"When the tide is out, the table is set!" The bears of Southeast Alaska take advantage of any food source they can find. After a long winter of restless sleep and no food, these omnivores are hungry...big time! They eat almost constantly through the summer and autumn months to replenish the fat supply that will keep their body temperature up and metabolic processes functioning enough to get them through the following winter. We encountered this large Black Bear boar as we entered Tracy Arm early this morning. As Sea Bird edged close to the rocks, we watched the bear crunch barnacles with its forepaw and then lick up the results...shell-bits and all. The shells will pass through, leaving the digestive tract unscathed, but the rich tissues of these superabundant intertidal invertebrates will help satiate his hunger. As soon as the late summer salmon runs begin in nearby streams (any day now), this animal will join others and switch to a diet of rich and fatty fish.
The skies were absolutely clear again today and the scenery of Tracy Arm unsurpassed. We enjoyed a deck lunch off the snout of South Sawyer Glacier, one of two magnificent rivers of ice that feed this fjord. Try as we might, though, our concentrated energy was not enough to entice a huge column of ice that was leaning precariously off the face of the glacier to break free and explode into the milky water.
