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 Bear in Grizzly Bear Territory

Balck BearBlack bears are normally on the beaches to 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 plant food is relatively scarce during spring and bears will continue to loose weight until well into June. Plant foods make up the majority of a bear’s diet (sometimes, as much as 90%). The black bears are kept from the salmon rivers by the grizzly so the beaches remain one of their main sources of protein all year. This bear is playing the acrobat by balancing on a log while scraping off barnacles and muscles.

 

 

Grizzly Bear with triplets

Grizzly and CubsThis mother grizzly bear and her three cubs were a common site on the Glendale River this fall. There is a finger of land that connects the two viewing stands used by the lodge and the bears also use this as they travel to various parts of the river to catch and eat the salmon. The view from the stands provide many opportunities for excellent photos.

 

 

Eagles on ALL tours

Bald EagleBald eagles are viewed on all the tours from the lodge. It does not matter if you are on your day trip to the grizzlies in the Glendale River, whale watching in the Johnstone Strait or on the river with Trapper Rick. In fact this picture was taken from the front lawn of the lodge on Minstrel Island. The bald eagles with their white head are a majestic bird when flying over head or perched in a tree along the shore.

 

 

Spring Grizzly Bears

Grizzly Bear Knight InletGrizzly bear viewing in the spring from Grizzly Bear Lodge occurs in the mouth of the Glendale River. This river estuary is located an hour and fifteen minute boat ride from the lodge on Minstrel Island. The spring grizzlies are in this area for the protein rich sedge grass and the abundance of protein obtained from turning over rocks on the beach at low tide. Viewing takes place from a sixteen foot skiff, which allows us good viewing in the shallow waters along the shore and in the Glendale River.

 

 

 

Grizzly Bear Siblings Travel Together

Grizzly Bear Siblings

It is common to see sub-adult grizzly siblings together on the Grizzly Bear Lodge’s bear tours. Depending on food abundance, mother grizzlies may keep their yearlings a second (even a third) year, denning together again and breaking up in the third (or fourth) year. Alone and vulnerable, siblings will often stay together for some time after their mother abandons them, eating and sleeping side-by-side, and even denning together. The average breeding age for female grizzlies is 4.5 years. Males reach sexual maturity at roughly the same age as their female counterparts. Even though males are capable of breeding at three or four years of age, they rarely have the opportunity to do so because of intense competition from older, bigger males. These two bears spent most of the summer in the area of the Glendale River.

 

Grizzly Family feud continues

Grizzly Family Feud

This photo was taken two weeks after the posting on October 28th and these two cubs are still fighting. We observed these three bears throughout the summer on our grizzly bear watching days on the Glendale River and the family feud was part of their daily activity. This photo was taken from above from the viewing stands, which we use after August 24th, while the photo posted on the 28th was from a boat on the lower river. The location is not important the entertainment value of these bears make the guests stay more enjoyable.

 

 

Grizzly cubs with mom

Grizzly Family Water

Grizzly bear cubs are still a challenge even when they are two years old. In this case mother is in the background while the cubs play fight in the foreground. It is not always a spectator sport as allot of the time the mother grizzly is in the middle of the fight with the cubs, that is how they learn. Some days in the spring on the river it seems that the bears spend more time fighting than searching for and eating food.

 

Grizzly Bear cubs with mom

Grizzly Bear Cubs

A mother grizzly is never far away from her cubs as the leg in the top left corner of this picture shows. Triplets are always a challenge and these first year cubs spent this summer keeping their mother on the run. But whenever there was another bear in the area the cubs immediately returned to mom to make sure all is ok. Grizzlies with cubs are common in the viewing area used by Grizzly Bear Lodge. We are more likely to see mother grizzlies with twins, triplets and this year quadruplets than we are a bear with one cub.

 

 

Sharing the river with a grizzly bear

Grizzly in river

Spring and early summer grizzly bear tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge take place in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River estuary. This is a one hour and fifteen minute boat ride and then a transfer to a large skiff, which allows us to go into the shallow river to view the grizzlies. It is like a scene from the old movie “African Queen” with your guide in waders pulling the skiff up the river and often finding a grizzly walking along the river. If the river is wide we pull to one side to allow the bear to pass if it is narrow we back down the river either way there is opportunity for great photos.

 

Protective Mother Grizzly

Mother grizzly protecting cubs

As soon grizzly cubs sense any kind of danger they run to mother for protection. In the spring cubs are appear along the shore of Knight Inlet in late May and we are able to watch their growth through to October prior to the closing of Grizzly Bear Lodge in mid-month. This photo was taken in September from the viewing stands as the mother grizzly watched a second mother with two-year-old cub’s approach the salmon fishing area. All ended well and they all continued to catch and eat fish.