Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Viewing Blog: Monthly Archives: February 2014

Whale Watching Safari – 5 of 5

resident orca pod
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After leaving the sea lions and entering Blackfish Sound the orca we saw earlier in the day appeared this time in the sunshine. Blackfish Sound is an appropriate name for this area as that is the name used by the locals and the only name I knew growing up for what are now called killer whales and orca. Names the result of advertising for tourism. The name is not really important what is important is the majestic appearance of these mammals and the thrill obtained with the first sighting on a tour.

Whale Watching Safari – 4 of 5

stetter sea lions
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bald eagle
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As the day progresses on a whale watching safari the sun tends to burn off the fog and normally by noon it is necessary to position the boat to get the sun at our back for better photos. Mid-morning we have a break in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island and although we have a good picnic lunch and cold drinks on board guest often want a hot drink and especially to use the bathrooms. Heading back across Johnstone Straits to resume out wildlife viewing we stop by Stubbs Island and enjoy the Steller sea lions sunning on the rocky islands. Close by in the trees are many bald eagles posing for photographs.

Whale Watching Safari – 3 of 5

dolphins
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dolphins close
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Not bad for a one handed shot over the bow of the boat while driving with the other hand. The only way to get any decent photos of the pacific white-sided dolphins is to point, shoot and pray. Less than hour after we left the orca of yesterday’s post we came across this pod of close to three hundred dolphins which were feeding in Parsons Bay. They scoured the shore stopping to feed on several occasions providing opportunities for some interesting photos. I have being wildlife guiding at Grizzly Bear Lodge for more than ten years (all the lodge’s guides have been working at the lodge that long) and I think dolphins still put on the best show as they are within a meter of the boat with their nose often in the prop wash from the motor.

Whale Watching Safari – 2 of 5

orca
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more orca
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This was a normal “foggy” morning in August when we first found this pod of orca in Johnstone strait. The posting on February 17 will show the same orca in the sunshine later in the day. If you remember from my previous posting these photos were taken with a small waterproof Pentax (an optio, 6.0 megapixels with three times optical zoom) point and shoot so these orca came quite close. The first photo was when they appeared out of the fog and we shut off the motor and waited while they approached the boat. Again the guest photos are much better than mine are as I was also using the hydrophone to listen to their calls. If you check the December 26, 2013 posting you will see how close the orca came to the boat while they were listening to our hydrophone.

Whale Watching Safari – 1 of 5

lunge feeding
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flat lunge feed
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For additional photos use the “Categories” “Whale Watching” on the right. Also select “Google Map of Itinerary” under “Pages” to locate the whale watching area. The boat ride to the area of Johnstone Strait between Vancouver Island and mainland BC, where most of the whales watching take place is about 45 minutes long. If there is a low tide in the morning we normally see black bears on the beach and harbour seals on the small islands. There are four whale watching companies operating from Vancouver Island in our area.  We are in radio contact and this cooperation makes locating the whales much easier. If orca or humpback whales are in the area someone will find them and report their location.  The above photos were taken near Bold Head located in Blackfish Sound adjacent to Johnstone Strait. The first showing a humpback whales lunge feeding which in when a whale comes up beneath a ball of herring and tries to capture the whole herring ball in one mouth full. The second is another lunge with the white pole in the left of the photo being the antenna of our boat. This provides some perspective as to how close we sometimes are to the feeding whales.

Grizzly Bear watching on the Glendale River – 7 of 7

river lunch
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We are normally back to the float for a picnic lunch around 1:00 but that may vary depending on the tide. If the high tide is later in the morning then we have an earlier lunch and return to the skiff do we can go up the river. If the guest have had enough of the grizzly bears and lunch we start to head down Knight Inlet for the forty kilometer (25 mile) ride back to the lodge on Minstrel Island. The an hour and quarter boat trip may take two or more hours some times due to the afternoon winds and the desire for a comfortable ride but most often because of the side trips to enjoy the scenery of the inlet and to look for more black bears and dolphins. …..tomorrow starts a Whale watching safari.

Grizzly Bear watching on the Glendale River – 6 of 7

grizzly walking river bank
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Continuing up the river we saw several grizzly bears that I was not able to photograph but the guest got some great pictures. We came to one bend in the river and there were two sub-adult grizzly bears slowly coming down river. I pulled the skiff to one side of the river and they came down the opposite bank. This took about fifteen minutes as the bears were fishing for salmon as they worked their way past us. These pictures are not really clear as I was holding the boat while waste deep in the water and using one hand to focus but I can assure you that the guest got some great pictures and memories. The comment was that “I wouldn’t want to be any closer.”  I agreed.

 

 

 

 

Grizzly Bear watching on the Glendale River – 5 of 7

eagle on the river
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On this grizzly tour Angus had taken guests to the viewing stands and my guests were on their second grizzly tour so after dropping Angus and guests at the landing we took the skiff up the river.  Moving slowly up the Glendale River as the tide was low (the picture posted on Feb. 7 were from the afternoon or high tide) and at time I was in waders and moving the boat by hand, which has the advantage of being very quite. There were many dead salmon along the edge of the river and bald eagles were enjoying a free meal. We came close to this eagle and watched it for about ten minutes, which gave me time to get out my small Pentax (an optio, 6.0 megapixels with three times optical zoom) I mention the details of the camera to show how close we were ….more tomorrow

 

Grizzly Bear watching on the Glendale River – 4 of 7

salmon tail in grizzly mouth
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The other side of the viewing stands from yesterday’s posting shows a grizzly bear enjoying a meal. The time of the spawning season determines how much of the salmon the bears eat. When the salmon first arrive and the bears are the hungriest they eat the complete salmon and the same occurs at the end of the season when they want to get as fat as possible. In between these times grizzly bears are selective in their eating habits often catching only female salmon for their eggs. Also only eating the skin with its layer of fat, which is desirable, as is the brain. This bear is about 20 meters (60 ft.) from the viewing stands and has one interest and that is food.

Grizzly Bear watching on the Glendale River – 3 of 7

salmon in river
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The drive to the viewing stands from the finger of land where we leave the skiff takes fifteen minutes through the treed hillside along the river. The posting on January 1, 2014 shows a google map of the river and the location of the spawning channel with the viewing stands. The photo in this posting shows the number of the salmon in the natural river on one side of the stands on the other side of the stands at the entrance to the wier and spawing beds the salmon are even more abundant. The Department of Fisheries closes the entranc to the spawning channel once 80,000 pink salmon have entered the remaining (400,000 or more on a good year) salmon spawn in the natural river.