Bear Viewing is Heating up at the Anan Wildlife Observatory!

      The first Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) were sighted on 27 June 2011.  Since then, the salmon have begun to stack up in the deeper holes and push toward the bears' favorite fishing holes.  Steady rain fall from the 29th of June till the 4th of July greatly increased the flow of the creek and bears were present in the area, however, fishing was very slow and the bears did not stay in view for very long.  The nicer weather from 5th of July to the present has marked a steady decline in water levels and increased fishability of pink salmon.  The increased fishability of the pink salmon has resulted in multiple black bears (1 to 10) in view at one time along with several individual brown bears present around the lagoon area. 

      There have been lots of activity under and around the deck as black bears scope out the fishing holes and what other bears are around.  Anan is playing host to 3 brown bear mothers this year (2 mothers with cubs of the year and 1 mother with year old cubs)!  A couple of adolescent bears have been sighted at the mouth of the creek, however, are uncomfortable with much human activity. 

      The eagle activity has picked up in the past week, with more arriving daily!  Lots of interactions between individual eagles as they jockey for fish scraps left by successful black and brown bears.

Boboli, a black bear that has been seen at Anan since the mid-1990s, has 2 cubs of the year and have been under and around the deck.  This has provided excellent pictures opportunities for visitors of Anan.

Boboli comforting her destressed cub.  This cub got separated for about 5 minutes and it took a while for Boboli to calm it down (i.e. stop calling).

Nootka with her 2, one year old cubs.



Sweet Cheeks fishing while her 2 cubs of the year mill around waiting for the next fish.