Tag Archives: Bears

 Late fall and another mother grizzly this time with a second year cub. The cub still wanting to share mother’s catch even though it is time for it to be doing it’s own fishing. It will not likely get another year of lessons on how to survive. These bears were not blonde in the spring but were definitely much lighter in colour. The change, we have noticed, seems to occur when their diet changes from grass, roots and berries to salmon.

Early June with a mother and cub on the beach.  The cub is still too small to turn over rocks and is dependent on mother’s milk for nourishment. Both mother and cub are very light coloured tending toward blonde. This colour will change as the season progresses and they have access to salmon. At this age the cub remains close to mother partly in fear of other bears but more to learn how to survive.

This grizzly came to a point about 8 meters (26 feet) from the base of the viewing platform that overlooks the spawning channel on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. The platform, which we use after August 24th, provides a view of the man-made spawning channel containing salmon. This is a favourite fishing location for the grizzlies on the lodge’s grizzly bear watching tours. That creates the problem for this bear as will be seen in tomorrow’s post….

This grizzly was fishing in the pool next to the viewing stands, which we use in the fall. This salmon will not be going far, as the small pink part on the grizzly’s leg is part of its stomach. Often bears will eat the protein rich salmon eggs before the remainder of the salmon and in this case the white shapes in the water are salmon carcasses. This grizzly was not so much fishing as scooping up dead salmon from the bottom a method that conserves energy and puts calories to better use as fat.