We offer an exceptional fly-in lodge for Grizzly Bear Watching and Whale Watching in British Columbia.
Learn about What’s happening at the Lodge, view our British Columbia’s Wildlife Report, read our Grizzly Bear Watching Blog and Whale Watching Blog. Learn more about a Day on the River Blog, see Our Tour Guide’s Photos & Blog and Photos from Our Guests.
Some first year grizzly bear cubs that appear on the shore in May and June are not fond of getting in the water. When they need to follow their mother as she swims along the shore at times it is necessary to leave the cubs behind to force them into the water. This cub and mother were on a point when the tide came up behind them and the point became an island and the cub was not happy about getting wet to get back to the shore.
Great photo of a young bald eagle. Young because eagles start to get their whites heads in their third year and are normally fully white by the end of the fifth year. Regarding the yellow beak I found an interesting story on line from Senior Naturalist Dave Erler that is worth reading:
“Not long ago a Squam Lakes Natural Science Center trail visitor observed the immature and adult Bald Eagles housed at the Raptor Exhibit and asked me a great question. Why does the adult Bald Eagle have a yellow beak? I pondered for a moment before responding. I recollected from the ornithology course I took in college that the outer covering of a bird’s beak was composed of keratin, which is similar to keratin in mammal nails or claws, reptile scales, and bird feathers. I also explained that the yellow color in bird beaks, ceres (the fleshy portion at the base of a raptor’s beak), and feet are caused by pigments called carotenoids. After sharing this information, I explained that when I first came to work at the Science Center some three decades ago, most of the raptors in our collection had very dull color in their ceres and feet. This prompted me to contact a veterinarian I knew who worked with raptors. The vet explained to me that the carotenoids in bird beaks have a slightly different composition of proteins and glycine than is found in other animals. The yellow color is influenced by both diet and hormones. The vet suspected the dull color was the result of a vitamin deficiency, possibly vitamin E. On the vet’s recommendation we began to use a vitamin supplement formulated for hawks and falcons. After a few months, there was a marked improvement of the birds’ ceres and feet, indicated by a brighter yellow color.
After sharing all this information with this gentleman, I could tell by his glassed-over eyes that I had missed the intention of his question. So I asked him if his question was really, “What is the function of having a yellow beak?” He nodded yes. Realizing I had already bored him senseless, I simply stated it probably indicates to other eagles that the individual is fully mature and healthy, important factors if you are trying attract a mate and hold a territory. That answer was sufficient and he wandered off leaving me to wonder why I don’t have a yellow beak.”
The first thing to note is the white boat antenna in the left corner of the photo. A telephoto lens was not required to get this close up. More than a dozen different humpback whales are found in our whale watching area on a daily basis. The whale safari travel about an hour from the lodge to an area close to British Columbia’s Vancouver Island and area rich in herring the many food of humpbacks. Our picnic lunches are most often eaten in the boast while we drift among feeding whales. It is sort of like the movie “Field of Dreams” but in this case if one waits quietly (boat motor off) the whales come to visit.
A beautiful mid-September day at the viewing stands made more beautiful by the sight of a large grizzly bear walking the causeway. After August 24th most grizzly bear watching from the lodge takes place on the Glendale River. This river is an hour and quarter boat ride and a fifteen-minute van ride from the lodge on Minstrel Island. There are two viewing platforms on a finger of land (causeway) that separate the natural river from the in-take to the man made spawning channel. The last kilometer (mile) to the viewing stands passes along the edge of the spawning channel and is a common walkway for the grizzlies. Why walk through the thick bush when it is easier to walk a road. This also applies between the viewing stands why walk in the water and disturb the salmon and other bears when the road is dry and bears are not protesting their fishing rights.
These two photos show the massive amount of driftwood in the water last summer after the slides up Knight Inlet. One night after a three-month rainless period there were heavy rains and over a dozen slides that stripped mountainsides down to bare rock. The result is that it suddenly took up to two hours to make an hour and fifteen-minute trip to view grizzly bears. There was never any danger of large waves because of the slide as Knight Inlet is close to 145 km (90 miles) long and in places over a mile wide and even the shore opposite the slides looked normal in the morning. The drift covered the beaches for months and can be seen in yesterday’s posting.
Guests normally arrive at Grizzly Bear Lodge on Minstrel Island between three and four o’clock. Once the luggage is moved to rooms, introduction to the lodge on the front deck, welcoming snacks of prawns or dungeness crabs it might be time or the first day’s black bear trip. “Might be” because it requires a reasonably low tide so there is a beach for the bears and at times that may be after dinner. This trip was successful finding a mother and cub on the shore looking for dinner. Important to note that this photo was taken with my small pentax with only a ten times optic zoom. I assure you the guest photos were much better.
Our first grizzly bear tours in late May and early June grizzlies are often viewed along the shore before we arrive at Glendale River estuary the normal viewing area. The cubs that are born in the den in January or February are too young to be taken to the estuary where there may be mature male grizzlies. These small bays are referred to as nurseries and it gives the cubs time to grow on mother’s milk, which is more than 30% fat. They also become accustomed to the presence of boats and learn to ignore us from their mothers.
The advantages of being a guide for Grizzly Bear Lodge are many; good food, guest on holidays enjoying themselves, the common interest in wildlife, great conversations around the dinner table and the list goes on… But the one shown by this photo is that if you take enough pictures during the season you will capture some unique images.
Bald eagles can be viewed from the front deck of the lodge on Minstrel Island as they fly from the nest behind the lodge to their fishing areas. On all the day trips for the whale watching safari, grizzly bear tours and wild river trips eagles are plentiful. The hardest part for a good bald eagle picture is to have the eagle so it is not “sky lined”. They need a dark background to set off their white head as shown in this photo. Also to note is the spread wings as it enjoys the sun while drying after the summer’s morning fog.
In the May 27th posting I mentioned that grizzly bears would fish beside the stand. The deck of the viewing platform is just over three meters (ten feet) above the ground and this bear was down the bank about two meters (six feet) and out from the bank about four meters (12 feet). I did the math allowing for the fact that the stand is not at the edge of the bank and the bear is approximately eight meters (25 feet) from the where the guest stand to watch the bears. To tell the truth none of the guests take time to comment on the closeness of the bears when their photos allow them to count the number of claws and their size.
Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.
The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.
Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.
Angus Reid
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