Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Viewing Blog: Monthly Archives: January 2015

Grizzly swim / play time

Grizzlies in river mouth

Some days the grizzly bear watching in July and early August are quite warm so it is unlikely this was a “bath” rather think back on a hot day that you may have experienced and add a heavy fur coat. They are in the Glendale River estuary, which is a mixture of fresh and salt water so their coat will not contain much salt when dry.  The sedge grass along the shore is the main reason for the grizzly bears to be in the area as the salmon to not appear until late August.

 

 

Grizzly Bears Snorkeling

Grizzly Bears Swimming

Grizzly bears are great swimmers and are commonly seen in the water in the river estuaries of BC’s Knight Inlet.  They swim so well that they have now migrated across Johnstone Strait to Vancouver Island and this is between one and a half to a two-mile swim.  The area biologists put radio collars on ten grizzly bears about twelve years ago and one of the bears crossed Knight Inlet five times. The two bears in this photo are swimming with the salmon in the Glendale River the site of the viewing stands Grizzly Bear Lodge uses every fall. They are looking for dead salmon that have drifted down the river to settle in a deeper pool.  It is easier to pick up these fish than chase others.

 

Grizzly Bear Reunion

Friends

Not an easy picture to explain as a mother grizzly with cubs is not normally that friendly with other bears. This is Bella in the back with one of her two cubs (I could not get all into one picture.) meeting with juvenile siblings in the Glendale River estuary. And no these are not her previous cubs but she seems to have accepted them as family and we frequently saw them together over the summer. Talking with the other guides in the area we could not understand the behaviour but we accepted it as it made for some great photos as the five of them got together and played.

 

 

Humpback Whale

Humpback lobtailing

“Humpbacks also stick their tail out of the water into the air, swing it around, and then slap it on the water’s surface; this is called lobtailing. It makes a very loud sound. The meaning or purpose of lobtailing is unknown, but may be done as a warning to the rest of the pod. Humpbacks lobtail more when the seas are rough and stormy.” A quote from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Our guest are not always interested in the reason behind mammal’s behaviour but they sure do want the photographs. The numbers of humpback whales that are staying in our viewing area all summer are increasing every year so these photos are becoming common.

 

 

BEST GUEST BLOG

Please.

This is a great site to visit to get a “guest eye view” of a trip to our lodge.

Click on this link

http://www.masey.com.au/2010/08/dream-grizzly-trip-day-one/

Also: -if you search “You Tube” using the keyword SAILCONE you can view some videos from and about the lodge.

-and on Facebook at Grizzly Bear Lodge and Safari

 

To view a map of the lodge’s area and the location of each day’s itinerary”

Look to the left and scroll the sidebars to “Pages” and select “Google Map of Grizzly Bear Lodge Itinerary”

It is possible to navigate the map using the arrows in the upper left corner and to zoom using the + or – signs as well as changing to a satellite view in the upper right corner of the map.

Spring Grizzly Bears

Grizzly and cubs on Log

These cubs are about eight months old and still stay pretty close to their mother. Our spring and early summer grizzly bear trips travel up Knight Inlet and we start looking for grizzlies along the shore for that last half hour of an hour and a quarter boat ride. On this day we had changed in to the river skiff, which allows us to travel in the shallow water of the river before we saw bears. When in the river your guide is in the water pulling the boat up river and this permits a slow and quite approach to the bears. They are not frightened and this produces some amazing photographs.

 

Bald Eagle in Flight

Bald Eagle

Glen, one of the Lodge guides, takes many excellent photos and allows me to use them on the blog. He would likely have deleted this photo because part of the wing tip is missing but I have lower standards.  Bald eagles are a favourite subject for our guests and I am sure many would be happy with this photo, as they do not have three months to capture the “peeeerfect” picture.

 

 

Killer Whales 2 of 2

Spring Salmon

To explain this photo. The odd shape is because the lower left corner is the edge of a white boat. I am the figure over the edge of the boat taking a picture of the salmon.  There is not much to show perspective but this salmon would likely weight close to 12 kilo (twenty-five pounds). This is a good size spring salmon and the orcas favourite food. We remained drifting in this area for about twenty minutes with orcas around the boat and the salmon beneath coming out on occasion but staying close to the boat. If I had a net we would have had fresh salmon for supper but the guest agreed we were sanctuary and netting would not be fair.

 

 

Killer Whales 1 of 2

Large male orca

Grizzly Bear Lodge’s whale watching safari trips travel to the waters of Johnstone Strait, between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia.  The orca / killer whales arrives in the area by late June or early July and remains until late October.  These resident salmon eating orca travel in pods and are curious, as most dolphins.  They have been known to detour from their normal path of travel to inspect boats and whale watchers passing on all sides of the boat which makes it hard to choose the best chance for a picture. This large male may have come close for another reason. See tomorrow’s post