Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Tour Blog

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.

Interesting Guest Photos

whale tail
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whale tail 2
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whale tail 3
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France, showing a humpback whale fluking, which is when the whale raises its tail out of the water and descends beneath the surface. The under side of the tail is used to identify different whales by it’s shape, bumps on leading and trailing edge, the black and white pigment pattern and any scars. There are many websites dedicated to humpback whale identification and some that provide the Photographic Catalogue of Humpback Whales in British Columbia.
Humpbacks show great fidelity to their feeding areas and British Columbia is split into two separate regions. The southeast Alaska/northern British Columbia region is estimated to have a population of 3,000-5,000 whales, while the southern BC/Washington population is approximately 200-400 whales. There also appears to be a correlation between feeding and breeding grounds. The majority of humpback whales feeding in northern BC appear to be wintering in Hawaii. The southern BC whales have animals that have been re-sighted off mainland Mexico, as well as Hawaii.

 

 

Interesting Guest Photos

single orca
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pod of orca
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Whether it is a single large male killer whale or a family pod the feeling is always the same, excitement. A whale watching safari from Grizzly Bear Lodge offers this excitement which may come from viewing orca, humpback whales lunge feeding, Steller sealions, harbour seals, dall porpoise, pacific white-sided dolphins or bald eagles. The variety of marine life in the area of Johnstone Strait between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia is astounding and mostly due to the abundance of herring. Herring are the food of the humpback whales, dolphins, porpoise and salmon. The salmon then become the food for the orca, seals and eagles.

 

 

Interesting Guest Photos

 

grizzly following mother
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After some time in the water the mother grizzly and cub moved up the beach toward the river mouth. One can see that the tide has started to rise and the beach is disappearing and this means that the bears will move up toward the shallower estuary and river mouth. Fortunately once we arrive by boat from the lodge we switch to a large flat bottom skiff which permits us to follow the bears as they move into this shallow area.  This enables good close up pictures from a stable boat, which allows guests to move about without fear of tipping or rocking. Yesterdays posted photo and today’s are just two of the many provide by Marc & Solange

 

Interesting Guest Photos

grizzly teaching cub
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Mid-August can be quite warm in Knight Inlet’s Glendale Cove where we watch the grizzly bears as they come to the beach in search of food either protein from turning over rocks or the sedge grass that grows in the river estuary. The Cove is a one and a quarter hour boat ride from the lodge along the shore of Knight Inlet. The Glendale River mouth attracts grizzly bears that spend spring and summer feeding in the area and many are mothers with cubs. If you wore a fur coat in the summer you might want to spend some time in the water on a play date with mom. Marc & Solange visiting from France provided this photograph.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

wet black bear
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We followed this black bear as it swam and walked from one larger island to another about two hundred meters (yards) in distance. It swam one narrow passage walked over a small island, swam to a second small island and finally to the final large island where this picture was taken. Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island partway up Knight Inlet so all tours are by boat through many small island and along the shore so it is not uncommon to see bears swimming. In a summer I will normally see three or four black bears swimming.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

swimming black bear
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Black bears are where you find them. This seems like the statement of the obvious but black bears tend to come down to the beach at low tide in search of protein made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. Low tides occur at different times each day so finding black bears is not so much location but being near a good beach at the correct time. Day tours to grizzly bears, whales or to the wild river on the extra day in the lodge all provides opportunities to view black bears. The above photo by Marc and Solange from France was taken returning to the lodge at the end of a whale watching day when we came through a narrow channel and found a black bear swimming between small islands… More tomorrow.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

nursing grizzly
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Grizzly nursing 2

A most unique and interesting set of photos provided by Martyn and Viv Stucke who say “We took (the photos) while out with Glen last year on the 30 May. As you will see they are of mother feeding her three cubs, we gather from Glen quite a rare sight. We watched mother feeding on the rocks with her cubs playing around her for about an hour, she then took them up on the beach only about 50-80 m from us and fed them. The attached are a few photos of the cubs feeding.”  The late May and June tours are the time when the cubs first come to the beach with their mothers and are of course the smallest as they would be only three to four months old.
 

Grizzly nursing 1Grizzly finished nursing

 

 

Interesting Guest Photos

banana slg
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Interest like beauty is in the eye of the “beholder”.  Many guests, including James, take pictures of these banana slugs, which are often bright yellow (giving rise to the banana name) although they may also be green, brown, or white. Some slugs have black spots which may be so extensive as to make the animal look almost solid black. The Pacific banana slug is the second-largest species of terrestrial slug in the world, growing up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long, and weights of 115 grams (4.1 ounces). Banana slugs can move at 6 1⁄2 inches (17 cm) per minute.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

dolphind porposing
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Pacific white-sided dolphins are becoming more common in the waters between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. These dolphins are frequently seen on the grizzly bear tour and the extra day trip to Trapper Rick’s as they are on a whale watching safari. Often pods of several hundred dolphins will approach the boat and bow ride or come right up to the prop wash at the stern of the boat. Great Britain’s James O’Donoghue photo shows a few members of a larger pod approaching the rear of their boat having just departed mine.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

seagulls on herring ball
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A flock of seagull – who cares? Most guest do not care until they are whale watching and the guide explains the importance and then many pictures are taken. The importance is the herring and the diving ducks feeding on herring. The herring get into “balls” which revolve inside out as a means of defense and the ball is forced to the surface by the ducks and this attracts the seagull which in turn attracts your guide and more important the humpback whales. The result is shown on the March 3, 2014 posting showing a whale lunge feeding. As a guide I locate the herring balls with the help of the seagulls and then park the boat within a reasonable distance from the herring ball and wait. Thank you James O’Donoghue for another interesting photo.