#alaskabearcamp

[brandikristen]

Would you like to hear a sweet story of love?

One of my favorite happenings from this season...

A few weeks back, I witnessed a beautiful act of love. It was late in the morning, and those of us who were around camp were busy cleaning showers and toilets, changing bedding in tents, preparing lunch... all of our daily duties. I walked out of the kitchen to see a very skinny fox walking across the yard. I stopped in my tracks to see where she was going, and another fox walked up behind her. The second one - much healthier looking than the first - had a vole in its mouth (a small rodent, similar to a lemming). He walked over to the skinny fox, and the skinny female gently took the vole from the other.

The second fox (I later came to the conclusion that this one is a male) handed it off to her, with no hesitation. The female ate the vole (I was close enough to hear bones cracking as she chewed), and then they both hung around for a rest.

After a few minutes, the skinny fox began to roll around on her back, all four legs in the air. It was obvious then that she was a female, and a nursing mother at that.

The sweet dad was taking care of the mother of his offspring. Nature is just so beautiful ♡

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Last night, Ben was on a walkabout through the homestead when he saw a fox with a vole in its mouth. He said the fox seemed to be on mission, so he followed it. Minutes later, he saw a pup come out from under the house that Wayne Byers (the homesteader) lived in when he was alive. This morning, just after breakfast Caprice and I saw the same fox - again carrying a vole - and followed him to Wayne's house to get a look at the baby ourselves. Such a sweet, special experience. Baby red foxes nurse until they are about five weeks old, and then mama begins to wean them and they begin to eat solid foods. So if I were to guess, I would say this little guy is about six weeks old. It looks so fluffy, and wagged its tail as dad brought it food. It's tiny little tail has a little white tip. My heart could have exploded!

Mama and dad hung around for a few minutes and then took off, leaving us with the baby. I'm sure by now that they are used to us being around and view us as safe.

This experience made me think about a day preseason, when we were still setting up. Just out in front of the homestead, on the beach, we spent time one morning watching two foxes. One was laying down the entire time, and the other was eating. I imagine that these are the same two that are the parents.

Nature is so very special to me. Being able to spend a season witnessing something like this, and piecing it all together, is special beyond words.

I just love love.

[brandikristen]

Love Games..

I am sitting on the viewing platform that sits behind camp. I just finished a lovely meditation. Birds chirping near and far, as close as five feet away, where swallows are flying in and out of their house on one of the posts. I see multiple swallows going to and fro, and there are the sweetest tiny little eggs inside. I haven't researched, but it appears that multiple adults take care of the nest. So sweet! I see six swans up the creek - two bathing in the creek, the other four are sitting on the bank and appear to be feeding. A robin is off to my right, walking towards me (they spend a lot of time ground feeding, and aren't too afraid of humans getting close). With my naked eye, I can see eight bears in the meadow. Two of them just finished mating, and are beginning to grunt at one another. They are all just grazing, feeding on sedge grass. It is a beautiful afternoon. A few clouds are in the sky, the sun is shining and a light breeze is blowing.

Earlier today, just after breakfast, Ben and I hopped on the four wheeler and took off down the beach. "Date hour" is what I am calling it. We rode down to the cliffs, as far down the beach as we could go. Ben brought clients out yesterday, and saw that the wild lupine is in full bloom down there. Knowing it is one of my favorites, he brought me there this morning. Along the way, we passed a bear who was clamming in the bay. During low tide, bears go out onto the mud flats and dig for razor clams. As we continued along our way, Ben spotted a wolf walking the beach in the distance. It heard us coming, and stepped up into the tall grass, heading towards the mountains.

As we made our way towards the end of the driveable beach, I began to see the lupine that is blooming beautifully! It is just stunning to me. We found the tracks from the wolf we saw - a smaller wolf, we could tell from the tracks. Ben found an eagle feather, and I learned that having one of these in your possession is punishable by a $25.000 fine. Of course, we left it where he found it.

On our way back to camp, we saw a bear running out on the mud flats. We stopped to take a look through binoculars and we saw the bear and four eagles! One of the eagles had something in its talons. The other three - one of which was a juvenile - flew off, and we realized that the bear was chasing the eagle that was carrying something. The eagle would stop when it got far enough away from the bear, and begin to eat. As the bear got closer, the eagle would once again take off. It was really fun to watch!

As we got close to camp, a large boar (male bear) crossed out of the tall grass towards the bay. Chasing him was a cute blonde female (or sow). It is rare to see a sow chasing a boar. We stopped and shut off the motor to watch. She chased him down the beach, and as they passed us the boar stopped. He turned around and looked at the sow, and then headed in her direction as he chomped his jaw. We could hear his teeth clanking together. She also turned around, and now the boar was following her. They crossed right in front of us, and went back into the grass.

We continued back to camp to help finish lunch and prepare the dining tent for service. About 15 minutes after getting back, Johnny (our fill in bear guide, friend, and also Caprice's husband) came into the kitchen to tell us about two bears who were mating just outside of camp, in the grass. The sow was blonde and they were right where the two on the beach had gone. Even bears play love games ♡♡♡