Salmon are the lifeblood of our coastal ecosystem. Their journey back to their home rivers to spawn is often not an easy one. The salmon return to the same river which they were born years prior. How they know where they are going remains one of life’s great mysteries. The lucky few return, spawn and then all pacific salmon die after spawning, providing nutrients to the river and forest. This is a coho salmon leaping over the falls on the wild river trip.
Grizzly Bears are a solitary animals. Mothers and cubs are together and sometimes siblings will stay together for a couple of years after they have been kicked out on their own. Other then this they are looking out for themselves. With the abundance of salmon in the rivers in the fall the Grizzlies learn to tolerate each other because they all have to eat. There are, however disputes over the prime fish areas. Generally these aren’t much more then a stare down and some growling, but they do occasionally end up in a bit of a scrap.
The humpback whales come to our area for one reason and that is to feed. They feed heavily on krill and small fish such as herring. In this photo you can see that the humpback has done what is called a lunge feed. This is where they come straight up with their mouths open and try and consume as many fish as possible. The small fish you can see jumping are herring.
Thanks to Felix Rome for this great shot of the river at night. Felix stayed up there and helped Rick this summer while working on his photography for university. I think he has a pretty nice office.
https://felixrome.smugmug.com/
I took this video up at the viewing platforms in late August. The viewing was great and there are a ton of pink salmon in the pool. Bears normally do not like to put their ears underwater when looking for salmon. This year, however we saw a huge increase in “diving bears”
https://www.facebook.com/sailcone/videos/1734088896617433/
Bald Eagles are a common and always welcome sight in our area. They are an opportunistic feeders and although they don’t migrate they do tend to move around with the food. In the spring we see large numbers of them in Blackfish Sounds feeding on the vast amounts of herring. As the salmon enter the rivers many of these eagles do the same feeding on the carcases of spawned out salmon. Eagles mate for life so when you see two of these birds together they are usually a pair. It is hard to tell male from female in these birds, although the female eagle tends to be larger and has a slightly deeper call.
Of course Grizzly Bears enjoy feeding on salmon. Salmon is not the only seafood that they enjoy, however. At low tide the beaches are covered in protein rich shellfish. This mother and cub are feeding on mussels. The bears chew the mussels shell and all. On a calm, quiet day you can often hear the distinctive “crunching” of shells.
This is another photo taken right from the deck at Sailcone’s Grizzly Bear Lodge. We spend a lot of time out in Knight Inlet and Johnstone Strait looking for bears and whales. After a busy day viewing wildlife it is nice to head back to the lodge and take in the views.
This photo was taken be Felix Rome who helped out Trapper Rick at the river last year. This particular bear is known as Emily and has been around the area for many years having several sets of cubs. It is always rewarding for us to be able to watch the same bears return year after year and to watch them grow up.
Fish and birds aren’t the only ones who feed on herring balls. Humpbacks often do what is called a lunge feed where they come up from underneath the herring ball with their mouth open and try to consume as many fish as possible. Often when we are out whale watching you will see gulls feeding on a herring ball. When the birds lift off the water it usually means one of two things. Either the fish have dispersed or there is a whale coming up for a snack.
Bald Eagles are frequently sighted in our area. At times they can be seen in large numbers. This is usually where food supplies are high. For example this could be in areas with high concentrations of baitfish or along the rivers in the fall when the salmon are spawning. They are not migratory, but do move around with the food supply. As mentioned earlier when the salmon are spawning we often see many along the rivers, while there will be fewer along the coastline. With little need for camouflage their white head and tail feathers can be spotted easily. The female is slightly larger and her white head extends down a bit farther onto the body, but it is subtle. It takes these birds 4.5 – 5 years to acquire this unique plumage. As juveniles they are a brown colour. With exceptional eyesight and the ability to view 270 degrees they are understandably often seen in high perches and in trees near points and passageways.
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