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

Interesting Guest Photos

nursing grizzly
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Grizzly nursing 2

A most unique and interesting set of photos provided by Martyn and Viv Stucke who say “We took (the photos) while out with Glen last year on the 30 May. As you will see they are of mother feeding her three cubs, we gather from Glen quite a rare sight. We watched mother feeding on the rocks with her cubs playing around her for about an hour, she then took them up on the beach only about 50-80 m from us and fed them. The attached are a few photos of the cubs feeding.”  The late May and June tours are the time when the cubs first come to the beach with their mothers and are of course the smallest as they would be only three to four months old.
 

Grizzly nursing 1Grizzly finished nursing

 

 

Interesting Guest Photos

banana slg
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Interest like beauty is in the eye of the “beholder”.  Many guests, including James, take pictures of these banana slugs, which are often bright yellow (giving rise to the banana name) although they may also be green, brown, or white. Some slugs have black spots which may be so extensive as to make the animal look almost solid black. The Pacific banana slug is the second-largest species of terrestrial slug in the world, growing up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long, and weights of 115 grams (4.1 ounces). Banana slugs can move at 6 1⁄2 inches (17 cm) per minute.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

dolphind porposing
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Pacific white-sided dolphins are becoming more common in the waters between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. These dolphins are frequently seen on the grizzly bear tour and the extra day trip to Trapper Rick’s as they are on a whale watching safari. Often pods of several hundred dolphins will approach the boat and bow ride or come right up to the prop wash at the stern of the boat. Great Britain’s James O’Donoghue photo shows a few members of a larger pod approaching the rear of their boat having just departed mine.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

seagulls on herring ball
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A flock of seagull – who cares? Most guest do not care until they are whale watching and the guide explains the importance and then many pictures are taken. The importance is the herring and the diving ducks feeding on herring. The herring get into “balls” which revolve inside out as a means of defense and the ball is forced to the surface by the ducks and this attracts the seagull which in turn attracts your guide and more important the humpback whales. The result is shown on the March 3, 2014 posting showing a whale lunge feeding. As a guide I locate the herring balls with the help of the seagulls and then park the boat within a reasonable distance from the herring ball and wait. Thank you James O’Donoghue for another interesting photo.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

eagle feeding
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A variety of wildlife is found on all the day trips from Grizzly Bear Lodge and one of the popular for photos is the bald eagle. James has produced an excellent photo of a bald eagle coming into land to feed on a pink salmon in the river by the viewing stands. This is the ideal time for eagles as it is not necessary to hunt for salmon rather they can scavenge along the bank of the river. Many grizzly bears are selective in their eating of salmon leaving many partially eaten fish for the eagles. The riverbank becomes a buffet for the eagle, crow, heron and pine marten.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

follow the leader grizzlies
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The abundance of salmon mentioned in yesterday’s post is also the reason for the number of cubs we see from the viewing platforms. Although the grizzly bear count for the Glendale River area is more than forty-five bears, once the salmon have arrived to spawn, there are sufficient salmon to satisfy the hunger of all the bears. That is to say there is not much aggression between bears for fishing rights. There are three time slots for using the viewing stands, ours being from 10:00 to 12:00, for a total of six hours a day. The larger male bears are shyer and less likely to appear during this time allowing the mothers bring their cubs to fish and feed without fear from the males. As this picture from James O’Donoghue of Great Britain shows a mother and cubs coming for lunch.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

swimming grizzly
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The day trip to watching grizzly bears, after August 24th, is at viewing stands on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. The viewing stands are near a man made salmon spawning channel, which attracts the bears to feed because of the abundance of salmon. The grizzly bears have become accustomed to our presence and the majority of the time we are ignored. James O’Donoghue of Great Britain seems to have captured the exception on film. This bear swimming below the viewing stands is definitely making eye contact which may be because it is about ten meters (thirty feet) from the platform.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

lobtailing humpback whale
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Another photo by Gary Wilson showing a humpback whale tail lobbing or slapping. Most of the behaviour of Humpback whales remains a mystery, and tail lobbing is no exception. We have watched Humpback whales raise their huge fluke out of the water and slap it on the surface multiple (ten to twenty) times. It seemed playful, but no one knows exactly why Humpback whales perform this action. It is thought that it may have something to do with communication. The tail lobs apparently can be heard for a long distance underwater.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

whale spraying herring
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Whale watching tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge on Knight Inlet’s Minstrel Island travel about fifty minutes to the viewing area. The viewing area being Johnston Straits between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia. Over the past several years the number of humpback whales in this area has increase from three or four per trip to sixteen to eighteen. It is an area with an abundance of feed in the form of herring. The above photo by Gary Wilson of Australia shows a humpback lunge feeding on herring. The whales come up beneath a ball of herring with mouths open and try to capture ALL the herring but as this photo shows they are not always successful. You will notice that it is a common enough occurrence that the duck do not seem to be to concerned.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

dall's porpoise
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In my ten years of guiding for Grizzly Bear Lodge I believe this is the best photo I have seen of a dall porpoise. “Dall’s porpoises do not exhibit the typical shy and secretive behaviour typical of most other porpoises. They are very fast swimmers and can reach speeds of 55km/h, making them the fastest swimmers of all small cetaceans, at least for short bursts. They often swim in a zigzag pattern with fast, jerky, steep angled turns. It is this erratic swimming behaviour that makes them so easily identified.” A quote from the website http://dallsporpoise.org which is hosted by two non-profit organizations dedicated to conserving whale, dolphin and porpoise species in their natural environment: Environmental Investigation Agency and Campaign Whale. This erratic behaviour is also what makes them so very hard to photograph and I must admit Tim O’Neil of Great Britain managed to obtain an excellent photo.