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Home > Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Tour Blog > Guide Photos > Black Bear on the beach

Black Bear on the beach

July 29, 2013 Lodge Guide

Your first evening at Grizzly Bear Lodge involves an evening boat run in the local waters looking for black bears. At low tides the bears come to the beach to roll rocks for protein in the form of small crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. Guest often ask how do the bears know when there will be a low tide? When we travel along the shore by boat it is possible to pick up the smell of the beach and it is said that bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog’s sense of smell is 100 times better than humans. A bloodhound’s is 300 times better. A bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a bloodhound’s or 2,100 times better than a human. Simply stated they smell low tide and food.

Bald Eagles

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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