This could be a two for one photo provided by Janis (from UK). A great shot of a grizzly bear with a salmon and also in the background, if you look closely a salmon coming over the small falls. If you click on the picture it will enlarge to give you a better view. On the wildlife safari trips it is easier to get a picture of a grizzly bear feeding than a salmon over the falls.
Many of the humpback whales we observe in the waters of British Columbia have been identified with a number / name and have their pictures in a catalogue. The underside of a whale’s tail shows a range of white patterns. These patterns added to any scars or other markings are unique to each whale.
The whale / orca watching requires a short run to Johnstone Strait in the area of Telegraph Cove on BC’s Vancouver Island. Guidelines are in place to prevent whale harassment but that does not mean that we don’t manage to obtain good photos. Orca being curious will frequently investigate us while we watch them.
Wildlife viewing is where you find it and many of the black bears we find are on whale watching trips. This black bear has done a good job of putting on weight over the summer. He is in good shape for the coming winter. This one was not going swimming rather was concentrating on getting more muscles and barnacles from the rocks before the tide rose.
On the lodges grizzly bear tours we often view bears quite close. The viewing stands are located on a narrow road next to Knight Inlet’s Glendale River and after the grizzlies have eaten enough salmon they often pass beneath or very close to the viewing stand. This is the reason we are in an enclosed cage and the bears are free to roam.
Not all grizzly bears look “majestic” when you first see them. After diving for salmon their first appearance they look rather sad. Some of the bear’s fish in shallow water while other take to looking around sunken logs to trap fish. Wildlife viewing is never predictable and every tour is unique.
This grizzly bear cub because of the size is from late May or early June. The mother grizzlies bring their cubs to this part of Knight Inlet to feed on the beaches and turnover rocks. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The “beach food” is important because the only plant food available at this time of the year is the sedge grass. Sedge grass also very high in protein and with inter-tidal zone food it keeps the grizzly bears in good health until the salmon arrive. And no the cub wad not alone on the beach but far enough from mother for a good solo picture. If you click on the photo to enlarge it and then zoom in the cub is not licking anything I can see just sticking out it’s tongue.
“Humpback whales often feed by lunging – moving quickly toward a school of prey with their mouths wide open, then closing their mouths and filtering the salt water out using their baleen. Researchers at the University of British Columbia learned from tagging humpback whales that during these lunges, the whale drops its lower jaw, creating drag that helps fill its mouth with prey and water. The effective, but energetically-costly feeding technique explains the relatively short dives humpback take while feeding.” a quote from Jennifer Kennedy, About.com Guide. Gary Wilson from Australia captures this feeding whale in Blackfish Sound not far from Vancouver Island’s Telegraph Cove. On normal whale watching safari day with an incoming tide to bring the herring into the viewing area we will see several humpbacks feeding.
Fall grizzly bear viewing from our lodge on Knight Inlet takes place on the Glendale River and a man made salmon spawning channel. There are two viewing platforms next to the part of the river the salmon use to pass over a weir into the spawning channel. The second stand we normally use has a deep pool on one side, the natural river on the other two sides leaving the forth for a narrow road. This grizzly, in the deep pool, has it’s eye on us in the stand maybe because we made to much noise or just out of curiosity. At this time of the year a grizzly bears prime concern is food namely pink salmon. Hibernation maybe a little more than two months away and this is the time to “bulk up” for the long winter. A bear without sufficient fat may not survive the winter and in the case of a female it may mean that she will absorb her “eggs” and not proceed with a pregnancy.
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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