Grizzly Watching

Grizzly Bears are magnificent and the biggest reason visitors choose our lodge!

Grizzly bears thrive here and the viewing opportunities are spectacular. We have operated our Grizzly Bear Lodge for decades and know the prime spots for bear watching. The ultimate grizzly bear photo opportunities.

Black Bears on the Beach

Black Bear

Finding black bears on the beach is a cooperative effort that includes the guests and guide. If you notice the top half of the beach is in a dark shadow and that makes bears hard to spot when you are running the boat and scanning the beach. All the eyes in the boat need to be on the search for black bears to be successful. It may be the guides “job” but we will gladly take all help and are willing to stop to check even if it is occasionally a rock or log because most of the time it is a bear.

 

 

Grizzly Spotting

Click to enlarge then click again
Click to enlarge then click again

This is the case where the grizzly is doing the spotting. We were in a skiff in the Glendale River estuary on a morning grizzly bear tour from the lodge. The tide was starting to rise so we were just starting to move up the river when this large male grizzly walked out of the sedge grass toward our boat. As the photo shows its head was up and it was on a mission we were just hopping we were not the mission. It passed or skiff about 30 meters (yards) away and paid us little interest it was then we realized it must be smelling the small yacht in the bay cooking bacon for breakfast. The wind must have shifted because it soon returned to eating the sedge grass and rolling rocks.

 

 

Grizzly bear zoo

Grizzly wants in

One of the viewing platforms we use in the fall has a ramp that is covered with a metal cage. For some reason the juvenile grizzlies use this as a back rub and are curious that we are in the cage and they are free. This is like being in at “zoo” except we are the ones in a cage.

 

 

Grizzly Bear Relaxing 1 of 2

Grizzly Bear or Dog

Viewing grizzly bears in the fall after August 25 we travel up the Glendale River and use viewing stands overlooking the river and the entrance to a man-made spawning channel. The bears in the area have accepted our presence to the point that they will lie on the beach to dry in the sun or for a short nap. This can also be a break from fishing, which allows the food to settle down / digest and make room for more.

 

 

“Two For One” Bald Eagles

bald eagles

Bald eagles are sexually mature at four or five years of age and this is indicated by the fact they now have their white heads. When they are old enough to breed, they often return to the area where they were born. It is thought that bald eagles mate for life and thus when we are running along the shore on tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge if you see one eagle the other will be close. It is not very common to have them in the same tree as it narrows the area for fishing but is does give one a chance to determine which is the female. The female is the larger of a mated pair in this case I think the higher of the two but unless they are side by side on a branch it is hard to tell.

 

 

A Classic Grizzly Pose

Grizzly with salmon

This may be the photo of choice for our guests but it is also an interesting photo that reveals much information. First is that this bear is not very hungry because the fish is hanging from its mouth and not moving so it has been dead awhile and not yet eaten. Second is that there are likely allot of salmon in the area and this grizzly is not worried about eating fast and trying to catch another. Third that this is not a bear with cubs or they would be close trying for the salmon. Forth that there are other grizzlies close that have this bears attention and they may be a challenge causing it to move off the river. Fifth that the white water indicates that there has been a recent rain causing the river to rise and run a little faster than normal. But our guests are more interested in getting a good photo than the background information until they are explaining the photo to a friend back home.

 

 

Black Bear are shore bears

Black Bear

As I have said before “Black bears are where you find them” and they are found on all the trips that leave the Lodge. On grizzly bear tours running up Knight Inlet, whale watching safari to the Johnstone Strait or on the extra day to trapper Rick’s.  Black bears are frequently along the shore searching for food. This bear was on an actual black bear tour we take on the evening that you arrive at the lodge. We travel through the local area for about an hour and a half looking for black bears, eagles, seals and other marine wildlife.

 

 

The triplets again

Grizzly bear family

These are the same cubs of yesterdays post but three months has passed and we are now up the river looking down from the viewing platform mentioned in the August 13th post.  The mother has a little darker coat, which we have noticed seems to come after eating salmon for a month or more. They are sitting on a bank above the river watching a sub-adult grizzly fishing and soon move down to join the hunt. Other younger grizzlies will give a mother room on the river because they are a force you do not want to “upset”.

 

 

Mother with triplets

Mother grizzly with cubs

If you look closely you will see the third cub following mother along the shore of the Glendale River estuary. In the spring until August 25th we cruise along the shore of the Glendale estuary as well as up the river as the tide rises in search of grizzlies. It is always interesting to watch the mother walk into the water and swim for a short distance because the cubs will climb over almost anything on shore to avoid going into the water. They are good swimmers at this age but have not learned to enjoy the water however later in the season when they are chasing salmon in the river they seem more at home.