I love spring. It is my favorite season. As winter loosens its grip and the vegetation begins to grow again, the world seems to return to life. Foxes scream in the middle of the night in search of new mates; does arrive in our yard with their wobbly, newborn fawns; eagles soar in mating spirals and begin remodeling their nests for the arrival of their chicks; and bears leave their dens in search of food after a long winter of fasting.
Spring always brings unexpected joys, and no two springs are alike. This year, we have watched an abundance of herring enter Uyak Bay to spawn. Often when large schools of herring return, we see increased whale, seal, and sea lion activity in the bay, but this year we’ve observed something different and exciting. Bears are feeding on the herring in the tidal flats at the head of Uyak Bay where the herring spawn. While in the summer months, bears typically catch and eat salmon in this same area, they don’t usually congregate to feed on herring. Herring are rich, oily fish loaded with nutritional value, and they provide a great supplement to a bear’s diet.
Bears’ stomachs contract during hibernation, and when they first leave their dens, their appetites are suppressed, and they eat little, concentrating on emerging plants and their roots. As spring progresses, bears can be seen feeding in grassy meadows and look much like grazing cattle with their heads bent to the earth. We don’t usually see bears feeding on fish until summer when they chase and catch salmon, but bears are opportunistic feeders, and since the herring are here now, bears are taking advantage of their abundance.
Herring are smaller than salmon, making them more difficult for a bear to catch. The herring swim into the eelgrass in the tidal areas at the head of Uyak Bay where they lay their eggs. When the tide ebbs, the fish temporarily become stranded in the shallow tidal pools, and bears can chase down and pounce on the fish.
As with salmon fishing, older bears are better than younger bears at landing herring. Fishing is a skill bears learn with much practice over time, so young bears are often clumsy fishermen. A sub-adult bear might gallop back and forth for thirty minutes without successfully landing a fish, while an older bear walks deliberately through the water and pounces with little effort on a passing herring. Each bear develops his own, unique fishing technique.
In the long run, this early appetizer of herring probably will make little difference to the overall health of the bears, but if Kodiak has a poor berry crop and a poor salmon run, this early addition of herring could sustain the bears until the salmon arrive.
Spring is only beginning here on Kodiak Island, and I can’t wait to see what other surprises the season has in store for us.
Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
