Photo of the Day - Bear Posing

Getting good photos of polar bears may be tricky sometimes, since it is not actively allowed to search for them. Very often they get scared of people and following them is about the worst thing one can do. On Storøya, east of Nordaustlandet, things were different. While counting birds we counted 13 polar bears on the island. Most of the encounters were like this one. Due to our silent 4-stroke engine, the polar bears did not hear us coming while taking it easy somewhere between rocks. We on our behalf spotted them while trying to go on land to count birds. A few times we had to return back to our boat or turn back just when trying to go on land, because of curious individuals...then we were just staring and examining each other. It is difficult to tell which one, us or the bear, was more facinated about the behaviour of the other.