Grizzly Watching

The grizzly bear tours from the lodge on Minstrel Island run up Knight Inlet to the area of Glendale Cove.  By mid-May the mother grizzlies bring their cubs to the shore of Knight Inlet and start to make their way toward the Glendale estuary.  Berries are note yet ripe so the best source of protein is the sedge grass that grows in the estuary.  The cubs in May seem to have an aversion to water but by mid August when this picture was taken they rather enjoy the water as a way to cool down and play.

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Time to come out of the water, playtime is over, need to head to higher ground as the beach disappears under the incoming tide.  The shore of the Glendale River estuary is an ideal place, at a low tide, to turn over rocks to find that mobile protein but as the tide comes in it becomes grazing time on the protein rich sedge grass.  As the tide comes in even more it is time to move up the shore into the river delta and higher ground.  And that is exactly what we do with our guests.  We travel up Knight Inlet is larger “speed boats” and once we reach the viewing area we transfer to shallow draft skiff about eighteen feet long and seven feet wide which makes it stable enough to walk around in and have no fear of rocking.  This skiff allows us to follow the grizzly bears up the river through the tall grass and pretend we are on the “African Queen”.

This is not an unusual scene in the spring at the river estuary in Knight Inlet. The grizzly bears come into the estuary at low tide to turn over rocks to gather the small invertebrates for the protein they contain.  Another favourite food this time of the year is sedge grass which is very high in protein and as the salmon have not arrived the beach is the grizzlies’ main source of food until the many variety of berries start to ripen in mid-June.  Not to be out done the deer also need to eat and sedge grass also provides them with a necessary source of food. The deer are always alert and keep an eye on the bears but I have never seen a bear attempt a chase.  The level beach area gives the deer an advantage and the openness prevents a surprise attack by the bears.

One of the best ways to learn is to watch another and this is true of grizzly bears as it is of humans.  This mother grizzly in the Glendale River estuary of Knight Inlet is teaching by example. At low tide especially in the spring when the salmon have not arrived in the river to spawn will bring the grizzly to the beach.  The turning over rock produces food high in protein, which is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. This cub is ready to share moms food and will soon be turning it’s own rock in search of a meal.

An often asked questions from the guests a Grizzly Bear Lodge is: Is that a male or female grizzly?  Some guidelines we use to go by are: The male is usually bigger and his head appears to be smaller in comparison to his body. Females appear to have shorter legs and are a bit more squat in appearance. The body difference is often hard to determine unless there are several grizzlies together. And of course in the spring when they have not had time to fatten on the salmon it may be even harder to determine the difference. In the May and June the mating season the male has a swagger, often walking with a swaying walk with their hind legs farther apart than normal. The tried and true way to tell the males from the females (as shown in this picture) is to watch them urinate. The males urinate forward, and the females backward! This picture also reinforces something I was told by a friend who spends allot of time in the bush “If you take a drink of water from a river or stream do not walk up river and look around he corner.”