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.

Two for one Eagle Picture

Bald eagleBald Eagles mate for life, as do most birds. However, if one dies or is lost, the one remaining will take a new mate. Although male and female eagles have the same coloring there is a difference in size. Females are about 1/3 larger than males. Another way to tell them apart is to measure the height of their bill. The female’s bill is always deeper than the male’s and usually has a larger hook than the males. All this being said it is still hard to tell which of these two is the male or female. It is definitely a mating pair because no two eagles would get this close to each other if they were not a mating pair.

 

Grizzly Bear playing or eating Set 2

Grizzly eatingGrizzly eating Grizzly eatingThis is the case of a lazy fishing grizzly.  This bear is in a reasonably deep hole compared to the water just 30 meters (90 feet) up stream.  The grizzlies up stream often wound salmon which die and drift down to this lower pool where this bear waits to scoop up the salmon without wasting any energy chasing the salmon.  From the first picture is yesterdays post you can see the fish is not moving and it is just a matter of getting the salmon in the right position to eat or it could be considered playing with ones food. Either way the final photo seems to depict a satisfied grizzly.

 

 

Grizzly Bear playing or eating Set 1

Grizzly eatinggrizzly with salmonGrizzly eatingGrizzly Bear Lodge is one of two lodges that have access to viewing stands on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River.  Access is granted after August 24th each year. After a boat run up Knight Inlet in the morning you transfer to shore and a fifteen-minute van ride to the viewing stands on Glendale River’s man-made spawning channel.  Our access time is from ten to noon each day.  There are two stands available of which we prefer the second as it is on both the natural river and the spawning channel entrance.  Directly below the stand is a deeper area, which holds the pink salmon before they go over the weir in to the spawning area.  This is the site of the above photos.

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Early morning at Grizzly Bear Lodge

From the Lodge's lawnEarly morning (6:30 a.m.) from the front yard of the lodge, early depending on which time zone you just arrived from, provides some great photo opportunities.  It is not uncommon to hear guest moving about the lodge before we (the guides) rise and shine.  This sunrise is reasonably common, as our mornings are frequently overcast.  The overcast is due to the wind funnel nature of Knight Inlet, which draws in clouds over night. The good news is that most days they are gone by noon.

 

Orca Tail Slapping

Tail slapping or lob tailing creates loud sounds above water and under water as well as providing a dramatic photo opportunity. It is said that orca may do this to relieve an itch, as their outer skin layer is continually sloughed as they swim. The growth of killer whale epidermal (skin) cells is about 290 times faster than that of a human forearm. Studies also suggest that killer whales are curious, with great tendency to “play” and to manipulate objects.  The killer whales in our viewing area, the Johnstone Strait, rub their bodies along the pebbly bottoms of shallow bays or “rubbing beaches” located in the Robson Bight. It is assumed they do it for tactile stimulation, or it may help remove external parasites and their outer skin. The reason is secondary the sight is s spectacular.

tail slapping killer whale
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Juvenile Grizzly Bears Fishing

 “Not all fishmen are created egual” this saying applies to grizzly bears as well as humans.  Some bears seem to spend much of their time running and splashing in the water without catching many fish.  But the key to their succes is the size of the bear.  Although the two grizzlies in the photo appear to be three year olds they also look pretty healthy for this time of the year so their fishing style must be working.

Juvenile Grizzlies Fishing

 

 

Grizzy Bear Migrating

Grizzly swimmingGrizzly just out of waterThe photos are not as clear as they could be but my excuse is that I was maneuvering the boat while taking photos one-handed.  The interesting aspect is the location. We were heading back to the lodge from a day’s successful whale watching to find this grizzly swimming between islands.  We were about eight miles from the lodge toward Vancouver Island.  It has become more common in the past five years to see and have reports of grizzly bears in the area of the lodge and closer to Vancouver Island.  As a result of the healthy population of grizzly bears in Knight Inlet the sub-adult bears are being forced out of the area and are starting to migrate down the Inlet and across Johnstone Strait to take up residence on Vancouver Island.  Grizzly bears have been sighted on the Island from Sayward to Port McNeil. To view a map of the areas mentioned scroll down the sidebar on the left to “Pages” then to “Google Map of Grizzly Bear Lodge Itinerary”.

 

Four month grizzly bear cub

Grizzly and cub

In late may the grizzly bears bring their cubs to the beach in Knight Inlet.  The first beach is one that is tucked in behind a small inland about two miles west of Glendale River where most of the grizzly bear watching occurs. This is a small quite area free from male bears and provides the new cubs some sanctuary. I remember this photo taken by fellow guide, Glen, because on the first viewing of this cub it ran into the grass behind the beach logs. The second time, a day later, it also ran but came back our and hide behind it’s mother. This picture is the third visit where it sat and watched or boats.  They learn from their mother and in all that time the mother grizzly ignored our presence.  Not hard to tell that this is an early spring bear with the long appearing legs because the belly has not the full look of the late fall bears.

Perfect Eagle Picture

perfect bald eagle
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Thanks Glen to one of the lodge’s guides we have the perfect eagle picture. An eagle coming down to pickup the pinky orange rock cod floating in the water. When the eagles are about the lodge and we have rockfish we gather guests on the floating dock and throw out the fish and this should be the result.  The biggest problem is the one or two second delay on most digital cameras.  Solution have a SLR digital to listen to the guide when he says click do it because that is your two second warning or all you will get is a tail shot or a ripple on the water.

Humpback whale at lunch

Humpback WhaleHumpback whale close upOn whale watching tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge we spend the day in the area of Johnstone Straits.  These pictures were taken at Bold Head in Blackfish Sound about a fifteen-minute boat ride from Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island. I remember this day well as I normally take our guests to Bold Head and we tie up in the kelp bed to have our picnic lunch as it is a quite area frequented by humpback whales most of time several hundred meters (yards) away. However on this day in August one humpback came to visit us and played in the kelp. The first photo gives an idea of how close it came to the boat the second even closer.  No the second photo is not a blow up of the first because if you enlarge the second you will see a harbour seal’s head in the background.  Humpback whales often play in kelp beds and I believe the reason that this one came so close is because we were sitting quietly, motor shut off, and eating lunch. There were no other boats in the area and after the whale came close we were very quite in the boat and no one hit the side of the boat or made noise moving about as these noises are easily transferred through the water.  We had more than a thirty-minute visit.