A Bald Eagle circles in front of the Teton range to make a second attempt at the raft of coots floating in the lake below.
Spirit Bear - The Catch
A spirit bear snags a silver salmon. Biologists think the white coat makes them more successful when fishing. From the perspective of a fish looking through white water and upwards to the sky, it is a lot easier to detect a black coat, than a white one.
After snorkeling and successfully catching a Silver Salmon, a Spirit Bear shakes off his wet coat. It took me four trips to the Great Bear Rainforest before I had the privilege of photographing the Spirit Bear. It is a rare subspecies of black bear that lives only along the central and northern coast of BC. There are less than 400 Spirit bears in existence, making them one of the rarest bears on the planet.
Bison - Winter Warriors
As winter settles and temperatures reach -40 degrees, perhaps no animal is as well prepared to survive in this unforgiving climate.
The distinct shoulder hump on their back, which is actually a protruding muscle, allows them to function as a 1 ton, living snow plow. Unlike other ungulates, such as moose and elk, which scrape with their front feet to access food under the snow, bison use this muscle to rock their massive heads back and forth exposing grass and sedge buried under several feet of snow. Some bison will opt out on this “snow-plow” technique, preferring to graze alongside thermal features where the warm steam from geysers or hot springs melts the snow on the surrounding grass.
When violent winter storms hit, prompting other wildlife to seek shelter from the chilling wind and blinding snow, bison just plop down where they are and wait it out. Their winter coats are so thick and well insulated that the falling snow doesn’t even melt on their back. In a heavy snow, you can watch the largest land animal North America vanish before your eyes in a matter of moments.