Babine Grizzly Bears 2009

Well it's sockeye season and the grizzly bears are back feeding at the Babine River. I love to fish for the sockeye myself but it's even more exciting when the bears come around for me to photograph. I've been lucky enough to see them while fishing and not to be in a bad situation where I'm not sure where to go... They are for the most part used to fisherpersons but I'm always careful - have you seen their claws! Amazing.

Can't wait to go back and take more photos...

Hoary Marmots

Hoary marmots are one of my favourite subjects... they are numerous up on Hudson Bay Mountain, they quite often let me come within a few feet of them even with my black lab, and they don't bite - I think. Here are a few of my latest pictures of a baby marmot.

His parents were whistling away - probably telling him to hide but his curiosity got the better of him. Lucky for him we hunt for photos only.

Wildflowers

Wildflowers are great - they are always around to enjoy and photograph; whether they are just springing up or if they are frozen and frosty.

After our long winter, I enjoy the arnica as they bloom in our yard and along the backroads.

Then my second favourite spring flower would be the alpine
marigold - they grow up on Hudson Bay Mountain wherever there is water. They are a durable little flower and I take care not to tromp on them.

You may think that the cow parsnip is not a beautiful flower but I love their design as they bloom and then again in the winter as they somehow stay upright and get covered in hoar frost.

This wildflower - which I'm guessing is a type of dandelion... was found along the railway tracks down in White Rock during a family reunion.

This next flower is again a mystery to me but they bloom all through the Nisga'a lava beds which is amazing that anything grows there at all. On the weekend we went camping there it was like a being on a b-b-q...

And of course there is the fireweed - brilliant pinks and purples that brighten the sides of roads and cutblocks.