Fat Bear Week 2026

This is where the contestants spend the autumn eating salmon. Each camera plays in Explore.org’s own player, and each is checked every three hours: the badge says what the last check found.

The National Park Service shows several of the same views on nps.gov, credited to its partnership with Explore.org, plus Dumpling Mountain above Brooks Camp. The Naknek River cameras look over the river at King Salmon, just outside the park.

Every summer, sockeye salmon swim up the Brooks River from Bristol Bay, home to the largest sockeye run on Earth. In July the bears line up at Brooks Falls to catch fish leaping the falls. That is the famous picture.

By late September most of the salmon have spawned, and the bears spread out along the river to eat what is left, feeding for hours on end. Every pound counts: a brown bear can lose up to a third of its body weight over a winter in the den, living on its fat without eating or drinking.

The bears are on the river at all hours, but the cameras only show them by daylight: roughly 8 am to 8 pm Alaska time in late September. If one view is empty, try another: the bears move up and down the river all day, and in autumn the Riffles and the lower river are often busier than the falls.

Katmai Conservancy is a non-profit that supports Katmai National Park. Its annual Otis Fund, named after 480 Otis, a four-time Fat Bear Week champion, pays for the park’s education, interpretation and research work.

You give on Katmai Conservancy’s own site. Wild Watcher takes nothing, adds nothing and never sees the donation.

Night falls on the Brooks River around 8 pm Alaska time, when it is daytime on the other side of the planet. Here are six more cameras worth a look while Katmai is dark: the ones in daylight right now come first.