Clamming on the Tidal Flats

The bears like to hang out on the tidal flats at low tide, digging up clams and eating them. When the bears emerge from hibernation in the spring, they are under a biological imperative to EAT….they spend most of their day searching out food, eating and gaining weight and putting on fat for the following winter. We watched a number of bears out on the tidal flats.

The bears have a very keen sense of smell. They can smell a clam as far as 3 feet under the sand.

The bears would dig a clam out, then place it on the back of their paw, pry it open, and eat the clam.

Bears and seagulls make good partners. It seems that each bear has a gull that follows them around looking for leftovers.



Most of the time, adult bears seem to hang out by themselves,,,,,,,but, once in a while they feel a need to assert themselves…..

We watched these two females over several days……they seemed to be trying to determine which one was the ‘bigger bear’. This dominance order is important and determines who gets the best/most food, best spot to hang out, etc..

All of the posturing and body language culminated in this brief chase. Problem solved…..for the moment.