Category Archives: Kodiak Bear

Kodiak Bear biology, behavior, and news

Avian Flu Poses Threat for Wildlife in Alaska

May 19, 2023Bald Eagle, Birds, Harbor Seal, Kodiak Bear, Kodiak Wildlife, Red Foxadmin

In 2022, an avian flu strain reached the United States. Over the past year, more than fifty-eight million domestic poultry and thousands of wild birds have died from the viral H5N1 flu strain. According to biologists, it is the largest bird flu outbreak in U.S. history and doesn’t seem to be going away. As its name suggests, the virus mainly affects wild and domestic birds but can also infect mammals.

In Alaska, more than twelve hundred chickens and ducks have died from the avian flu, and it has killed more than two-hundred wild birds, including eagles, ravens, and shorebirds. Biologists have also found the virus in wild mammals, including bears and foxes. Migrating wild ducks and geese spread the virus when they defecate contagious droppings across the areas where they travel.

Scientists have no treatment for avian influenza, and the mortality rate is high for poultry and wild raptors such as hawks, eagles, and owls. Symptoms in diseased birds include fatigue, difficulty walking, nasal discharge, decreased egg production, and swollen combs or wattles.

Transmission to humans is rare, but flu viruses tend to mutate easily, so this disease could affect humans in the future. Scientists have already identified the virus in marine mammals around the world. Biologists have detected outbreaks among seals and other marine mammals in Maine, Chile, and Peru.

The remoteness of most areas in Alaska makes it difficult for biologists to know how widespread the disease is here. In October 2022, researchers found a sick black bear cub in Glacier Bay National Park that tested positive for the H5N1 virus. A month later, a deer hunter on Kodiak Island collected the carcass of a dead brown bear cub that tested positive for the virus. A necropsy on the brown bear cub revealed infection in the cub’s brain, lungs, and liver. Biologists suspect both cubs scavenged on wild birds that had died from influenza and inhaled the virus while tearing the birds apart. Luckily, at this point, the virus cannot be transmitted from bear to bear.

Kodiak bears are at risk if a deadly novel virus spreads among them. A 1998 study on the genetic diversity of North American brown bears indicated that Kodiak bears have less genetic diversity among them than other populations of North American brown bears. Several of the genetic samples from bears on Kodiak showed identical genotypes, meaning the bears were so genetically similar that biologists could not measure the differences between them. According to a 2006 report conducted for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, the genetic variation among Kodiak bears is much lower than the variation found among any other brown bear population. While the Kodiak bear population presently remains healthy, this low genetic variability makes this population susceptible to decimation by novel parasites or pathogens, which could reach Kodiak and infect bears.

If you see a sick wild bird in Alaska, report the animal to a hotline managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 866-527-3358 or by email at ak_mbm@fws.gov. In particular, look for signs of disorientation, twitching, or tremors, and birds with necks twisted back.

For those of you in the Anchorage area, I have a book signing at Barnes and Noble on Saturday, May 27^th, from 1-5 p.m. Please stop by and say hi. I would love to meet you. I will be at Mosquito Books at the Anchorage airport on Tuesday, May 30^th.

Robin Barefield is the author of five Alaska wilderness mystery novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, and Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge. She is also the author of the non-fiction book Kodiak Island Wildlife and the true-crime book Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. Sign up below to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter on true crime and mystery in Alaska, and listen to her podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier.

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In Conclusion

June 20, 2021Bald Eagle, Birds, Fin Whale, Gray Whale, Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale, killer whale, Kodiak Bear, Kodiak Wildlife, Mountain Goat, Orca, Porpoise, Red Fox, River Otter, Sea Otter, Sitka black-tailed deer, Steller Sea Lion, WeaselBald Eagle, Conclusions, Kodiak Bear, Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island wildlife, Robin Barefield, whales, Writingadmin

When I reach the end of a manuscript, I dread writing the conclusion because a conclusion requires a great deal of thought and effort. Just as we were nearly done polishing my non-fiction book, Kodiak Island Wildlife, the editor said he believed the book needed a conclusion, and I groaned, but I also agreed with him.

I don’t know how long I stared at a blank computer screen, but I could think of nothing to write. How do you sum up a book about wildlife? Then, as I stood on our boat one morning, watching giant fin whales with our guests, the conclusion for my book popped into my mind, fully formed. When I read it to my husband, tears came to my eyes, and I knew I had done my best work. My editor agreed, and he said it was the perfect ending. The following is the conclusion for my recently released book, Kodiak Island Wildlife.

Emerald cliffs plunge into the gray ocean, and only a slight breeze stirs the surface of the water. In front of our boat, three huge fin whales feed, frequently surfacing to breathe. Their exhalations sound like cannon shots, and our guests capture every moment with their cameras. A sea otter bobs placidly a short distance from our boat, and a bald eagle circles overhead. I have seen all of this many times, but still, it takes my breath away, and a chuckle escapes my lips. How have I managed to live my life in one of the most beautiful places on the planet? To me, Kodiak is paradise. Sure, the weather here throws frequent tantrums, and mistakes in the hostile wilderness do not go unpunished, but I have found nowhere else I would rather live.

One of my greatest joys is to guide visitors into the Kodiak wilderness. I love the look on a newcomer’s face the first time she sees a Kodiak bear or watches a sea otter eat a crab. I wrote this book to honor the wild animals we’ve watched over the years and to thank the many folks who have visited our lodge. I know they would tell you that Kodiak is a special place. The island is mysterious and magical.

It is a short conclusion, but it sums up how I feel and accurately describes my motivations for writing the book. I am grateful for the many experiences I’ve enjoyed. My life is an adventure filled with wonder in the Kodiak wilderness, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Speaking of wildlife, I hope to return to regular and more frequent posts soon. The past two months have been hectic. I’m writing this while I sit on our boat. We are cruising 100 miles around Kodiak Island from our lodge to the town of Kodiak, where we will have our boat lifted out of the water so that we can clean and paint the bottom. As soon as we return home, we have endless jobs awaiting us before our summer season begins. Meanwhile, I am trying to promote my new book and keep up with my scheduled newsletters and podcasts. I realize I’ve let my blog posts fall through the cracks, and I vow to make my posts more of a priority in the future. Thank you for your patience.

Kodiak Island Wildlife is now Available

Robin Barefield is the author of four Alaska wilderness mystery novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, and Karluk Bones. Sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true crime and mystery in Alaska, and listen to her podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier.

Listen to my podcast about true crime and mystery in Alaska.

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What Would You Do if You Encountered a Bear in the Woods?

July 28, 2019Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeAlaska Brown Bears, Bear Encounters, Bear Protection, Black Bears, Kodiak Bears, Robin Barefield, Safety Around Bearsadmin

What would you do if you saw a bear in the woods? It’s fun to imagine hypothetical situations and wonder how you would react in a high-stress scenario, but for anyone traveling to Alaska or anywhere else with wild bear populations, you should seriously consider how you would react if you encountered a bear in the woods. Don’t venture into the Alaska bush with no bear protection plan in mind. Educate yourself, learn about bear behavior, ways to avoid bears, and what to do if you encounter a bear.

Bertie from Effortless Outdoors recently sent me a link to his article titled, What To Do If You See A Bear (And Why) and asked me to mention it on my blog. The piece is very detailed and well-researched. My one complaint is he didn’t separate Kodiak bears (or even Alaskan brown bears) from grizzly bears. While all brown bears are members of the same species, grizzlies and coastal brown bears exist in different environments and often do not react the same way to humans. Kodiak bears have more to eat and grow larger than grizzlies, but grizzlies are often more aggressive than Kodiak bears toward humans. This one criticism aside, though, Bertie’s article is good and provides some interesting facts.

Unless your goal is to see a bear, follow Bertie’s tips for avoiding a bear encounter. He helps separate fact from fiction. For example, studies show those obnoxious little bear bells that annoy your hiking companions do not deter bears and may even attract them. A whistle is also a bad idea.

Keep in mind, bears have individual personalities and do not all react to humans in the same way. A bear’s response to a person depends, in part, upon his past experiences with people. If a bear rarely sees humans, he could be startled, curious, or terrified to spot a person on his trail. On the other hand, a bear living in an area commonly visited by tourists might not even look at you as you pass him in the woods. Black bears behave differently from brown bears, and a polar bear’s reaction to a human is so dissimilar from the response of a black or brown bear, it’s a bit misleading even to include polar bears in the same article.

My husband, Mike Munsey, and I take guests bear viewing each summer. Mike knows Kodiak bears well. He understands their body language and vocalizations and can quickly spot a bear acting aggressively. He would be the first to tell you, though, that bears in other areas of Alaska often exhibit different behaviors from the ones we encounter.

If you are planning to travel in bear country, research the bears in the area you plan to visit. Contact biologists and ask what information you can download about the bears you might encounter, and inquire into methods you can use to protect yourself. If you are camping, you will want bear-proof food containers, and if you plan to camp in an area with a high concentration of bears, you might consider purchasing a portable electric fence.

If you want to see bears but don’t know anything about them, hire a guide. You have no business trying to get close to a bear on your own if you have no bear experience.

One of my favorite parts of Bertie’s article is where he uses an illustration to demonstrate the likelihood of being killed by a bear. As the graphic clearly shows, you are much more likely to be killed by a dog, a cow, or lightning than you are to be mauled and killed by a bear.

The bottom line if you encounter a bear in the woods: respect the bear’s intelligence and strength, but don’t fear the animal. The bear is likely more terrified of an encounter with you than you are of seeing him.

Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. Sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska, and listen to her podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier.

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Spring on Kodiak Island

May 12, 2019Fish, Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeKodiak Bear, Kodiak Island, Pacific Herring, Robin Barefield, What Do Bears atadmin

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.

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How Can You Tell if a Kodiak Bear is a Male or a Female?

October 7, 2018Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeAlaskan Brown Bears, Brown Bears, Clues to differentiate male and female Kodiak bears, How to tell whether a bear is male or female, Kodiak Bear, Kodiak Island, Robin Barefieldadmin

Unlike cartoon bears, female Kodiak bears don’t wear hair ribbons on their head, so you must depend on other factors when trying to differentiate a male from a female bear. Last week, when I wrote about how to judge the size of a bear, I covered some of the ways body shape and musculature vary between males and females, but I will cover body shape and other clues in more detail this week.

Does the Bear Have Cubs?

This statement seems so obvious to me that I almost forgot to mention it. I’m sure most of you know male bears do not hang around with cubs. Regardless of what you might have seen in the movies, a Kodiak bear accompanying cubs is always their mother.

Do you see sex organs?

Minus cubs, there are only two sure ways to determine the sex of a Kodiak bear. The first is the presence of either nipples or a penis sheath and testicles. Even if you don’t see her cubs, you might see nipples in the armpit area of a nursing female when she walks. While often not visible, you sometimes see the penis sheath and testicles on a male, especially on a large boar.

Have you seen the bear urinate?

The only other way to be certain of the sex of the bear is to watch it urinate. Females urinate outward and to the rear, while males urinate straight down or forward between the legs. Females also sometimes squat to urinate.

Head and Shoulders:

If you do not see cubs or sex organs, and if the bear is not cooperative enough to urinate in front of you, you will have to depend on other clues to make an educated guess at the sex of the bear. Some of these are the same body shape differences I covered last week when I discussed how to determine the size of a bear.

A female brown bear’s head is narrower than a male’s, and her muzzle tapers, giving her a pointy nose. A female also has narrow shoulders roughly the same size as the head. Male Kodiak bears are more muscular than females. A male has a wide head and a square face. A large male’s forehead muscles bulge, creating a furrow or valley down the center of the forehead, and his massive shoulders are noticeably wider than his head.

Body Shape and Legs:

An adult female brown bear’s legs are shorter and thinner than the legs of an adult male, but unless you are comparing two bears standing side by side, it is not easy to determine the sex of the bear by looking at its legs. Males have robust front legs, and they are heavy through the ankles, ending at their wide feet. A female’s legs taper slightly, giving her the appearance of thinner ankles. Also, because females have shorter legs, their bodies hang lower to the ground.

The body, legs, and mid-section of a male brown bear look heavy and bulky, but since females aren’t exactly dainty in appearance, it is difficult and often misleading to use body shape to determine the sex of a bear. My husband, who had been around Kodiak bears all his life and has been a guide most of his life, says he is still sometimes surprised when he watches a young bear he is certain is a female until the bear urinates, and he realizes it’s a male.

Conclusion:

Unless a bear has cubs, you see her nipples or his genitalia, or you see the bear urinate, it is impossible definitively to differentiate male and female Kodiak bears. A huge bear is probably a boar, but large sows can also look huge, especially after a summer gorging on fish and berries.
The body shape of a bear provides clues to its gender. A heavy, bulky bear with a wide head and shoulders and a furrow down the middle of its forehead, is likely a male. It is more difficult, though, to distinguish sub-adult males from females.

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I hope my posts on bear size and gender answer a few questions about identifying bears in the field. The bottom line is that it’s impossible to pin down the gender of a bear from a distance, but you should be able to tell whether the bear is small or large by looking at the shape of its body.

Next week, I have a treat in store for you. My friend and fellow author, Steve Levi, has agreed to write a guest post about his books and his background. Be sure to stop by next week and meet Steve.

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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. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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How Do You Estimate the Size of a Kodiak Bear?

September 30, 2018Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeBrown bear size, How to determine bear size, How to Estimate Bear Size, Kodiak Bear Size, Kodiak Brown Bearadmin

When our summer guests see a bear, they immediately want to know its size. They ask, “How much does it weigh?” or, “Is it a big bear or a small bear?” If you see a Kodiak bear ten feet in front of you on a trail, it looks huge, but the same bear walking along the beach a mile away appears small. Guides who have spent years watching bears can easily tell you whether a bear is big, small, or medium-sized, but it’s not easy even for an experienced guide to judge the exact size of a bear from a distance. In this week’s post, I will discuss the indicators a guide uses to judge the relative size of a bear, but first, let me share some facts about the weight of Kodiak bears at different ages as they grow.

Kodiak bears gain weight and add fat in the summer when food is abundant, and then they burn off this fat during hibernation, so their weights vary from fall to spring. Yearling cubs weigh approximately 135 lbs (61.36 kg). When they are two-and one-half-years old, males begin to outgrow the females, and weights vary greatly. Females reach their full adult size at approximately five years when they weigh between 350 and 500 lbs. (159.09 – 227.27 kg). Males continue to grow, gaining about 100 lbs. (45.45 kg) per year until they are eight to ten years old and weigh 500 to 1000 lbs. (227.27 – 454.54 kg). In the wild, an 800 lb. ( 362.87 kg) female would be a huge sow, and a 1500 lb. ( 680.39 kg) male is a maximum-sized Kodiak bear. The largest Kodiak bear on record lived in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and weighed 1670 lbs. (757 kg.).

When you see a bear on a salmon stream or watch him through binoculars, you might not be able to determine how big he is, but you should be able to tell whether he or she is relatively large or small.

Shape:

Look at the bear’s overall shape. Does the bear appear square or rectangular? Young, small bears look square from a distance, while larger Kodiak bears have a rectangular shape. A larger, older boar also appears bulky through the rump and midsection.

Legs:

Are the bear’s legs long or short, and thin or heavy?

Big males have long legs. The front legs on a large male appear heavy and do not taper at the ankles. A young male brown bear also has long legs, but they look lanky, not thick and heavy. A Female, even an old female, has shorter legs, making her body appear closer to the ground. A female’s front legs taper at the ankles.

Head Neck and Shoulders:

Note the size of the ears in relation to the rest of the head. The ears on a large male or female bear appear small compared to the rest of the head, and on a large male, the ears appear wide-set. The ears on a young, small bear look large in comparison to the rest of the head and seem closer together. Now, look at the shape of the head. A large boar has a wide, square face with a thick, heavy muzzle. A sow has a small, narrow head with a tapered muzzle, and a young bear has a long, triangular head.

The massive muscles on the head of a large boar create a furrow down the middle of the forehead, and its muscular shoulders are wider than its head. A female has narrow shoulders the same width as her head, and a young bear has a long, relatively thin neck.

Claws:

Old, big bears of either sex often have distinctive white claws, but a male can be big without being old, so a big boar might have dark claws, and occasionally, a younger, smaller bear has white claws.

Conclusion:

If you’ve never seen a Kodiak bear in the wild, how can you tell if it has small ears, broad shoulders, or tapered ankles? If you see several bears at once, you can study and note the physical differences between big bears and smaller, younger bears, but if you see a single bear walking the beach, these general clues to size might not help you. My husband has been a bear guide for most of his life, and he says the best clues are:

1. The shape: is the bear rectangular (large) or square (small)?
2. Does the bear appear bulky and muscular (large) or does it have long, lanky limbs (small)?
3. Finally, and this point is often overlooked, how does the bear move? Watch the bear awhile. Does he walk or run in jerky movements (small), or are his movements slow and deliberate (large)?

Examine the photos in this post. Can you tell which bears are large and which are small?

Next week, I’ll share some clues on how to differentiate between male and female Kodiak bears. It’s not as easy as you might think, and unlike in the cartoons, females don’t wear bows in their hair.

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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. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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Kodiak Bear Management

April 8, 2018Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeBrown Bears, Hunting, Kodiak bear Management, Kodiak Islandadmin

Wildlife management most often involves managing humans. Research allows biologists to understand the needs and habits of wildlife, and this research hopefully leads to management policies to enable human populations to better coexist with wildlife. Wildlife management is never easy, and Kodiak is no different from anywhere else. Various user groups attempt to pressure wildlife managers into making decisions to further their particular interest, and managers struggle for a balance to try to accommodate a variety of users while protecting the wildlife and the habitat.

On the Kodiak Archipelago, I am proud to say the management of bears and their habitat is not only done well, but it is done so well, it is considered one of the best models of wildlife management in the world. The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge managers, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the native corporations, and the citizens of Kodiak work well together to safeguard bears and protect their habitat.

History has shown us that protecting wildlife habitat is often the most difficult aspect of wildlife management, whether there is oil to be drilled, copper to be mined, trees to be cut, or roads and houses to be built, economics often wins while wildlife loses huge chunks of critical habitat. Brown bears require large tracts of wilderness to survive, and as the human population grows, it becomes more and more difficult to protect the bears’ home from economic and residential development.

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is the largest intact, pristine island ecosystem in North America. The Refuge encompasses 16 lakes, 117 salmon streams, wetlands, grasslands, shrublands, Sitka spruce forest, tundra, and alpine meadows. This habitat supports 250 species of fish, birds, and mammals, including 400 breeding pairs of bald eagles. It supports 3000 bears, and an estimated 3500 bears live on the Kodiak Archipelago.

One of the stated purposes of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is to conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity, including, but not limited to, Kodiak brown bears, salmonids, sea otters, sea lions, and other marine mammals and migratory birds.

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1941 in response to concerns by bear hunters for the health and survival of the Kodiak brown bear population. The original mission of the Refuge was “to protect the natural feeding and breeding range of the brown bears and other wildlife on Uganik and Kodiak Island.” Without the strong lobbying efforts of hunting groups, it is doubtful the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge would have been formed. The sale of bear hunting licenses and bear tags on Kodiak generates over $250,000 annually, and much of this money is used for research and habitat protection.

Bear hunting on Kodiak today is very tightly regulated. Each year, 4500 people apply for the 495 available bear-hunting permits. Of these 495 hunters, approximately 175 are successful, and 75% of the bears killed are male. All hunters must check in with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in Kodiak before going into the field, and they must check out with Fish and Game before leaving the island. Every bear killed must be inspected by an Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist before it can be taken off the island. Because these strict regulations have the overwhelming support of guides and residents, illegal bear hunting on Kodiak is rare.

Perhaps the most telling fact proving the Kodiak bear and its habitat are well managed is the 3500 brown bears currently living on the Kodiak Archipelago. Biologists believe this is the largest the Kodiak bear population has ever been.

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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.

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Have Kodiak Bears Changed Their Feeding Behavior?

April 1, 2018Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeBear Feeding Behavior, Kodiak Bear Research, Kodiak Bears, Kodiak Bears and Global Warming, Kodiak Island, Robin Barefield, Will Kodiak Bears switch from salmon to berriesadmin

Last week, I discussed a recent scientific study chronicling Kodiak bear feeding behavior during the summers of 2014 and 2015. I pointed out that while the study fascinated me, I was less enthusiastic about the flood of inaccurate leaps in logic following the publication of the research. Please refer to last week’s post if you haven’t read it, so my post this week will make sense to you.

I invited most of the authors of the study, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge officials (the research was in part supported by the Refuge), and other biologists and guides on the island to read my post and share their thoughts on the study. I was curious to know what others who work in the field on Kodiak thought about the flood of publicity over the past few months stating as our climate warms, Kodiak bears are changing their feeding behavior and are abstaining from salmon while they eat their fill of elderberries. While I didn’t get many replies here on my website, I did receive several e-mails, and without mentioning any names, I will share some of those with you.

I know I just said I wouldn’t mention any names, but I do want to state that Dr. Deacy, the lead researcher on the project, sent me a very nice e-mail soon after I asked him to look at my post. He was on a deadline for another project but said he would respond in more detail when he had time. He couldn’t have been nicer, and I exhaled a long, slow breath when I read his response because Dr. Deacy has been generous with his time in explaining this as well as other, recent bear research to me. I didn’t want to anger him or anyone with my critique of the study.

One of the other researchers on the study was not as thrilled with me, and he seemed to think I was personally attacking him and the other biologists. I admit I am partially to blame for his anger because I stated scientists sometimes seem as if they are in a bubble. He equated this statement with me saying scientists never come down from their Ivory Towers – a term I did not, nor would not, use. After his message, I was afraid to look at my e-mail for the next few days, but the rest of the replies I received were positive.
Biologists and guides alike felt the conclusions stated in this study opened the door to the wild, speculative media reports following it. Two people mentioned an important point. Some Kodiak bears spend most of their lives in alpine regions on the island and eat neither elderberries nor salmon. As with humans, what bears eat varies from one area to another and from one individual to the next.

I hope most people who read articles with titles like, “Kodiak bears go vegetarian,” will stop for a moment and question such a wild claim. I applaud wildlife research and think this research is necessary, not only to understand the magnificent wild animals who share this planet with us but also because this research points the way to appropriate wildlife management decisions. I don’t, however, believe research should ever be done to prove a case. The point of research should be the search for truth.

Speaking of wildlife management, next week I will write about bear management on Kodiak Island. Thank you for reading my post.

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Elderberries, Salmon, or Both?

March 25, 2018Kodiak Bear, Kodiak Wildlife, PlantsGlobal warming and Kodiak Bears, Kodiak Bear feeding Behavior, Kodiak Bears switching to berries over salmon, Kodiak Brown Bears, Robin Barefieldadmin

Bears are omnivores, and on Kodiak, they eat a large buffet of food items, including elderberries and salmon, two of their favorite foods. What happens, though, if a bear has a choice between elderberries or salmon? Which will he choose, or will he choose both? More importantly, why does it matter?

I’m sure you have controversies in your neighborhood. It may be a fight over a bill to fund a new school, a fight over a tougher crime initiative, or something as simple as whether or not to put a stop sign at the end of your street. In my neighborhood here in the wilderness, the recent research I’ll discuss in this post is what we call controversy. I’ve avoided writing about this scientific article until now because I know I will irritate several people, some of them friends. I finally decided, though, I couldn’t continue to avoid voicing my opinion on something this significant. I have invited some of the biologists involved in this study, other biologists, and local guides to read my blog, and I hope they will weigh in on the issue by leaving comments. I am sorry this post is long, but I didn’t want to break it into two parts.

The study I will discuss is titled, “Phenological synchronization disrupts trophic interactions between Kodiak brown bears and salmon.” It was published in the July 18th edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I think it is an excellent study, and more importantly, other biologists must think it is an excellent study. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is a prestigious scientific journal, and to be accepted by this journal, a research paper must be peer-reviewed at the highest level. I do not disagree with the methods or the results of the study. What I do have a problem with are the broad, far-reaching conclusions drawn from what is, in my opinion, a preliminary field study.

Let me do my best to explain the focus and significance of this study. A large body of research concerns what happens due to global warming when coevolved species shift out of synch with each other. For example, consider a plant that is only pollinated by one bee species, and these two species co-evolved so the plant flowers at the exact same time the bee is ready to gather its nectar and pollinate it. What happens, if the bees hatch earlier each year due to a warming environment, but the flowers bloom at the same time because their cue for blooming is based on the amount of daylight, not temperature. The two species will slowly grow out of synch with each other, and the plant species may go extinct when the bees are no longer available to spread its pollen.

In this study, though, lead researcher William Deacy and his colleagues set out to investigate the opposite situation: what happens when warming temperatures cause climate-induced synchronization? In this case, when elderberries fruit several weeks earlier than usual on Kodiak Island during the middle of the sockeye salmon run, will bears choose to eat salmon or berries?

The Karluk River on Kodiak Island, where this research was done, supports a large sockeye salmon run lasting from June to early August. On a normal year, bears on the Karluk River feast on sockeye and other salmon until late August, when they begin eating elderberries and salmonberries which are just then ripening. Once the berries are gone, bears return to the river and side streams to eat other species of salmon.

When William Deacy worked on another research project in the Karluk area in 2013, he noted typical bear behavior. Throughout July, bears ate their fill of salmon and left the scraps for birds and other animals to scavenge. In 2014, after a warm spring, elderberries ripened two weeks earlier than usual, and plants produced ripe berries longer than normal. Deacy noted that bears in late July were eating berries instead of fish. Why, he wondered, would bears opt for elderberries over sockeye salmon? The winter and spring of 2015 were also warm, and Deacy again observed bears ignoring sockeye salmon while they ate berries.

Deacy and Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge biologist Bill Leacock gathered a team of scientists from several universities and organizations, including Oregon State University, the University of Montana, Washing State University, and the National Park Service, to examine this surprising bear behavior.

From meteorological records, the biologists determined the temperature on Kodiak is slowly getting warmer, and 2014 was the warmest year on record. When the winter and the spring are relatively warm, elderberries ripen earlier than normal, and when elderberries ripen earlier, bears seem to eat berries instead of salmon. What, they wondered, will happen when temperatures continue to warm? If the berries are ripe all summer, will bears only eat berries and ignore salmon? If this happens, what will the birds and small animals eat? They depend on bears to leave them scraps of salmon on the banks of streams. Not only do animals depend on bears for leftover salmon, but salmon carcasses provide fertilization for riparian vegetation. Another point of concern is if bears only eat berries and avoid salmon, will bears get enough nutrition?

Deacy and his colleagues headed for the lab to determine if elderberries are nutritious enough to sustain bears, and why bears like berries better than salmon. Fortunately, elderberries are protein-rich compared to other berries. They don’t have as much protein as a salmon, but a bear would do fine if he ate elderberries instead of salmon. I won’t discuss the part of the study suggesting why bears prefer elderberries over salmon because I believe this conclusion is based on a very shaky assumption.

Do bears prefer elderberries over salmon, and if provided with both, would they choose the berries? I don’t know the answer to this question, and neither does William Deacy or any other biologist. As I said earlier, I think this is a well-done, interesting, thought-provoking study, but let ’s not get carried away. This is a preliminary study consisting of three years of data taken over a fairly small geographical area. It is unprofessional for any biologist to draw sweeping conclusions from a limited, preliminary study.

I would like to believe the media is responsible for jumping to wild conclusions regarding this research. I corresponded with Dr. Deacy after the research was published and asked him if he was trying to say bears are now eating berries instead of salmon. I may have misunderstood him, but I thought he said he was only suggesting what might happen as our climate warms. Then I found articles titled, “Alaskan grizzly bears choose berries over salmon—thanks to climate change,” “Kodiak bears found to switch to eating elderberries instead of salmon,” “Grizzly bears go vegetarian due to climate change, “Climate change is luring Kodiak bears away from their iconic salmon streams,” and “As a warming climate changes Kodiak bears’ diets, impacts could ripple through ecosystems.” Deacy, himself, wrote this last article. In it, he claims, “climate change dramatically altered bear behavior.”

The researchers state the ecosystem on Kodiak Island has been disrupted. I have lived in the Kodiak wilderness and have helped my husband guide bear viewers for 35 years. My husband has lived in the Kodiak wilderness all his life. Warm springs and big berry crops are not unusual, and when the berries, especially salmon berries and elderberries, ripen, we know we will see fewer bears on the rivers feeding on salmon where we can show them to our eager bear viewers. The bears will instead be in the bushes eating berries. I seriously doubt bears prefer berries to salmon, though! Berries are an easier food source than salmon because all the bear has to do is sit on his rear end and eat them. He is required to expend energy to chase down a salmon.

I believe either from instinct or learned behavior, bears know that when berries ripen, they are usually only available for a short period. Salmon, though, can be eaten from June into November. One fact I feel these researchers did not stress enough is that five species of Pacific salmon return to spawn each year in the streams and rivers on Kodiak Island. Pink salmon, not sockeye salmon, are by far the most prevalent of these species, and I have thousands of photos to prove how much bears love to eat pink salmon. Pinks are in the rivers until late September, and Coho salmon remain in the rivers until November.

Yes, the spring and summer of both 2014 and 2015 were warmer than usual, and the berries were plentiful. Once the berries began to decline, though, bears were back on the rivers eating their fill of salmon and leaving scraps for the birds and other animals. I suspect when these warm springs and summers become the norm, bears will learn they have a longer period to eat berries and will split their time between berries and salmon. I may be wrong, and bears may choose berries, but I know it should take more than a two-year study before biologists begin telling reporters that Kodiak bears have abandoned salmon for berries.

The spring and summer of 2017 were cool. The berry crop was poor, and the salmon run on Kodiak was better than it has been in several years. Bears packed the salmon streams, and we wondered whether they would eat enough berries to gain the necessary calories they need to carry them through hibernation. A biologist arriving at Karluk Lake last summer observing abundant salmon and few berries might have designed a very different research study from the one I’ve been discussing in this post.

What worries me, is that as the planet warms, salmon populations will drastically decline because salmon are sensitive to even a small increase in water temperature. As this research suggests, though, when salmon are no longer available, perhaps bears will maintain a healthy diet by eating berries.

I would like to make one more comment before I get off my soapbox. Why must biologists live in a bubble? Why didn’t the researchers in this project talk to guides who have been watching bears for decades? I realize they can’t use anecdotal evidence in their study, but perhaps we could have offered possibilities in addition to the conclusions Dr. Deacy made.

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Mystery Newsletter

Genetic Studies and More Kodiak Bear Research

March 18, 2018Kodiak Bear, Kodiak WildlifeKodiak Bear Genetics, Kodiak Brown Bear Research, Kodiak Brown Bears, Kodiak Island, Munsey's Bear Camp, Recent Research on Kodiak Bears, Robin Barefieldadmin

Last week, I discussed early studies on Kodiak bears, and this week I want to continue by talking about more recent research, including some troubling genetic studies.

A 1996 genetic study questioned whether Kodiak bears should be considered a separate subspecies from other Alaskan brown bears. A 1998 study on the genetic diversity of North American brown bears indicated genetic diversity among Kodiak bears is much less than it is for other populations of North American brown bears. Several of the bears sampled on Kodiak had identical genotypes. A study by Paetkau and colleagues further explored the genetic isolation of Kodiak bears from other Alaskan brown bear populations.

A 2006 report for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge illustrates that Kodiak bears have extremely low levels of genetic variation at neutral nuclear microsatellite markers. The level of genetic variation in Kodiak bears is much lower than the variation found in any other brown bear population. Furthermore, this low level of variation is not only found at neutral markers but also in nuclear-functional genes. While the Kodiak bear population is presently healthy, this low genetic variability makes this population susceptible to novel parasites and pathogens that may somehow reach Kodiak and infect bears.

Bear research is ongoing on the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Yearly intensive aerial surveys yield population counts, and aerial stream surveys determine the number of bears on certain streams and study the population profiles of the bears on each stream (the percentage of single bears, sows with newborn cubs, sows with one-year-old cubs, etc.).

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is studying the population characteristics and habitat use of brown bears on Afognak Island since the movements and ecology of Afognak bears are not well-understood.

In 2010, William Leacock headed a two-year project near Karluk Lake on the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge to collar and track several Kodiak bears. Each bear in the study was fitted with a GPS collar to broadcast the bear’s location at hourly intervals. A Refuge pilot with an antenna attached to the wings of his plane flew over the bears and picked up the GPS signal from the radio collars of each bear being tracked. A crew member then downloaded these GPS points onto a laptop. From this information, the researchers were able to study the detailed movements of each bear and record the preferred habitat, food preferences, and bedding choices of each animal. Once the GPS data were collected in the field, volunteers hiked to the exact locations where each bear had been and recorded the types of food plants available in the area as well as other pertinent information. The goal of this study was to quantify behavioral responses of Kodiak bears to resources that vary in time and space (such as salmon runs and berry production). Dr. Leacock and his associates also studied how fluctuations in abundance of salmon at various streams near Karluk Lake influenced bear movements and exploitation of those streams.

Next week, I’ll discuss a new study that is both fascinating and controversial. I hope to invite the researchers on the study as well as guides who have been watching bears and their behavior for years to read my post and comment on it. Maybe I can get a lively discussion started! Be sure to check back often.

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