Bear for breakfast...

jsinon

...as guests of course. Imagine my surprise when I looked across the, too small, stream on the edge of my campsite to this nice family looking back.

Fortunately, after mom decided I wasn't a threat she went back to sleep.

bfjr

Outstanding both the seeing and the capturing

PGM

Terrific photos, and what a treat to see those bears! It seems surprising that the mother went back to sleep. I always hear they can be pretty aggressive when they have young ones around. Happy New Year, and thanks for posting! Best, Pam

jsinon

PGM wrote: »

Terrific photos, and what a treat to see those bears! It seems surprising that the mother went back to sleep. I always hear they can be pretty aggressive when they have young ones around. Happy New Year, and thanks for posting! Best, Pam

My thoughts exactly Pam. When I looked up after hearing a noise and realized I was as close to a mother bear and her three cubs (there is a third high up the tree image left) as I was, to say I was a little concerned would be the understatement of a life time. I certainly would never get this close on purpose. FYI, these shots are with a 70-200 f4, at 200. Only slightly cropped for composition.

Dennis Kaczor

Yikes, these bears were pretty close and that is very unusual that the mother would fail back to sleep again. In most cases seeing humans, they would get up and walk away to protect the cubs. But hey a set of images and liked the story behind them.

jsinon

Dennis Kaczor wrote: »

Yikes, these bears were pretty close and that is very unusual that the mother would fail back to sleep again. In most cases seeing humans, they would get up and walk away to protect the cubs. But hey a set of images and liked the story behind them.

I think these bears were pretty used to people. In the White Mountain National Forest, the bears know where all the campgrounds are. While still being wild, I think they have less fear of man than they should, knowing too many people don't store their food or dispose of their trash properly. Pretty sure they were sleeping off a night of camp site raiding. The group 2 sites down from me woke up to them in the middle of their site the day before. Now that would have been too close!

Harryb

Excellent work.

ashrugged

very nice, Glad you had the right lens with you.

jsinon

ashrugged wrote: »

very nice, Glad you had the right lens with you.

Thank you, but I would have preferred longer to provide me more distance from the subject:D

jsinon

Harryb wrote: »

Excellent work.

Thank you!