Spring Grizzly Bear and Cub
Guest Photos
A wildlife photographer’s dream!
We offer fantastic bear and whale watching opportunities at Sailcone’s Grizzly Bear Lodge, your guests’ photos prove it!
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Classic orca photo
The whale / orca watching safari day from Grizzly Bear Lodge start with a fifty minute boat ride from the lodge to the area of Johnstone Strait. Along the way we search the shore for black bears, eagles and anything else that moves. Once we are in the Strait’s area or eyes turn to the water for marine wildlife such as seals, sea lions, dall’s porpoise, white-sided dolphins, minkie whales, humpback whales and of course killer whales or orca. The resident or salmon eating orca we normally see in this area travel in family pods of ten to twenty members. The pods are dominated by the “mother” (oldest female) making them matriarchal however it is older males (sons stay with their mother all their life) that tend to attract most of the picture taking.
Grizzly and deer grazing
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.
Spring grizzly bear teaching cub
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.
Humpback Whale mother and calf
For the past five years the number of humpback whales spending their summers in our viewing area has increased to eight to ten whales viewed on a daily basis. The southern BC/Washington population, which includes our area, is approximately 200-400 whales. It is becoming more common to see calves with their mothers. The gestation period is approximately 11 months, calves being born between December and April. A calf will spent about one year with its mother before becoming independent. Our viewing area is rich in herring and therefore a feeding area for the calves and mothers. There also appears to be a correlation between feeding and breeding grounds. The majority of humpback whales feeding in the southern BC waters have been re-sighted off mainland Mexico, as well as Hawaii according to the B.C. Cetacean Sighting Network.
Black bear on a grizzly tour
The day tour up Knight Inlet from Grizzly Bear Lodge is about an hour run to the Glendale River estuary an area frequented by grizzly bears. On this run it is common to see black bears coming to the shore eat the barnacles and muscles exposed by the low tide. Some of these bears are patient or maybe to interested in food and ignore our boat stopping for pictures other disappear as soon as we slow down. The younger bears tend to run the older bears have accepted the intrusion and realize there is no danger.
Guest question about grizzly bears
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.”
Humpback Whale lunge feeding
An add on to yesterday’s posting Luwen & Liwen from Singapore have provides an excellent photo of a humpback whale lunge feeding in the waters off Blackfish Sound’s Bold Head a short boat ride from Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island. A whale watching trip from the lodge involves a fifty minute boat ride to this area where there is an abundance of marine life including pacific white-sided dolphins, dall’s porpoise, harbour porpoise, harbour seals, steller sea lions, orca, a variety of birdlife including eagles, common murre, surf scooter, rhinocerous auklet, pigen guillemot, marbled murrelet, great blue heron, cormorants, storm petrels, and a large variey of “sea gull”. Added to this is a good chance of seeing a black bear on the way to the area.
Not sedge grass
The previous day’s blog show the food grizzly bears eat in the spring. Our guests frequently comment on the quality and quantity of good food provided for meals. From the seafood dinners served by your guides (we are versatile employees) to the self-serve picnic lunches. Although our “wilderness lodge” requires a floatplane flight from Campbell River it does not mean we “rough-it” for meals.
Humpback Whale Watching Safari
Luwen & Liwen on a visit from Singapore had several great days of viewing grizzly bears and whales. This days whale watching in the area of BC’s Johnstone strait included a humpback whale “lunge feeding” just astern of our boat. The idea is to locate a ball of herring from the bird activity on the water and then to move into the proximity of the herring ball and wait for the whales to feed.
