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.
I have always thought that this photo from Gary Wilson from Australia is a bit of a classic. It shows the amount of activity we have in a days whale watching. In this case a humpback whale coming up for a breath in front of the Steller sea lion haul-out. Most whale watching trips include black bears, seals, sea lions, harbour porpoise, dall’s porpoise, pacific white-sided dolphins, killer whales, humpback whales, bald eagles and a variety of sea birds / ducks.
Beside not being the clearest photo it is interesting because it captures the meting of a mother grizzly with three cubs and a sub-adult male grizzly bear.
Coming from opposite directions it was the young male that was most surprised as the wind was at it’s back and he was not able to smell the mother. The mother had picked up on the males scent earlier and was not concerned. It was the male that retreated to the upper beach and walk around the family before moving along the beach. Most grizzlies go out of their way to avoid a mother with cubs.
The interesting aspect of this photo is that it was caught in a photo. A breaching humpback whale is reasonably common but catching it on film is not. Humpback activities such as tail lobbing (slapping), pectoral fin slapping, and lunge feeding are easier to photograph as they are repeated and therefore predictable. A breach is without warning and seldom repeated.
The tide is rising and the Steller sea lions are being forced into the water. The dominant males have the high ground and will remain there until they also go swimming. We have sea lions in our area all year but the numbers increase dramatically in the spring and fall when they migrate between California and Alaska.
Guest normally arrive at the Lodge from Campbell River between three and four o’clock. Once rooms have been sorted out, guests settled in, snacks on the front deck and Angus’s talk about the lodge and your visit’s itinerary it is time for the first tour. The first evening is a trip in the local waters looking for black bears, bald eagles, seals and even on occasion a grizzly bear. The trip is an hour plus depending on what is found and is used to familiarize you with the boats and guides.
Coming into the dock at Grizzly Bear Lodge. Notice the cabin over in the far right corner if you manage to book that you always have an interesting view from your window. The main lodge in the background with boats at the dock. On the right the “cooks” boat she has a half mile commute to the lodge from her float-house. Beside it, the boat with the dark top, is one of the tour boats and in the back left the important camp boat. Important to you because it is used to pull the prawn and crab traps and they are a favourite at the Lodge. We are missing our larger boat that normally does the grizzly bear tours.
We watched this grizzly bear with her triplets most of the summer and she always had the same problem: two obedient cubs and one less obedient. The one cub and also the larger of the three was always lagging behind on the shore and along the river. When other grizzly bears approached it was always the last to respond to it’s mothers warnings but it did survive the summer and we hope to see it next year. Of the three it probably has the best chance because it was fatter.
As I have mentioned at other times in the blog I am always trying to get photos, which show the guest interacting with the wildlife. This time was close as I managed the guest in the corner of the boat and the top of a killer whales dorsal fin and the splash of another passing near the stern of the boat. The idea is that sometime we are close and I am just not always successful but then my photos are really not the important ones.
Yes this is a “dead duck”, a common murre and we made sure we had a good photo. This was the proof of a murder and the guilty party was a transient killer whale. It was not a guess on my guest’s part as we saw a lone transient spend half an hour playing with and eventually killing four murres. I have seen this behaviour before but it was a small pod teaching their young the skill necessary to catch seals. Approach from beneath and throw it into the air but in this case it was an adult and not doing it for food.
This mother and black bear cub are also beach feed as was the grizzly in yesterdays post but they are spending most of their time turning over rocks in search of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. Black bears do not normally have access to the salmon in the rivers because of the grizzlies, so much of their protein in from this beach food.
Just like that another season has come to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful staff and the guests this season. It was an excellent season and we are already looking forward to next May.
One of the highlights of the season was all of the new cubs out. It was awesome to see so many new cubs of the year and that is great news for our bear populations moving forward. We had great spring viewing and this continued through summer. On our river trips we started to see salmon arriving in August and enjoyed some great shoulder season viewing. The fish at the viewing platforms were a little late showing up this year, but viewing during late September at the platforms was great and the estuary viewing remained strong throughout the season.
Out in the whale watching world it was another year that saw large numbers of resident Orca who remained in the area right into October. The Humpback viewing was also great with large numbers feeding in Blackfish Sound. It is so amazing to have these magnificent animals back in our waters in such numbers.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We rebuilt the front deck last spring, utilising cedar cut on site. We will continue with some siding, rooms improvements and hopefully a floating sauna ready for the start of our season.
2026 is already looking like a very busy season for us. We only have limited high season availability so please book early to ensure we have space for your group.
Looking forward to seeing you next year
Angus Reid
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