A mother brings her second year cubs to the edge of the river by the viewing stands while another grizzly bears stands in the background. They all have the same concern and that is a larger male grizzly further down river. Fortunately at this time the larger male did not proceed up river which gave the others a chance to come and feed on the many salmon. Most guests want to see the big male grizzlies and they are a magnificent sight but they tend to keep other bears out of the viewing area.
These photos provided by James and Wendy Kastelein of Australia were taken from the viewing stands on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. In the fall, after August 24th our grizzly bear watching takes place from stands overlooking the entrance area to Department of Fisheries spawning channel. The channel was built to improve the run of Pink salmon or humpback salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). The males develop a pronounced humped back, hence their nickname “humpies”. It is the number of salmon that return to spawn every year that attracts the grizzlies to the area and as the photos show not always to eat. Once the sub-adult siblings have caught and eaten enough fish for the morning it often becomes playtime which can be more interesting than watching them fish.
James and Wendy Kastelein of Australia provide the photo taken on the evening black bear tour. The first evening in Grizzly Bear Lodge on Minstrel Island involves an evening boat ride to look for wildlife. Top on the list is a black bear. On this evening the Kasteleins obtained several good photos as this bear stayed on the beach ignoring us for food. Although there is not much boat traffic in the area the bears accept boats as part of their environment and as long as the boaters are not aggressive the bears are good for repeated viewing.
The bears of yesterday’s post may be siblings but the sharing of their catch is not an option. Even as cubs with their mother for the first two summers they did not share their mothers catch except with their mother and then under protest. A cub or sub-adult bear does not gain enough weight (fat) to survive the winter if it worries about another’s health.
The fall grizzly bear watching season in Knight Inlet starts on August 24th and at this time guests are permitted into the viewing stands on the Glendale River. The stands overlook the entrance the man-made spawning channel that contains over eighty thousand salmon as well as the natural river, which may contain several hundred thousand pink salmon over the season. This photo by Alfred Bittner shows two juvenile grizzlies, likely siblings, fishing side by side in the small rapids below the stands…more tomorrow.
Alfred Bittner provides a great photo that I call “Follow the leader”. Take a close look and there is a tip of a dorsal fin just in front of this large male killer whale. Also an excellent photo as this is how an orca is identified using a picture of the right side of the orca showing its dorsal fin and the saddle patch. All the resident orcas on the BC coast are in two groups either the Northern or Southern Residents.
The website: http://wildwhales.org/killer-whale/ provides the following:
“The southern resident community consists of one clan (J clan) and 3 pods (J, K and L pods) and number only around 86 animals. They are most commonly seen in the waters around Victoria and the San Juan Islands in the summer, although they may range north to Desolation Sound and as far south as California in the winter months. Southern resident killer whales are critically endangered, due to their small population size, reliance on endangered or threatened salmon runs for prey, high toxin loads and sensitivity to boat disturbance.
The northern resident community consists of 3 clans (A, G and R) and numerous pods within each clan. It numbers around 250 animals. Northern residents are most commonly seen in the waters around the northern end of Vancouver Island, and in sheltered inlets along B.C.’s Central and North Coasts. They also range northward into Southeast Alaska in the winter months. Northern resident killer whales are also threatened by the same factors as southern residents.”
April and Rob White of Australia provide this unique series of photos from their visit to Grizzly Bear Lodge. It is a set of six photos of, which of choose three to make it interesting. This is the best set that I have viewed in my ten years as a guide for the lodge. It is known that humpback whales are identified by the markings on the underside of their tail. The key to this sequence is the first photo and the tip of the dorsal fin, which is visible in the water in front of the tail. This fin is about two meter (six feet) tall and belongs to an orca or killer whale. This orca passed beneath our boat and surfaced about five meters away and then dove and Rob manage to obtain a very unique set of photos.
Debbie’s photo of a grizzly bear sitting in the sedge grass of British Columbia’s Knight Inlet gives the impression of a “cute” little bear. The “cute” may be lost when one realizes that the sedge grass in the spring is more than a meter (three feet) tall and that this is the same bear that was shown is yesterday’s posting.
A classic grizzly bear pose is captured by Debbie Zygmunt in the Glendale River estuary. The spring grizzly tours up Knight Inlet view grizzlies in the estuary sedge grass and along the shore of the bay. Until the salmon arrive in late August the grizzlies spend their time turning over rocks in search of protein or grazing on the protein rich grasses. The bears of the area have accepted the presence of the skiffs used for touring along the shore and this provides ample opportunity for great photographs.
If guests are interested and Ingo’s crew from Germany was there is some great salmon fishing while visiting Trapper Rick. This protected river provides opportunities for guests to spin fish for salmon with light gear that often gives the salmon the advantage. The protected aspect means that anyone fishing the river must have a guide which has been allotted time on the river and therefore it is not open to the public. The only other people we see and that is rarely are from a lodge that brings guest in by helicopter and you can guess what that costs.
Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.
The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.
Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.
Angus Reid
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