Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Viewing Blog: Monthly Archives: September 2016

Non Lunge Feeding Humpback Whales

whales tread water

Humpback whales normally explode from beneath a herring ball with their mouth open to engulf as much herring as possible. These two whales rose slowly with mouths open and were almost treading water as they slowly twisted in circles. Humpbacks have throat groves that run from chin to belly. These grooves allow the throat to expand, which allows large volumes of water and food into the mouth. Closing its mouth the whale will press down with its tongue forcing out water through baleen plates and capturing the herring.

Enhanced Scenery

natures beauty

Believe it or not this little cove in often the object of photography and it is just made better when a humpback whales makes it’s presence known. Pictures from Grizzly Bear Lodge’s day trips are not all about wildlife some are just the beauty of the day.

Trapper Rick’s Remains

Trapper's scenery

Actually the remains of a black bear killed by a grizzly bear near Trapper Rick’s. The extra day booked at the lodge involves a trip to Rick’s and a day on the river looking for grizzlies, possibly river fishing and many stories from Rick including how he came by this black bear skeleton.

Sunrise at Grizzly Bear Lodge

picturesque sunrise over Knight Inlet BC

Looking the other direction from yesterday’s post and a little earlier in the morning we have a rare sunrise. The morning cloud cover is more common than a sunny morning. By noon the overcast has normally departed for a clear day but to be honest an overcast day is much better for photos when you are on the water. A bright sun shinning down and reflecting back can make photographing challenging.

The “Eagle Eye”

bald eagle at viewing stands

On the other side of the platform mentioned in yesterday’s post we have caught the attention of a bald eagle for the same reason. Wildlife is very aware and we become more aware the longer we spend in our “nature” surroundings. Moving up river when viewing grizzly bears in the spring we use an aluminum skiff and need to be very careful as an “eagle eye” is OK but the absence of grizzlies because of carelessness is not.

A Grizzly Eye

grizzly bear cub watching

This grizzly bear cub sitting in the middle of the river trying to stay dry looks rather forlorn. But it is not looking for its mother she is about two meters (yards) the other direction. We are in a grizzly bear viewing platform overlooking the entrance to a spawning channel and a guest bumped a bench which made a “non nature sound” and got us the “look”.

Fall Grizzly Bears

grizzly bears in Glendale Raver

After August 24th we are permitted to use two viewing platforms on the Glendale river for our grizzly bear watching tours. This photo is from the first platform and shows nine bears (two on the right, three in the middle, two side by side to the left by the bush, one tight to the bank beside the bush and one down river). These grizzly bears are all here to catch the salmon as they move up the river to jump the weir and move into the man-made spawning channel. Viewing from a raised platform means that all photos are from above the bears. Most of our viewing is from the second platform which eliminates the metal weir in the photos but we use both if the bears are in only one area.

Black Bear Gathering Mussels

black bear scrape mussels

The black on the rocks beneath the bladderwrack seaweed is mussels. The black bears come to the shore at low tides and scrape the mussels from the rocks as a source of protein. You will notice the white patches of rock around the bear that have already been scraped clean. This bear is promoting the “grass is always greener” philosophy of getting mussels.