Grizzly Watching

Late July and it has been a warmer than normal few days and because of this the rocks have retained the sun’s heat and make for a warm bed. We found these three grizzly bear cubs along the side of Knight Inlet’s Glendale Bay enjoying a morning nap while their mother enjoyed some down time to graze on the sedge grass. See tomorrows post….

Beside not being the clearest photo it is interesting because it captures the meting of a mother grizzly with three cubs and a sub-adult male grizzly bear.

Coming from opposite directions it was the young male that was most surprised as the wind was at it’s back and he was not able to smell the mother. The mother had picked up on the males scent earlier and was not concerned. It was the male that retreated to the upper beach and walk around the family before moving along the beach. Most grizzlies go out of their way to avoid a mother with cubs.

We watched this grizzly bear with her triplets most of the summer and she always had the same problem: two obedient cubs and one less obedient. The one cub and also the larger of the three was always lagging behind on the shore and along the river. When other grizzly bears approached it was always the last to respond to it’s mothers warnings but it did survive the summer and we hope to see it next year. Of the three it probably has the best chance because it was fatter.

This mother and black bear cub are also beach feed as was the grizzly in yesterdays post but they are spending most of their time turning over rocks in search of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. Black bears do not normally have access to the salmon in the rivers because of the grizzlies, so much of their protein in from this beach food.

Grizzly bears on the beach in June through August feed along the shores of Knight Inlet. On this day the meal is the barnacles and muscles they scrape off the rocks. And yes they eat them shell and all. If you look closely a the photo you will notice various areas around the bear that have already been scraped and that was not done by this grizzly as it just came down to the water edge. Some beach feeding is a little different as tomorrows post will show….

This photo is late August and unlike the grizzly in yesterday’s post this grizzly bear has had the advantage of ripe berries for several months and possibly a few salmon which will now be in the river. This bear is no where near hibernation weight and will increase by another third before heading to the high country for the winter.

This was late May several years ago on one of the first trips of the year. When the grizzly bears first appear on the beach, out of hibernation, they are lean. Berries will not be ripe until late June, the sedge grass the bear is walking through is pretty sparse so nourishment comes from rolling rocks on the beach. This “beach food” is important because bears will continue to loose weight until well into late June.