Salmon, anyone?

Go ahead and click on this live streaming video. At the moment it features salmon, not bears. Salmon. Lots and lots of salmon.

Welcome to Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska. Those of you who indulge in fishing may not be impressed by this, but for someone who grew up in Oklahoma, this is insane. I’ve never caught anything bigger than a maybe 6″ sunfish or crappie, and that only after drowning a worm for half an hour in a farm pond (and getting sunburned in the process). Looks like I could almost walk across the river on the backs of all those salmon.

Having now read the fine print accompanying the camera, it appears that at the moment there are two cameras operating at Brooks Falls. The one above, positioned closer to the water, is focused on the salmon.

This one is the one focused on, or at least looking for, the bears:

And yes, I’ve seen several bears. One downstream, with just his head above water. And one on the far bank, just below the falls. The gulls are back too, waiting for the bears to provide scraps.

Thanks to my friend Karen in Estes Park who reminded me that the bear cam is up now. I’d totally forgotten.

(P.S. More in the next post.)