I watched an exchange not too long ago, one younger bear was eating his salmon, and some big bully bear came by, drove the youngster off, and stole his fish! And the youngster looks at the camera like “aw, man I was eating that!”
Otis has won the fat bear vote.
He gave us all a bit of a scare when he showed up very late at the falls. He packed on the pounds, like the champ he is and is looking good for hibernation.
I was worried about Otis. He wasn’t looking good when he showed up. I’m glad to see he’s made up for lost time. It turns out he’s old for a Grizzly in the wild - 25. He’s also missing some teeth. Good for him for fattening up.
My other favorite was Holly. She got knocked out early this time.
The bear cam is back for 2022!
and otis got to the falls in good time this year. he is on nap watch.
Been watching this a lot lately. Otis is some kind of fish whisperer. Other bears are having to focus and move fast to catch their fish; Otis just sits off to the side, staring down at the water, and then slowly dips his muzzle in and comes out with a fish. Over and over again.
Fun to watch the bears, but it’s a house of horrors for the salmon. When the fishing is good, the bears prefer to eat just the skin - so you end up with skinned-alive salmon drifting downstream and waiting, presumably in unspeakable agony, for the sweet release of death.
Wow! Just saw a salmon leap directly into a bear’s mouth! Last thought: “Aw, hell, man. . .”
Damn, he just did it again!
otis is the zen master. he is amazing.
as of 31 july nearly 78.4 million salmon swam through bristol bay waters.
For anyone wondering what the various specific places are (at the falls) that people in the chat keep referring to, someone in the chat posted this link to a very helpful annotated photo:
Watching right now … but it’s 02:15 and it’s dark… so no bears, but
i’ve seen several shooting stars !!
Or they may be fireflies.
747, bear force one has won the fat bear title this year.
the bear cam is back, as are the salmon (finally!). even a drizzly day in alaska is gorgeous.
Seems like everyone is running late this year - the bears and the salmon. Even now, only five bears at the falls, and I didn’t see any salmon after a few minutes of watching.
Still waiting for Otis to make an appearance.
Black Bear visiting a co-workers condo for a snack a couple of days ago.
Real darn big for a black bear. But we don’t have Brown Bears around here… as far as I know. That would be a whole different situation.
Otis arrived yesterday, July 26, and snagged a fish almost immediately. Two years ago, he arrived on the very same day. This year, he probably replaced the batts in his clock radio. My wife has been fretting like crazy the last few weeks, she was actually singing a made up Otis song not 5 minutes ago.
Sounds like my wife. She was almost crying tear of joy last night when she saw that Otis had finally showed up. Last Fall she bought an Otis 480 Christmas tree ornament (which I do kinda like):
Interestingly, he seems a lot more light on his feet and active at his current weight. By late summer he’s so fat that he doesn’t move around much.
The bad news is that he seems to be missing more teeth than ever; he spent an awful long time last night chewing on a hunk of fish before being able to swallow. Hope he can still pack away enough calories this summer to make it through another winter.
he is in his office this morning. all is good.
I really need to read these posts to myself first – I’m on the hook with my wife, now, for an ornament and a fridge magnet (maybe 2; they are nice). 
I got a good look at Otis an hour ago; he looks like a walking ad for bear cancer. You can see almost every bone in his body. Still fishing with the best of 'em, though.
I’m sure someone’s mentioned it, but how much weight do they put on before sleepy-time comes?
Wikipedia says the males can put on 500 pounds:
Adult males can gain up to 500 pounds (230 kg) and weigh up to 1,200 pounds (540 kg) when hibernation starts.
Thanks for the info. I …think I need to get on the treadmill.