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Bears and Swans- Alaska Photography 2022

By · On December 28, 2022
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As a continuation of my last post, this past June I guided a documentary film crew on the border of Lake Clark National Park in Chinitna Bay, near the Natural Habitat Bear Camp. In addition to the amazing mating season behaviors that I photographed and displayed on my previous post, I was delighted to be sharing the sedge meadow with not only beautiful bears, but about 16 tundra swans. I have seen swans many times in the past, but never this close to bears. Take a look…..

I love for subjects in an image to form a triangle. We also love three attention points. This was my first bear-swan triangle!

Just like the bears, these swans form mating couples and congregate on intertidal meadows to feed on protein-packed sedges. The pairs will then find a secluded pond to nest and raise their young. They spend their winters feeding in agricultural fields near open water in the Rockies and Mid Atlantic States.

I could tell these were tundra swans because of the yellow on their beak, which distinguishes them from trumpeter swans. The bears never attempted to catch the swans.

Tundra swans are North Americans smallest swan, but with a 6.25 foot wingspan, they are still massive birds.

Swans in flight.

The swans were shy of our small film crew at first, but eventually became tolerant to fairly close distances.

Another fascinating bird species we saw was the red-necked phalarope. After the female lays eggs, she leaves the male to raise the young, and

Mating pair red necked phalaropes.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year! I still have lots of highlights from summer and fall 2022 to show, and hope 2023 will be even more productive!


Brad has been a Natural Habitat Expedition Leader since 2005, guiding Alaska grizzly bear tours, Churchill polar bear tours, northern lights expeditions and China panda tours. His specialty is bear biology and ecology of the north country.

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