watch the coming and going of wildlife at this important time of year. Spawning Salmon, Wolves howling, Bald Eagles, American Dipper, Steller’s Jays, Pine Martens, Mink, Steller’s Sea Lions, Killer Whales and we even had a show of bubble-net feeding humpbacks on one day too! These are just a few of the many highlights of our autumn in the Great Bear Rainforest...