An abundance of Eagles
All posts by Lodge Guide
Glendale Cove and a rising tide
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Time to come out of the water, playtime is over, need to head to higher ground as the beach disappears under the incoming tide. The shore of the Glendale River estuary is an ideal place, at a low tide, to turn over rocks to find that mobile protein but as the tide comes in it becomes grazing time on the protein rich sedge grass. As the tide comes in even more it is time to move up the shore into the river delta and higher ground. And that is exactly what we do with our guests. We travel up Knight Inlet is larger “speed boats” and once we reach the viewing area we transfer to shallow draft skiff about eighteen feet long and seven feet wide which makes it stable enough to walk around in and have no fear of rocking. This skiff allows us to follow the grizzly bears up the river through the tall grass and pretend we are on the “African Queen”.
Shore break in Telegraph Cove
Some day as much as I try I cannot avoid being in a photo. There is a reason for showing this, as we do not have many photos taken in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island. I was with the Edouard family from France when we stopped for our “bathroom break”. Eight or so hours on the water during a whale watching days does call for a break and that normally means Telegraph Cove. One can leave the boat and stretch your legs, use the facilities, purchase a coffee or hot chocolate (we have a good picnic lunch and soda pop on board), visit the shop or the whale museum. The amount of time spent ashore is up to the guest someday’s it is an hour or two other days enough time to use the bathroom then we are off again to have lunch with the whales. As long as you remember I have been here before and would rather be on the water so the amount of time is your decision.
Black Bear Island Hopping – Set II
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The bear left the small island for a larger one although this one was not much more than half and acre in size. This was in late August so the bear was starting to produce a reasonable layer of fat this is indicated by how far the head and shoulders are out of the water. In the spring all only the head would be visible the back under water. All in all the bear passed over three small islands until it reached Tourner Island which is close or ten miles long. The red “berries” are rose hips, which are the fruit from of a wild rose bush. As guides spending our summers in the area on the east coast of Vancouver Island and the water of Knight Inlet working for Grizzly Bear Lodge we all have been with the lodge for at least ten years and in the area for twenty-five years or more. We rely on experience in our boat handling and knowledge of the area but luck is a great companion with wildlife viewing ask any wildlife photographer.
Black Bear Island Hopping – Set I
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This sequence of photos was memorable as it shows that “luck” plays an important part in making a day memorable for guests. We were on our way back to the lodge from whale watching in the area of Johnstone Strait our boat containing myself and the Edourad family from France was a little slower than the other lodge boat by about five minutes. We came to a small passage between a series of islands in Beware Passage to find a black bear swimming. It was coming to the first small island and passed through the kelp bed along the shore without a problem. It climbed up the shore shook off the excess water and crossed over to the back of the island….. see tomorrow’s post
Humpback whale tail identification
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In 2008 the number of humpback whales in the North Pacific was estimated at just less than 20,000. This number is a far cry from the scant 1,400 humpback whales estimated in the North Pacific Ocean at the end of commercial whaling in 1966. Researchers are able to identify humpback whales by photographing and cataloguing pictures of the animals’ tail, or fluke, because the pigmentation patterns on the fluke act like a fingerprint and are unique to each animal. This sequence of photographs by Marc and Solange from France are exceptional in that they show three photos of the same whale diving (note the beach behind the tail) as well as the underside that would be used for identification. These photos were taken in Blackfish Sound near Telegraph Cove BC on Vancouver Island.
Grizzly Bear Mother Nursing – Set II
Click photo to enlarge and see ALL of the bear!
As the photo shows lunchtime is over and time to move along. Triplets are a sign of a very healthy grizzly. This was best explained by Bruce Auchly in Montana Outdoors “When a pregnant bear goes into her den, she is only a little bit pregnant. After bears mate in late spring and early summer, a female’s eggs are fertilized but they do not implant in the uterus. By midsummer the fertilized egg has developed into a multicelled blastocyst (an early stage embryo), but further growth is arrested. The embryo floats freely in the uterus until denning time, later in the fall.
This delayed implantation allows the female bear’s body to assess whether it has sufficient fat reserves to carry, give birth to, and nurse cubs through the sow’s long winter nap. If fat reserves are present, it’s all systems go. But if a bear can’t gain enough fat, the blastocyst won’t attach to the uterine wall, ensuring that a female in poor condition will not be further stressed by reproduction. Then the bear’s body absorbs the embryo, gaining a bit of nourishment.”
Grizzly Bear Mother Nursing – Set I
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Martin and Viv were fortunate to take a series of photos of a mother grizzly bear nursing her three cubs. They say “We took these while out with Glen 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.”
Spring Grizzly Bear and Cub
This photo of a “long legged” grizzly bear was taken in the spring. As the season progresses and the bears bulk up for the fall hibernation their legs seem to get shorter and shorter. Bears may loose 15-30 % of their body weight during hibernation giving the appearance of longer legs. The cub behind the mother appears, by it’s size, to be last year’s cub. Cubs normally spend two years with their mother and if she does not become pregnant may be with her for a third season. The Glendale River estuary, our grizzly viewing area, provides a good beach at low tide to for “beach food” which is important as berries are relatively scarce and as the salmon have not arrived in the rivers bears will continue to loose weight until well into June.
Classic orca photo
