Grizzly bear cub and mother
Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Viewing Blog: Monthly Archives: May 2013
Pacific White-side dolphins on a tour
Often when the lodge is at capacity, eight guests, we travel in two boats and this provides an opportunity for a great photo. In this case we were traveling with a pod of pacific white-sided dolphins that like to play with the boats. When they have had enough fun riding the bow wave or running within a few feet of the back of the boat they leave and we proceed to our destination. The eight quests in the lodge means you eat with the staff and meals last as long you have questions about the day you just enjoyed or the next day’s tour. Conversations at the table cover all and any topic the key is “What happens in the boat stays in the boat unless the guest brings it up first.” But once a story of a day’s misadventure is told it is open season on guest and guides.
Spring Grizzly Bears
The grizzly bear tours from the lodge on Minstrel Island run up Knight Inlet to the area of Glendale Cove. By mid-May the mother grizzlies bring their cubs to the shore of Knight Inlet and start to make their way toward the Glendale estuary. Berries are note yet ripe so the best source of protein is the sedge grass that grows in the estuary. The cubs in May seem to have an aversion to water but by mid August when this picture was taken they rather enjoy the water as a way to cool down and play.
An abundance of Eagles
Bald eagles are common on your tour days whether looking for whales or heading up Knight Inlet to the grizzly bears. The goal of most quests after they have seen a number of eagles sitting in the trees to far away for even a long lens to get a good picture is to get close. This takes time but we normally manage a few good pictures. Actually the best pictures are often taken at the lodge where the resident eagle have a nest and spend time in the tree along the shore close to the lodge. Spring and early summer there is an abundance of eagles on the whale watching days as they are on the ocean feeding on herring. As soon as the salmon arrive in the rivers in late summer and the fall the eagle migrate to the rivers for the left over salmon after the grizzly have eaten their fill.
Glendale Cove and a rising tide
Click photo to enlarge
Time to come out of the water, playtime is over, need to head to higher ground as the beach disappears under the incoming tide. The shore of the Glendale River estuary is an ideal place, at a low tide, to turn over rocks to find that mobile protein but as the tide comes in it becomes grazing time on the protein rich sedge grass. As the tide comes in even more it is time to move up the shore into the river delta and higher ground. And that is exactly what we do with our guests. We travel up Knight Inlet is larger “speed boats” and once we reach the viewing area we transfer to shallow draft skiff about eighteen feet long and seven feet wide which makes it stable enough to walk around in and have no fear of rocking. This skiff allows us to follow the grizzly bears up the river through the tall grass and pretend we are on the “African Queen”.
Shore break in Telegraph Cove
Some day as much as I try I cannot avoid being in a photo. There is a reason for showing this, as we do not have many photos taken in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island. I was with the Edouard family from France when we stopped for our “bathroom break”. Eight or so hours on the water during a whale watching days does call for a break and that normally means Telegraph Cove. One can leave the boat and stretch your legs, use the facilities, purchase a coffee or hot chocolate (we have a good picnic lunch and soda pop on board), visit the shop or the whale museum. The amount of time spent ashore is up to the guest someday’s it is an hour or two other days enough time to use the bathroom then we are off again to have lunch with the whales. As long as you remember I have been here before and would rather be on the water so the amount of time is your decision.
Black Bear Island Hopping – Set II
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The bear left the small island for a larger one although this one was not much more than half and acre in size. This was in late August so the bear was starting to produce a reasonable layer of fat this is indicated by how far the head and shoulders are out of the water. In the spring all only the head would be visible the back under water. All in all the bear passed over three small islands until it reached Tourner Island which is close or ten miles long. The red “berries” are rose hips, which are the fruit from of a wild rose bush. As guides spending our summers in the area on the east coast of Vancouver Island and the water of Knight Inlet working for Grizzly Bear Lodge we all have been with the lodge for at least ten years and in the area for twenty-five years or more. We rely on experience in our boat handling and knowledge of the area but luck is a great companion with wildlife viewing ask any wildlife photographer.
Black Bear Island Hopping – Set I
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This sequence of photos was memorable as it shows that “luck” plays an important part in making a day memorable for guests. We were on our way back to the lodge from whale watching in the area of Johnstone Strait our boat containing myself and the Edourad family from France was a little slower than the other lodge boat by about five minutes. We came to a small passage between a series of islands in Beware Passage to find a black bear swimming. It was coming to the first small island and passed through the kelp bed along the shore without a problem. It climbed up the shore shook off the excess water and crossed over to the back of the island….. see tomorrow’s post
Humpback whale tail identification
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In 2008 the number of humpback whales in the North Pacific was estimated at just less than 20,000. This number is a far cry from the scant 1,400 humpback whales estimated in the North Pacific Ocean at the end of commercial whaling in 1966. Researchers are able to identify humpback whales by photographing and cataloguing pictures of the animals’ tail, or fluke, because the pigmentation patterns on the fluke act like a fingerprint and are unique to each animal. This sequence of photographs by Marc and Solange from France are exceptional in that they show three photos of the same whale diving (note the beach behind the tail) as well as the underside that would be used for identification. These photos were taken in Blackfish Sound near Telegraph Cove BC on Vancouver Island.
Grizzly Bear Mother Nursing – Set II
Click photo to enlarge and see ALL of the bear!
