All posts by Lodge Guide

Black bear working the beach

Mussels and barnacles are a staple source of protein for black bears along the British Columbia coast. On grizzly bear tours, whale watching trips or the evening wildlife tour from the lodge black bears are often on the beach at low tide. This bear has found an ideal location that allows it to scrape the branches of this tree to eat the mussels and barnacles. Extreme low tides always bring more bears to the beach because the parts of the beach that are exposed at these tides offer a source of food rarely available.

 

 

 

 

 

What is a herring ball?

 

Guiding on a whale watching tour is often more about watching for seagulls than for the blows of humpback whales. Once whales have been sighted the key is to find the gulls and move toward their feeding area. The gulls are attracted to herring balls. A bait ball, or herring ball, occurs when the herring swarm in a tightly packed formation rotating about a common centre. It is a last-ditch defensive measure adopted when predators such as diving ducks threaten them. The revolving ball moves to the surface and brings the gulls, the guides and in time the humpback whales which lunge from beneath for a mouthful of herring. The second photo showing the herring in the water is only obtained with great caution. It is necessary to make sure no whales are in the area before coming close enough for a view of the herring on the surface. It is not good to be this close if whales have been seen anywhere in the preceding half-hour.

 

Grizzlies on the move

All three cubs are now awake and the tide is starting to rise. The mother grizzly bear starts up the beach to the mouth of the river and the flat land estuary, which provides for protection in the taller grass. The river estuary also has easier access to the surrounding forest with its tall trees if the cubs need to escape a large male bear. Yes grizzly cubs can climb trees while the large males cannot.

 

 

Grizzly mother close

Yesterday’s post showed grizzly cubs sleeping in the sunshine on a warm rock. Mother was always close by but it took us a few minutes of watching her to locate the cubs. It was a rare time for the mother to be able to obtain a meal without being on high alert for the active cubs. That has now come to an end as one cub is up and starting to graze…..more tomorrow

 

 

What is it?

The spring grizzly bear tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge travel up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River estuary is search of mother grizzlies and their cubs. They come out of hibernation in late March or April and bring their cubs to the beach and river estuaries in search of food. Turning over rocks in the inter-tidal zone for high protein food made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. They also graze on the protein rich sedge grasses…..more tomorrow

 

 

Humpback whale and calf

With the ever-increasing number of humpback whales remaining in the whale watching tour area there are also more calves. The number of whales normally viewed on a given tour day has increased from five or six whales six years ago to fourteen to sixteen this past season. The humpback calves are much more active than their mothers often spend time tail lobbing and breaching however it is the adults that provide the best classic whale tail photographs.

 

 

Best bald eagle

The perfect eagle picture is hard to achieve but Grizzly Bear Lodge tries to provide the perfect opportunity. First by keeping an eye out for bald eagles on the whale watching trip, grizzly bear tours and extra day at the river. Secondly when the resident eagles are still in their nest behind the lodge we will occasionally throw out a bottom fish and encourage them to come for an easy meal. Glen, one of our guides, provided another great photo.

A favorite

The end of September and the grizzlies are looking ready for hibernation. They have added the necessary body fat to survive the winter but are still coming to the area of the viewing stands for another meal. The fat bears are selective in what they eat, mostly eggs and belly fat while other are after the whole salmon. This grizzly was one of the selective feeders and more interested in a viewing platform of clicking cameras than food. Glen, one of our guides, provided this photo.

The bad and the good of wildlife viewing

 

Like much success in life it all comes down to timing and the same applies to a good wildlife photograph. Grizzly bears are easier for the obvious reason that they are always visible on land and once you find them they are there for a while. On a whale watching tour once you find the marine mammals they are not always available for a photograph. A breaching humpback or killer whale is especially difficult as they do not announce their intent and often the result is the first photo posted. The second posting is the result of preparing to take one photo when another occurs. Luck!

Two mintes make a difference

Early September on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River and two great photos taken from the viewing platform overlooking the entrance to the spawning channel. A lonely looking eight month old grizzly cub looking for its mother and two minutes later the mother comes to check that everything is OK. Not much else to say!