Each day our guides see something new, it never gets old for these guys. Check out some of their photos from guiding bear and whale watching excursions.
“Friends and family share don’t they mum?” might be a good caption for this photo. The young grizzly are often not the best at catching fish and rely on their mothers. Note the other grizzly bear eating in the background, the abundance of food in our viewing area means there are not many fights as they takes away from the eating time.
A “resting line”. Orcas travel in small pods and will often join up and synchronize their swimming in that they all surface at the same time. This is accompanied by long slow dives. Sort of like an afternoon nap. Ideal for whale watching as it permits one to prepare for photos as the orca tend to do three or four rolls before a long dive.
In the spring the grizzly bear cubs we are watching in Knight Inlet are like my grandsons, always looking for adventure. They do not stray very far from their mother who is always alert for danger. Danger in the form of male grizzly not the camera caring guests from our lodge who are watching the bears.
Spring in Knight Inlet does bring some large grizzly bears to the lodge’s tour area of the Glendale River estuary. The spring and early summer bears are eating the high protein sedge grass or turning over beach rocks in search for other forms of protein. This is a good-sized grizzly for the spring. Keeping a wary eye on the viewing boats. The tide is rising as told by the high water in the river behind the bear. Note the blue heron in the background always fishing.
The waters between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia are alive with herring, which are the staple in the food chain. The diving birds and ducks feed on the herring and forces them into “herring balls” which are a tight mass of swirling herring from the size a basketball to the size of a small boat. The duck force them to the surface where the seagulls and eagle dive into to feed. As a guide I try to locate these balls by watching the gulls, then position the boat near the gulls and wait for the humpbacks to come and feed.
Not the same fish and grizzly bear as in yesterday’s post. The leaf is missing from the back and the fish is turned around but a better view of a bear with a mouth full. Every day on the lodge grizzly tour is different, if it weren’t it would become boring for the guides and so far it hasn’t. Even the boat ride up and down Knight Inlet remains interesting always on the look out for black bear, orca, dolphins, eagles and whales.
Fall on Knight Inlet’s many rivers is a time of plenty. The salmon start to arrive in mid-August and our lodge is permitted to proceed up the river to the viewing stands after August 25. On this wilflife tour day we have a good view of a “large” grizzly bear enjoying its catch. This bear does not move off the river as some of the small grizzly bears do rather it stays with the salmon. Why leave the good fishing and risk losing your spot on the river?
The lodge’s grizzly bear watching area in Knight Inlet contains a few large grizzlies. Nick-named the “boss bears” as they go were and when the want. Although it is nice to see the larger grizzly it is not always the best thing for long-term viewing. If a large bear is in the area of the lodge viewing stands it is often the only grizzly bear you may see. The best is to have them make and appearance then move off to the surrounding forest.
The river in this case is the Glendale River, which empties into Knight Inlet. Our lodge’s grizzly bear watching tours run up Knight Inlet to the viewing stands on the river. In spite of all the fish in the river this is not an easy picture to take. Fish do not announce their intentions so it is “snap and hope”. Faithful seagulls are waiting for the remains of a grizzly feed or possibly fish eggs drifting in the current.
The tours from the lodge travel up Knight Inlet by boat and then take a short van ride to the viewing stands on the Glendale River’s spawning channel. The entrance to the viewing stands is made from steel posts and heavy gage wire. The stands are about ten feet (three meters) off the ground. Occasionally the juvenile bears are curious and would like to visit which is not a great idea but good for pictures.
Bald Eagles are frequently sighted in our area. At times they can be seen in large numbers. This is usually where food supplies are high. For example this could be in areas with high concentrations of baitfish or along the rivers in the fall when the salmon are spawning. They are not migratory, but do move around with the food supply. As mentioned earlier when the salmon are spawning we often see many along the rivers, while there will be fewer along the coastline. With little need for camouflage their white head and tail feathers can be spotted easily. The female is slightly larger and her white head extends down a bit farther onto the body, but it is subtle. It takes these birds 4.5 – 5 years to acquire this unique plumage. As juveniles they are a brown colour. With exceptional eyesight and the ability to view 270 degrees they are understandably often seen in high perches and in trees near points and passageways.
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