These grizzly siblings are in the natural river next to the finger viewing stand use by the lodge when on the fall grizzly bear tours in Knight Inlet BC. Siblings will often stay together for several years after leaving their mother and form a close bond. They are on the beach in the spring turning over rocks and fish the river in the fall. As shown they keep an eye on other bears in the area and use the fact that they are “two” to intimidate other bears of a similar age.
Grizzly Bear Lodge is on Minstrel Island BC and on the southern edge of the Broughton Archipelago. This is an area of many islands varying in size from small (100 square meters / yards) to large (100 square km /miles) and therefore many passages that need to be swum when black bears want to move from island to island. The current estimate of the black bear population in British Columbia is 120,000–160,000. This is about one quarter of all black bears in Canada. Its natural range includes Vancouver Island and most coastal islands to the north. This means that a swimming black bear is common rather than rare. This appears to be a healthy bear with a good layer of fat as shown by how high it’s body is out of the water. In the early spring often all that is visible is their head.
As I have said frequently in this blog that one of the best methods of whale or killer whale watching is to sit quietly. If you are able to be in an area as we were on this day with no other boats the orca tend to approach closer and are curious. They are a dolphin and dolphins like to play with moving boats and orcas seem to approach resting boats. The picture is the proof.
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.
The photo of this large male grizzly bear was taken on October 10 that is close to the last day of Grizzly Bear Lodges viewing season. It is interesting for the guides who have the pleasure of spending their summers with the bears to see how they change over the viewing season of late May through to mid October. British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection states: “In British Columbia, spring weights of adult Grizzly Bears
average around 220 kg (480 lb.) for males and 130 kg (290 lb.) for females. Average fall weights are about 30 to 40 percent more.” This bear would be larger than the average.
Yes, salmon by the thousands wait in the holding pool in the entrance to the spawning channel of BC’s Glendale River. Grizzly Bear Lodge’s bear tours have rights to a viewing stand overlooking this pool. The salmon are the attraction for the grizzlies that are trying to fatten for the winter denning. The salmon arrive in mid August and we are permitted to use the stands after August 24th. It is a short van ride from the river estuary and provides guests with many photo opportunities.
It is always interesting that along the coast the blacktail deer population is exploding yet it is rare to observe them swimming between islands. The explosion is blamed on a lack of predators (cougars and wolves) and restrictive hunting regulations. On the islands where deer are present, they exist in high densities, around one per hectare, and they’re devouring native plants. Some smaller islands, which can reasonably support 200 or so deer, are now home to thousands. Young arbutus trees and native flowers, for example, are now rare, and birds that rely on the plants are also disappearing. As well, the fierce competition for food leaves the deer hungry and scrawny.
Click to enlarge then click again
Whale watching safaris in and around Johnstone Strait always provide opportunities for interesting photographs. In this case it is a humpback whale lunge feeding beneath or up through a school of herring. The boat in the background is also of interest as it belongs to Susan MacKay who spends her summers in this area photographing whales, orca and all marine mammals.
The end of July and if you were wearing a fur coat all the time you might want to spend sometime in the water. This morning on the lodges grizzly bear tour up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River estuary a mother grizzly and her cub spent the better part of an hour soaking in the water. The water in the cove is a mixture to fresh and salt water with enough fresh that the grizzlies will drink the surface water. It s also a good time for this six month old to become more accustomed to the water. The cubs will follow their mother into the water at a younger age but it is with reluctance.
Pacific white-sided dolphins inhabit the coastal water of British Columbia. Whether on a grizzly bear tour, whale watching trip or on the way to the wild river on the extra day at the lodge it is possible to find a pod of dolphins. Whale watching guidelines require that boats come no closer than 100 meters (yards) but the dolphins do not seem to follow the guidelines. They ride the bow wake, nose into the prop wash and when the boat stops swim underneath and around.
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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