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.

Grizzly Bear Siblings

grizzly crossing river
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It is common to see sub-adult grizzly siblings together on the Lodge’s grizzly bear tours. These two spent sometime in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River estuary ”playing”.  Depending on food abundance, mother grizzlies may keep their yearlings a second (even a third) year, denning together again and breaking up in the third (or fourth) year. Alone and vulnerable, siblings will often stay together for some time after their mother abandons them, eating and sleeping side-by-side, and even denning together. The average breeding age for female grizzlies is 4.5 years. Males reach sexual maturity at roughly the same age as their female counterparts. Even though males are capable of breeding at three or four years of age, they rarely have the opportunity to do so because of intense competition from older, bigger males.

 

Rare – Great Bear Rainforest Wolf

wolf
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In the area of Grizzly Bear Lodge’s wildlife tours sightings of wolves is very rare however this year was the exception-viewing wolves on five different occasions. These Great Bear Rainforest wolves, on British Columbia’s coast, are red or salmon-colored and are a subspecies of gray wolves. They roam the estuaries and swim up to ten kilometers between the remote islands searching for salmon; Sitka black tailed deer, and even intertidal crustaceans.  These wolves make more than 75% of their living from marine resources like the salmon, beached whales and seals?

 

Killer whale (orca) calf

orca calf
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A great photo of an orca calf not quite in sync with its family. Wildlife viewing from Grizzly Bear Lodge, in this case your day with the whales, most often includes time spent with the orca (killer whales or Blackfish) and a opportunity for great pictures. The pods of orca most often encountered are the resident or fish eating orca.

Pacific White-sided Dolphins

do;pnis on the surface
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Susan MacKay spends much of her summers in the area that Grizzly Bear Lodge goes for its whale watching tours. This photo to use a quote from Susan is a “Pacific White Sided Dolphin is a long name for a relatively small marine mammal. And the Latin name is even more of a mouthful, so they are also called Lags for short. It’s a much easier name to explain exactly what species of cetacean is seen, especially over a marine radio.  … Lags can travel quickly reaching speeds of up to 25 knots (almost 30 mph or 47 kph) effortlessly. They are very acrobatic and their frequent airborne flips and leaps can reach extreme heights.” In this case it seems to think it is a torpedo.

Grizzly Bear First Year Cub

grizzly cub walking river
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The grizzly viewing stands used by Grizzly Bear Lodge after August 24th has a backside or other side (as “back side” might infer that the viewing is not a good) which is the natural Glendale River. In this case a first year cub was following it’s mother and pass along the edge of the river beneath the stand. It was quite curious and keeps a close eye on the “humans” in the stand directly above. The mother on the other hand ignored the “viewers” in the stand.

Grizzly bear showing catch

playing grizzly
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The viewing stand used by Grizzly Bear Lodge on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River overlooks a pool filled with salmon.  The grizzly bears that come to feed in the pool pick the salmon from the bottom and remain in the water while they consumer their catch. It is an energy efficient way to feed, as they are not chasing salmon in the shallow water rather sitting in one place and eating. This grizzly displays a moth full of salmon as well as the remains of the salmon in its paw.

Humpback whale feeding – 2

whale feeding
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Seagull realeased 2The seagull that was shown in yesterday’s blog posting, as being caught by a lunging humpback whale was releases a few seconds later when the humpback resurfaced. Actually Angus (owner and guide) took the photo and he said he saw two seagulls being released by the same whale so it was a good day for the seagulls.

Humpback whale feeding – 1

lunging humpback whale
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Seagull caught 2

As mentioned earlier this has been an excellent year for humpback whale viewing at Grizzly Bear Lodge.  Some interesting pictures were taken of the whale’s lunge feeding on the many herring balls at Bold Head near Johnstone Strait. The herring balls are a result of the many duck feeding and the herring’s defense is to form a revolving ball, which attract the seagulls and the whales. A whale will come up beneath the herring ball with its mouth open and catch as many herring as possible and in this case a seagull.  Check the cropped picture. 

Grizzly bear fishing – 2

grizzly playing wiht food
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Once the grizzly in yesterday’s post gets a good hold on the salmon it throws it up the shore away from the water.  In this case keeping a mouthful of the belly. Many grizzlies catch and eat the salmon in the water but the less experienced bears will go to shore where there is a lower chance of losing the salmon.

 

Grizzly bear fishing – 1

grizzly fishing
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Grizzly bears fishing in the area of Knight Inlet’s Glendale River spawning channel employ a variety of techniques to catch their food.  This sub adult used the bouncing method.  Walking along the edge of the river it would see a salmon in shallow water and then make a quick jump on the salmon and catch it often enough to encourage it to repeat the process. For a grizzly success results in a fishing technique.