The world-famous bear cam livestream returns to Katmai National Park and Preserve for its 13th season on Tuesday, June 18. At 12 pm Alaska Daylight Time, eight high-definition cameras will go live, offering wildlife enthusiasts around the globe a front-row seat to the drama and beauty of Katmai brown bears in their natural habitat.
The link to the cam: https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls
Each season, dozens of brown bears arrive at Brooks Falls in late June, coinciding with the start of the annual salmon run. The bears can be seen jostling for position on the falls, sometimes standing in the rushing water for hours to catch their slippery meals. A single bear can catch and eat more than 30 salmon in one day.
Established in 2012 by Explore.org, the livestream has become one of the internet’s most beloved wildlife events, drawing millions of viewers each summer. The cameras are strategically placed along the Brooks River and at Brooks Falls, where brown bears congregate to fish for salmon swimming upstream.
While July and September are the most active months on the bear cams, viewers can tune in all season long to observe a range of wildlife, or just listen to the water and hear the seagulls as a backdrop to any activity. In addition to bears, the cameras often capture bald eagles, gulls, and even the occasional wolf passing through.
As summer progresses, bears grow fatter and activity shifts. By September and October, when the salmon begin to spawn and die, the action moves downstream to the lower Brooks River, where bears scavenge for the spawned-out carcasses near the river’s mouth.
Because brown bears are diurnal, the best viewing times are during daylight hours.