This picture was taken from the dock that we park at when conducting grizzly bear tours in Glendale Cove, Knight Inlet. We explore the cove by small boat looking for bears, but sometimes we get lucky and they come to us.
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.
Bald Eagle with an Unlikely Catch
Bald eagles are opportunistic feeders. This eagle was in the river estuary, likely looking for salmon carcases to feed on. This duck was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Grizzly Mother Sharing her Catch
Guests are often a little confused when they see a mother grizzly catch a salmon and not share with her young cubs. She does this for two reasons. Although the mother is nursing these cubs it is in everyone’s best interest for them to learn to catch their own fish and feed independently. Secondly because the mother is nursing these cubs she needs to consume a lot of calories to maintain this and must be a little selfish at times.
Grizzly Bear “Disagreements”
Grizzly Bears are a solitary animals. Mothers and cubs are together and sometimes siblings will stay together for a couple of years after they have been kicked out on their own. Other then this they are looking out for themselves. With the abundance of salmon in the rivers in the fall the Grizzlies learn to tolerate each other because they all have to eat. There are, however disputes over the prime fish areas. Generally these aren’t much more then a stare down and some growling, but they do occasionally end up in a bit of a scrap.
Grizzly Bears Diving for Salmon
I took this video up at the viewing platforms in late August. The viewing was great and there are a ton of pink salmon in the pool. Bears normally do not like to put their ears underwater when looking for salmon. This year, however we saw a huge increase in “diving bears”
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Beach Feeding Grizzly Bears
Of course Grizzly Bears enjoy feeding on salmon. Salmon is not the only seafood that they enjoy, however. At low tide the beaches are covered in protein rich shellfish. This mother and cub are feeding on mussels. The bears chew the mussels shell and all. On a calm, quiet day you can often hear the distinctive “crunching” of shells.
Emily the Grizzly Bear
This photo was taken be Felix Rome who helped out Trapper Rick at the river last year. This particular bear is known as Emily and has been around the area for many years having several sets of cubs. It is always rewarding for us to be able to watch the same bears return year after year and to watch them grow up.
Grizzly Bear Watching in the estuary
This is our typical area for conducting our spring Grizzly Bear Watching. River estuaries are rich feeding areas from many animals. The grass that you see her is Lyngbys sedge. In the spring it is particularly lush and is a major component of the bear’s diet providing much needed protein.
Bald Eagle with a Pink Salmon
The Grizzly Bears aren’t the only ones who enjoy the abundant salmon run. Birds such as eagles, Great Blue Herons, Gulls, Kingfishers and Mergansers are often seen in the river areas. What isn’t eaten by the animals is flushed into the estuary, providing food for other marine creatures such as crabs, sculpins, cod and Halibut. Finally the rotten fish is distributed into the forest by Bears and other animals providing natural fertilization to the forest floor. These wild salmon truly are the backbone of our coastal ecosystem.
Rock Rolling Spring Grizzly
In the spring time before the berries begin to ripen and the salmon start to trickle in the bears feed on sedge grass and the available seafood at low tide. The intertidal areas of our rocky coastal beaches are rich in life. “Rock Rolling” is a favourite activity of both coastal Black and Grizzly Bears. Under these rocks there are often shore crab hiding which are a favourite of the bears.
