Admiralty Island, in Southeast Alaska, is home to over 1,500 brown bear, almost one per square mile, which gives it among the densest concentrations of brown bears in the world. In spring and early summer, Admiralty Island bears move from their higher elevation dens down to beaches and tide flats to feed on new vegetation, scavenge on winter-killed deer carcasses, prey on newborn fawns, and feed on eggs deposited by spawning herring on intertidal beds of seaweed. As bears have a relatively inefficient carnivore digestive system and are only active part of the year, they're forced to exploit the most productive feeding sites available, such as salmon streams, berry patches, and tideflat meadows full of tasty sedges and beach lovage. This brings them down from the upper elevations to lower elevations following newly emergent vegetation in early summer and to salmon streams in time for the mid-summer fish runs. Peak times for the salmon delicatessen is during July and August.
Bears are great individualists when it comes to fishing for salmon.
Some bears are very patient, standing quietly in shallow eddies. Others are aggressive fishermen, running up and down the stream or even diving into the water with marginal results. Some simply steal from other bears or scavenge partly eaten salmon carcasses. As colder temperatures arrive and food sources dwindle, bears begin to find dens. Pregnant females, followed by females with cubs, are the first to enter fall dens, usually during the first two weeks of October.