Day 5 & 6 – Paradise Hide

Over the next two days at Paradise Hide, we were desperately hoping to spot wolf pups. Apparently the pups were chilling close by but refused to make an appearance. Fortunately, the light was just right for  photography but some moments were too fast for the camera (unless you had a high speed shutter rattling off like a machine gun). We spent hours watching an adult white tailed eagle watch over the two juveniles scavenge a carcass, surrounded by flocks of crows acting like hanger ons. Every now and then, bears kept strolling in from different angles raiding the carcass and casually strolling off.

I captured the stunning sunset, a glimpse of what every evening looked like.

Day two was proper drama and anxiety inducing for one scaredy bear. We spent the entire afternoon watching it act completely paranoid especially when one particular wolf kept bothering it. Every single time a more confident bear glanced its way, it ran the other way. Meanwhile, other bears were unbothered and peacefully hung out with the cheecky wolf. A few white-tailed eagles flew around but not as dramatically as the day before and gave one single wolf (not the cheeky one) the chance to grab half the carcass and run away with it back into the forest behind my hide. At one point someone thought she saw a wolverine, but it turned out to be a chilled bear bobbing its head in between the reeds.

Day 7 – Forest Hide

We split our group in two to see who could claim the first wolverine sighting. My group chose the Forest Hide which meant being stuck deep in the pine forest under the bright sun, hoping to spot a silhouette – ideally a wolverine climbing a tree. Instead, two bears made short appearances at different times and the wolves stumbled in and out, just enough for me to capture them close up. Even the crows were unusually quiet refusing to make different voices. Magpies and Eurasian jays hopped around but it was a finer bird that caught my attention. It delicately fluttered its wings that sparkled under the sun and had a dark crown that glowed under the sunlight. It was a Siberian jay that graced our view and brought elegance compared to the screeching magpies and jays.

The other group hit the jackpot, spotting a wolverine and watching bears swim laps around the lake for over eight minutes. As for me, I resigned myself to the fact that watching bears scratch their backs against forest trees was as exciting as it was going to get. I spent my time experimenting with artsy silhouette shots to outline bodies and faces because bears scratching their bums don’t make for a compelling photo.

Right before midnight, we got the word, or two. Northern Lights. Since I had never seen them before, I was kinda excited right up until I realized that those neon electric green and purple lights you see on pictures are a scam pulled off by long-exposure camera lenses. To the naked eye? They look so faint. I was underwhelmed but it was pretty cool to wrap up the night and get a reality check before booking a northern lights focused trip.

Day 8 – Lake Hide

Our group swapped hides with the others, eagerly waiting for yesterday’s magic to repeat itself. Nature as we know is funny… if you’re into dark humor. The moment we sat down, a bear casually strolled over to the lake, walked right in and did a quarter of a lap to the other side that lasted about 30 seconds. We were so excited, expecting it to repeat its workout. After the grand swim, the wilderness turned into a ghost town. A few random bears wandered by. The same bear dipped in for an even shorter time and wolves and wolverines were no where to be found.

Word came through the group chat that the other group hit the jackpot again, this time at the Forest Hide. A wolverine strolled up, poked its head out from behind a tree and chilled with them for over 40 minutes. While they were living the dream, I settled for photos of bears clinching trees and posing by the lake as the evening light shifted colors.

I was sat thinking who has seen the wolverine on every single encounter. It had to be R and sure enough I guessed right. But R was devastated because a Siberian Jay was high on his life list and he failed to get a shot. Oh Nature…