Wild Memories Photography Tours

Beryl Springs Cubs of the Year (COY)

Yellowstone experienced a long, hard, snowy winter and when the bears emerged into Spring they found the ground frozen and covered with snow.  Thanks to the harsh winter it has been an amazing spring of one bear sighting after another and photographers, who weren’t able to be everywhere at once, got to pick and choose which bears they wanted to see.

That is until word came around that there were three tiny little grizzly cubs hanging out with their mom near Beryl Springs, which is along the Gibbon River and North of Gibbon Falls.  The story is that mom was trying to get the cubs across the river but the spring runoff was just too much for the wee ones and it was a no go.

Photographers and bear watchers began staking out Beryl Springs, waiting long, long hours in hopes of seeing the sow and her three cubs.  After several days of waiting and watching a lucky few were rewarded with three different sightings, one in the morning along the southern edge of Gibbon Meadow, one in the low light of evening in the same place and for a brief time the following morning, which is when I finally saw the family and was able to capture these images.  I was one of the lucky few that morning, about a week ago and the bears have not been seen since that time.  We presume she has found some good food and is keeping low and away from the boars.

With cubs this small they are especially vulnerable to the many dangers of the wild and so we cross our fingers and hope to see them, a few pounds heavier, when it is safer for them to venture out and about.  Personally, I am a little worried about one of them as it seems smaller than the other two, so, of course, it is my favorite.  I always go for the underdog.