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.

Myrna Daschuk, Haida Gwaii BC– 2

 

impressive grizzly
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This is the look of a determined grizzly bear. The photo taken from Grizzly Bear Lodge’s viewing stand in one of British Columbia’s best grizzly viewing areas. This river on Knight Inlet has a man made spawning channel, which attracts bears from a large area. The grizzly population will increase from a dozen bears in the spring to more than forty grizzly bears once the salmon have entered the river. This look is directed at another bear in the river, which is coming to close to a fishing spot. Fights that cause serious harm are rare as there is an abundance of salmon and the main goal is to fatten for the winter.  Mating season is long gone so that tension is not present.

Myrna Daschuk, Haida Gwaii BC – 1

old grizzly viewing stand
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In the many years of blogging for Grizzly Bear Lodge this is the first time I have received a photo of a pine marten taken on the Glendale River. This old viewing stand is no longer in use as is demonstrated by the moss on the ladder.  That is no longer in use by humans but seems to be an ideal location for the pine marten giving a good view of the river and surrounding area.

A pine marten is about half the size of a house cat, but with the shorter legs and long supple body typical of the weasel family. It has a pointed muzzle, prominent ears, and a thick, bushy tail. The basic body colour of most martens is a shade of brown, but there with a range from pale blonde through yellows, tans, reds, grays, and dark browns to nearly black. The legs and tail are darker than the rest of the body on most specimens, and most animals also have a distinctive yellow to orange “bib” patch on the throat and chest.

Britt Maria Christiansen, Brussels – 6

grizzly in the bush
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This is a rare site a grizzly with four cubs and you will need to look hard to find the fourth cub. Grizzly bears can give birth to up to four cubs, although litters of two and three are most common.  The number of cubs that are born depends on how healthy and fat a mother is at the time she enters the den.

“Grizzly bears typically mate between May and early July.  Although grizzlies have a gestation period of only 6-8 weeks, birth doesn’t actually occur until 6 months later in dead of winter.  How is this possible?  Upon conception a fertilized egg begins to divide until it gets about the size of a pinhead and is called a blastocyst.  In some mammals like humans, the blastocyst implants into the uterine wall within a week of conception where it continues to grow until birth. Female bears however have evolved “delayed implantation” whereby the blastocyst does not implant into the uterine wall until late fall, just before a grizzly mother enters her den for the winter.  Within a week of conception (during the spring) the blastocyst enters a state of dormancy.  In late fall the blastocyst will implant into the grizzly mother’s uterus if she is fat and healthy enough to support cubs during the winter hibernation.  If she is under severe stress, and under nourished, the blastocyst will simply be reabsorbed into her body.  The number of cubs in her litter is also determined by how healthy and fat the mother is in the fall.  A really fat and healthy mother may give birth to up to four cubs, whereas a marginally fat mother may only give birth to one or two cubs.” Delayed implantation in grizzly bears from GrizzlyBay.org

Britt Maria Christiansen, Brussels – 5

pick a boo grizzly
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If you read the posting from Jan 1 about the location of the viewing stands when we leave the finger viewing stand we are required to back the SUV past the upper end of the spawning channel. We tend to do this quite slowly to enable some interesting pictures.  This picture is of a first year grizzly bear cub sitting mid-channel waiting for a salmon actually waiting for it’s mother to bring it a salmon as first year cubs do not catch many salmon. This area would provide for many more great photos if it were not for the trees along the bank but these are necessary to provide shade so the water does not become too hot. If the water heats up it tends to hold less oxygen and salmon will suffocate. This happened this August as the temperature rose the water intake from Tom Blown Lake was not regulated correctly and there was insufficient fresh water into the spawning channel and hundreds of salmon died.

Britt Maria Christiansen, Brussels – 4

good grizzly
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Did you ever feel that you were under the watchful eye of a grizzly bear? This bear was directly below the viewing stands as you can see the reflection of the stand’s posts and cross pieces in the water. The grizzlies tend to ignore our presence in the stands but every once in a while they do glance our way and that creates a special moment especially when captured in a photo.

 

Britt Maria Christiansen, Brussels – 2

grizzly carrying salmon
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Grizzly bears that fish in the holding pool next to Grizzly Bear Lodges viewing stands on British Columbia’s Glendale River normally take the salmon to bank to eat because of the deep water in the centre of the pool. If you look closely there is another salmon by its front paw and several more in the water.  Grizzlies fishing further up the channel often wound salmon, which later die and drift into the holding pool making it in ideal fishing area for the bears, which want to conserve energy. Bears are able to reach into the water and pull up salmon with little effort while grizzlies on the other side of the stand actually work for their catch.

Britt Maria Christiansen, Brussels – 1

beautiful grizzly
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This photo of a great pose for a grizzly bear was taken from the viewing stand located on BC west coast (Knight Inlet’s Glendale River).  The viewing stands are an hour and quarter boat ride from Grizzly Bear Lodge on Minstrel Island as well as a fifteen-minute truck ride once you have reached the mouth of the Glendale River. Once in the stands grizzly bears may appear on any side as you are at the end of a finger of land. The natural river is on two sides; the holding pool to the weir, which is the entrance to the spawning channel is the third and the road down the finger to the stands makes the forth side. In this case the bear is coming up the bank from the natural river and crossing the road to the holding pool.

Google Map of Spawning Channel

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Once you have read the description below the map can be enlarged by clicking once on the photo and then once again and the photo should take the full screen.

The above photo is a selection taken from Google Earth that shows the Glendale River estuary in the upper left corner of the map. The river estuary is about 42 kilometers (26 miles) an hour and fifteen-minute boat ride from Grizzly Bear Lodge. Upon arriving at the river mouth the boat is tied to a float which is indicated by the yellow dots in the extreme upper left corner. Once at the float a flat bottom skiff is used to get to shore and the truck, which is used to drive to the spawning channel. The road runs along the estuary and the river past the base of the hills in the lower left section of the map and then curves to the green dot, which is a bridge over the Glendale River.

The zig zag line of trees are along the edge of the man made spawning channel.  The road pass beside the top (right) edge of the last finger of the spawning area and then across and past the curves of the rest of the channels to the first red dot which is the first viewing stand.  The second red dot is the stand normally used by Grizzly Bear Lodge. The area between the two red dots is a finger of land with the natural river on the right side and around the end of the finger to the holding pool on the left (top) side.  The salmon holding pool is a result of an aluminum weir or small dam at the entrance to the spawning channel. This may be raised or lowered depending on how many salmon have entered the channel. The second stand is the preferred viewing area as there is an unobstructed view of the river and the holding pool and photos due not need to show the aluminum weir in the background.

If you go to “Pages” on the left and select  “Gogle Map of Lodge Itinerary” and click the blue icon on the right it will be “Day 3” and be the location of the map shown above.  

Grizzly Tour Lunchbreak

picnic lunch
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Picnic lunches are taken on all day tours.  Grizzly bear tours and whale watching trips normally leave the lodge at 8:00 am in the spring and summer and after August 24th at 7:30 am.  Whale watching picnic lunches are normally eaten in the boat while drifting with the humpback whales.  This most often occurs after a bathroom break in Telegraph Cove. The grizzly bear day’s lunches are eaten on the float tied up in the mouth of Glendale Bay.  Eating lunch in a skiff closer to the bears is not a good idea, as they might want to join the picnic, especially if smoked salmon is part of the lunch. The lunches are good with enough variety that even the guides do not become bored with the food and enough food that in my nine years with the lodge we have yet to eat all of a lunch. This photo is from late September as the guests are still wearing their coast against the chill of being on the water.

Grizzly Bear eating Sedge grass

spring grizzly
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In the spring quests on the tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge view the bears in the sedge grass.  Sedge grass stalks are spiky, wide and stiff but the sedge grass is up to 25% protein, and this is the reason why grizzly bears prefer eating it to other grasses.  The spring a grizzly bears diets consist of approximately 70% of sedge grass to replenish their lack of proteins during hibernation. Diets shift with the seasons, as summer approaches the berries start to replace the sedge grass and fall brings the salmon into the Glendale River.