Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
You Find What You Need Last fall, I went to commune with bears and lose myself in the wilderness. I enjoy the wild locations as much as the wildlife. This trip brought something unexpected but just as valuable. We’re watching bears from a jet boat … Continue readingBear Viewing by Boat
For over twenty years, I’ve been watching and photographing bears in the wild as a benign part of the landscape, largely ignored by these impressive animals going about their lives. The two following videos illustrate that. These two bears couldn’t be concerned less about the … Continue readingA Dangerous Bear
Nunitsiny: Tsilhqot’in for “grizzly bear” One of the greatest benefits of quietly observing wildlife is seeing their unique personalities shine through their actions and expressions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the cubs. Like a pre-adolescent child not yet shaped by societal norms and … Continue readingBritish Columbia Grizzly Bears
Photographers are often asked what their trip goal or dream image is. I’m not that kind of photographer. I want to be out in the wild, let nature envelop me, and embrace what comes. This trip unexpectedly brought two of my favorite things together—bears in … Continue readingBear Camp – British Columbia
Planes. Planes. Planes. Bears! Bears! Bears! The Travel This camp isn’t easy to get to, and that’s a substantial part of the appeal. I flew a commercial airliner to Anchorage. The following morning, I took a cab to Merrill Field and boarded a nine-seat Cessna … Continue readingBear Camp – Behind the Scenes
A Perfect Week with Bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska I spent most of the morning watching a brown bear lazily grazing through willows and alders on the far side of a lake in Katmai National Park. I was comfortable in my camp chair under … Continue readingA Bear’s Life (Katmai National Park)
I’m surprised at how many bears I saw at close range during this first week of June. I didn’t expect any real bear encounters here. I thought they’d all be binocular or spotting scope distance away. On my first morning out, a private guide pointed … Continue readingYellowstone Bears
Let Nature Heal You I awoke to word from home about yet another hiccup in one more seemingly straightforward home improvement project. I’ve been in Anchorage, Alaska, for a week. I arrived on a record-setting cold April day at the end of a record snowfall … Continue readingBlack Bears in Anchorage
I’m at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Bison Range, formerly the National Bison Range in Montana. In 2020, the US government returned the 18,766-acre range and its bison, located on the Flathead Indian Reservation, to the local tribes. It is now called the … Continue readingNational Bison Range
The Smoky Mountains aren’t a place for quiet, intimate, or prolonged wildlife encounters. It’s a place for the masses to get a glimpse of the wild that could change their life. And that’s just as important. My go-to methods for finding local wildlife consist of … Continue readingFinding Bears in the Smoky Mountains