On the first evening at the lodge, if the permits, you set out on a short local trip to view Black Bear feeding on the beach. The “tide permits” is important because you need a low tide to have a beach to give the black bears some palace to turn over rocks to look for high protein food made up of crab, clams, muscles, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The coastal black bears are small compared to the grizzlies, as they do not have access to the salmon rivers because of the grizzlies. The bears only grow to the size that access to food permits the more protein rich the food the larger the bear. The first year cubs follow their mother closely and take clues from them to determine what is “good food”.
