Tag Archives: Black Bears

Interesting Guest Photos

large black bear on bc beach
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James and Wendy Kastelein of Australia provide the photo taken on the evening black bear tour. The first evening in Grizzly Bear Lodge on Minstrel Island involves an evening boat ride to look for wildlife.  Top on the list is a black bear. On this evening the Kasteleins obtained several good photos as this bear stayed on the beach ignoring us for food. Although there is not much boat traffic in the area the bears accept boats as part of their environment and as long as the boaters are not aggressive the bears are good for repeated viewing.

 

Guide Photos

black bear crossing
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Although this photo does not have a date to determine the time of the year it was taken late in the season likely September. Fall bears have a pretty good layer of fat and this means they float much higher in the water. The early season black bears often have only their head out of the water and very little of their back. As I mentioned in yesterdays post the lodge is in an area of many small islands and bears are good swimmers that travel between island.  It seems that they believe in the “grass in greener on another island” philosophy. This same philosophy has brought several grizzly bears to Minstrel Island where our lodge is located. As the population of grizzlies grow in the area of Knight Inlet it has become more common it see grizzlies on the evening black bear tours and while looking for whales and orca.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

wet black bear
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We followed this black bear as it swam and walked from one larger island to another about two hundred meters (yards) in distance. It swam one narrow passage walked over a small island, swam to a second small island and finally to the final large island where this picture was taken. Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island partway up Knight Inlet so all tours are by boat through many small island and along the shore so it is not uncommon to see bears swimming. In a summer I will normally see three or four black bears swimming.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

swimming black bear
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Black bears are where you find them. This seems like the statement of the obvious but black bears tend to come down to the beach at low tide in search of protein made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. Low tides occur at different times each day so finding black bears is not so much location but being near a good beach at the correct time. Day tours to grizzly bears, whales or to the wild river on the extra day in the lodge all provides opportunities to view black bears. The above photo by Marc and Solange from France was taken returning to the lodge at the end of a whale watching day when we came through a narrow channel and found a black bear swimming between small islands… More tomorrow.

 

Black Bears in the evening

black bear follows cub
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The float plane flight from Campbell River on Vancouver Island means that arrival at Grizzly Bear Lodge is between 3:00 and 4:00. Once guests are settled in their rooms a welcoming snack of fresh dungeness crabs or prawn is served on the front deck. The first evening is a familiarization tour where you get to know your guide and feel comfortable is the boats and start to check off the list of wildlife you hope to see. If the tide is right and low enough to have a beach black bears may come to forage. As both the grizzly bear tours and the whale watching safari days are by boat the guides are always looking for black bears. Black bears appear on the beaches to turnover rocks. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates.

 

Curious black bear cub

black bear alert
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The black bear tour occurs on your first evening in the lodge however black bears are often found on the grizzly bear tours and the whale watching trips. As all tours are by boat we travel along the shore looking for bears and frequently view bears on the beach looking for food. The lower the tide the better the opportunity for good viewing. It is normally the cubs that are concerned with our presence the mother are more likely to accept a boat coming close and the older bears, male or female, without cubs tend to ignore the boats. In this case the cub was taking notice but it did not run off as the mother was not concerned and that is who the cubs learn to ignore our intrusion.

 

 

Grizzly Bear Eating

eating salmon grizzly
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The viewing stands used by Grizzly Bear Lodge are located overlooking the small area the salmon rest in before moving over the weir into the man-made spawning channel.  This also makes for an ideal area for grizzly bears to catch the pink salmon that drift down river either having died from exhaustion prior to spawning or having escaped from other grizzlies feeding up stream.  This photo shows a grizzly enjoying its catch as well as three other salmon behind the bear. This bear is less that 15 meters (45 feet) from the stand and the photo shows that this is a female pink salmon (males have a large hump on their back and thus the name “humppy”) and the preferred catch for the bears because of the fat rich egg row is contains.

Black bear with triplets

black bear family on rocks
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Guest first evening in the lodge normally means a local area tour to find black bears. The hour plus boat ride lets guests get comfortable with the boats and guides as well as a chance to see some wildlife such as harbour seals, eagles, black bear and learn a little history of the surrounding area. At certain times of the season the hardest animal to find is the black bear.  This is late July and early August when all the berries are ripe and bears are less likely to come to the beach looking for food.  This photo is in the spring as the cubs are still quite small.  Triplets are not very common for black bears but more so for grizzly bears.

Spring Black Bear visiting the lodge

black bear at lodge
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Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island, which is located about 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the mouth of Knight Inlet.  The black bears in the area are good swimmers and move from island to island in the area. It is common to view black bear on Minstrel Island, in this case not too far from the Lodge. In early spring before there is more activity with the guests the bears are more common but as the Lodge becomes busier the bears tend to stay away from the lodge area but are still on the inland.

Black Bear Evening Tour

black bear an beach
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Your first evening at Grizzly Bear Lodge normally involes an hour plus boat ride to find black bears.  This is after you have been shown your rooms, eaten fresh caught crabs or prawns, had a talk about the lodges night light because we are on a generator etc. The black bears are often the hardest wildlife to find as the first requirement is a low tide so there will be a beach and even with a low tide if there are an abundance of berries (black berries, huckle berries, salmon berries, thimble berries, salal berries …) they do not come to the beach.  Often the black bears are viewed on the tours to find whales or while on the trip up Knight Inlet to view the grizzly bears.