A Lily Fan sent this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cfBVCNGMAg of a brown bear (grizzly bear, same species) and a photographer sharing a good vantage point overlooking a salmon stream. The bear is there to make a living. All but ignoring the man, the bear checks the stream as I’ve seen many times while guiding bear-viewing groups. The bear focuses its ears, probably listening for a fish splashing upstream to spawn. Bears key in on that characteristic sound as much as they do on a ripple or the sight of a fin. When the bear decides to move downstream, it seemed to forget the man is there. The man gets nervous and moves quickly and unpredictably as the bear takes a couple steps in the direction it wants to go. The bear shies away from the movement and voice but has lost enough fear of people to not feel overly defensive. It just hurries a little as it moves on.
Grizzly bear passing photographer - WRI file photo
During the old bear-viewing days, it was commonplace to share a shore with hungry grizzlies looking for dinner. Never a problem. 
Bearwatching in AlaskaWe didn’t feel threatened, and neither did the bears. The pictures are from Katmai National Park some years back. Bears sit and watch for salmon or stroll by looking for the right vegetation to graze. If people look scary and unpredictable, the bears don’t come as close. If the person is still and non-threatening, some bears will stroll by unconcerned. If it’s mating season and a male wants to get to a female, he may stroll right through a group as if the people weren’t there. The people naturally part to let the bear through in that case. As I’ve mentioned before, some females seek out groups to nurse their cubs near. The big male bears they are trying to avoid tend to be the most wary of people.
Grizzly passing by - WRI file photoMany good memories. When we get the new addition the way it should be and complete a book or two, I’d like to lead a few more groups on these memorable adventures. But the trust with grizzlies is nothing close to the trust we have with the black bears we have all come to know, making the time spent with these black bears even more special and educational.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center