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.
The why of this grizzly bear’s style is that her front paw was damaged in a fight with another bear so she is unable to hold the salmon against a rock and balance to eat. She is an excellent fisher and catches all the salmon she can eat and is getting quite fat in preparing for hibernation. As time has progressed she has become very adept and developed her own fishing and eating methods and it is time that will determine if she heals over the winter and we see her back next year.
The grizzly bear tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge spend two hours on the viewing stands in the Glendale River after the 24th of August. While on the stands we are able to observe the grizzly bears feeding on both sides of the stands, the natural river and the holding pond, which is the entrance to the spawning, channel. The holding area is a little deeper than the river and bears have developed their own technique for eating the salmon they catch. Some grizzlies take the salmon to shore and hold it against a rock to strip off the desired parts. This bear has developed it’s own style which is it sit (“like in a bathtub”) and hold the salmon against its leg. Why? See tomorrow’s post.
Great photo of a humpback whales lunge feeding but not completely successful. Your guide does not look for herring which is the main food of the humpbacks in Grizzly Bear Lodge’s whale watching area rather we look for seagulls. The diving ducks feed on the herring, which form a tight ball to avoid being eaten. The herring balls are forced toward the surface by the ducks and this attracts the gulls, which attract the guides. We position the boats near the gulls and herring balls and wait for the humpback whales. Not all quests manage to get a photo as the waiting game does predict the exact time the lunge will occur but the experience is better than the picture.
Many mornings in August and September start with a low layer of fog over the area surrounding Grizzly Bear Lodge. This fog is short lived as it normally burns off by noon. The boat used for whale watching is equipped with radar and all the guides have a personal GPS with routes programmed to allow them to navigate in the fog. Whale watching is not a “solo” experience as we are in radio contact with two or three others “whale watchers” and share our search. Unlike Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island a busy day in our area may involve eight boats watching whales in a rather large area while Victoria may have fifty boats in a similar sized area. This photo is of a male resident orca that passed beneath the boat as surfaced in the fog.
Grizzly bear watching in the Glendale River estuary, which are an hour and a quarter’s boat ride up Knight Inlet from the Lodge, starts in late May and may last into October. Although the viewing after August 24th normally takes place from the viewing stand up the river this does not mean there are not grizzly bears in the river mouth. If time permits after spending the allotted two hours in the stands, and the tide is right, a trip up the river may be productive. As the tide rises it is possible to travel up the river and view bears along the shore or in this case in the sedge grass. In the spring all viewing is in the estuary and is very productive with many mothers and cubs in the area.
The grizzly bear tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge travel up Knight Inlet to the viewing stands, which overlook the spawning channel on the Glendale River. On either side of the stands we have the natural river and the entrance to the spawning channel. Both of these contain thousands of salmon that are in the river to spawn. It is this abundance of salmon that attract the grizzly bears to the area and many mothers and cubs come as the fishing and more important the catching is easy. Although they prime motivator is to fatten for the winter hibernation as this photo shows there is always time to play, especially for the cubs.
This summer we were fortunate to have several humpback mothers and calves remain in Grizzly Bear Lodge’s whale viewing area. The calves, at times, became very active often repeating fluke (tail) slaps ten to fifteen times in a row. These would frequently occur as a backward slap, meaning the top of the fluke would be hitting the water. The calves would also roll and twist and try to through their tails sideways out of the water. This photo taken by Angus shows how close the whales do come to boats (in this case my boat) while they are playing.
The summer of 2013 has been a very active year for humpback whales. Many breaching whales and it seemed that the rougher the water the more the whales breached. An average whale safari day guests would view ten to twelve different humpbacks. Many opportunities for photos of lunge feeding whales and frequent breaches however not always captured on film as they do not give notice prior to these activities.
Grizzly bears will often sit in the pool on one side of the viewing stand used by Grizzly Bear Lodge and eat their meal. It is a simple as reaching into the water and pulling up dead and wounded salmon that have drifted down the river. Others bears are actively fishing thirty or forty meters up stream in the shallower water but the easier methods are often to wait for the fish to come to you.
It seems that most of the guests want to see a large grizzly bear when Grizzly Bear Lodge goes to the viewing stands on the Glendale River, however as a guide it is not my choice. From experience if there is a large grizzly by the stands that may be the only bear you see on that visit. The large males tend to dominate the area and the other grizzly bears especially those with cubs will wait until the male has left the area. Fortunately the really large males are not as comfortable around people and seem to come to fish in the area of the viewing stands outside of the designated viewing times. We know this because of the motion sensor cameras that have being used in the past.
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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