Bears--just watching them

I've been posting a bunch of links to news stories called "Living with bears," which show how widespread occurences of bears coming into residential, even commercial, areas are. I haven't posted links to the many articles about people encountering bears while camping, hiking or even once while competing in a triathlon--I figure it's not surprising to run into a bear when you're in their territory.

But if you are interested in viewing bears in the wild, without leaving the comforts of home (let alone risking life and limb) there is a way. On the National Geographic website you can see a bearcam (they call it a "wildcam"), a solar-powered hidden camera focused an a bear gathering-place at McNeil River Falls in Alaska. This is live--these bears are there right now, looking for salmon to eat. Sometimes there is an camera operator working the thing (remotely), zooming in on the action.

At the moment the fishing doesn't seem to be very good. None of the bears have caught anything in the ten minutes or so I've been watching. But it's still morning there.