Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Viewing Blog: Yearly Archives: 2014

Extra Day with Trapper Rick 2 of 2

grizzly bear scatt
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grizzly ate garden hose
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Today’s blog and pictures tie in with yesterdays. On the ground behind the last guest heading down to the falls is a dark patch of what look like dug up ground which is a mixture of scratching and bear scat shown in today’s first photo. Directly behind but hard to see is a green garden hose the second of today’s photos. Looking closely at the garden hose it is noticeable that it has been well chewed. The interesting thing is that neither of these was present the day before. On the trip the previous day we were on the cabin deck when two sub-adult grizzlies came up the trail from the falls and were not pleased that we were there as they wanted to pass on the road by the cabin and we made it uncomfortable for them. Rick had been having trouble with these two for several days and said the fresh bear scat and chewed garden hose meant that they were not happy with him either. 

 

Extra Day with Trapper Rick 1 of 2

trappers
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trappers river
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If you choose to spend an extra day at Grizzly Bear Lodge it is normally spent with trapper Rick. On this day we cross Knight Inlet through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River a forty-five minute boat ride. The ride may be longer because we often encounter pacific white-sided dolphins and black bear. This river is located on the BC mainland and we travel by road to Rick’s cabin. The first photo is the view from the deck of the cabin overlooking the salmon ladder and the falls. The second is guests on a mission to get photos of grizzly bears fishing below the falls. As normal when traveling in this area Rick is in the lead and the lodge guide brings up the rear and take occasional the picture.

To view a map of the areas mentioned scroll down the sidebar on the left to “Pages” then to “Google Map of Grizzly Bear Lodge Itinerary”.

Mate Grizzly Bears (5 of 5)

mate5

But on this day the male grizzly was not far behind. We left these bears and had our picnic lunch. Came back about an hour later and he has followed her into the estuary and was still giving her his undivided attention.

Mate Grizzly Bears (4 of 5)

mate male grizzly

Decision made she headed up the beach past the bow of the boat into the back of the Glendale River estuary. The river mouth is a large flat sedge grass covered area and easier to travel on than the rocky beach. We have viewed other female grizzlies take this approach when wanting to escape form an unwanted suitor…..more tomorrow.

Mate Grizzly Bears (3 of 5)

matint 4

It was a hot day so she was enjoying the swim spending five minutes or more moving up and down the beach. She was not sure of the best way to escape the bear but seemed to enjoy the cooling water….more tomorrow.

Mate Grizzly Bears (2 of 5)

mating grizzlies

This female grizzly eventually retreated to the water to escape some unwanted attention. It could be the health of the male’s grizzly or she may have already bred with another bear either reason she wanted to be as far away from this male as possible…..more tomorrow.

Mating Grizzly Bears (1 of 5)

mate1This is a sequence of pictures from late July last year. The darker male grizzly bear was so thin that you could count his ribs but he was not into eating. Although most of the mating takes place in May and June this bear has a one-track mind. Mating is a highly evolved ritual. Once females come into season, they may leave scent trails, and male bears quickly hone in on the scent….more tomorrow.

Warm as a bathtub?

bathtub

One of the viewing platforms used on the fall Grizzly Bear Canada tours is opposite the weir that acts as an entrance to the spawning channel. We normally use the finger stand as it has more of the natural river and does not show the weir in the background but occasionally we stop and check out the weir. On this day there was a grizzly just relaxing, not a care in the world. “Little more privacy please, no flashes.”

June Grizzly and Cub

Family

This was a good day with the bears.  This is a common scene in the spring when mothers bring their cubs to the beach to feed. The run up Knight Inlet on the grizzly bear tour day to the Glendale River estuary is 40 km (26 m) and the last 5 km (3 m) is often referred to as the nursery. The mother grizzlies bring their cubs to this area to avoid the larger males in Glendale Cove. Remember grizzly mating season runs from May to early July and this places new cubs in danger.

Friends? (2 of 2)

deer-griz2

At one point in time they were not much more than ten meters (yards) apart. The beach seemed to have pretty good footing for the deer so they were not worried about a sudden lunge from the bear. I am sure the grizzly had determined that the chance of catching one of the deer was not worth the waste of energy required.