Tag Archives: Grizzly Bears

Salmon waiting to spawn

Salmon

The entrance to the spawning channel is directly below the viewing stand used by the lodge after August 24th. The salmon wait in this area before they proceed over the weir which is the entrance to the man made channel that was built to increase the success of the pink salmon’s spawning in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River.

 

Grizzlies Fiahing in Knight Inlet

Grizzly with a salmon

Lynn’s comment:   “Just caught that Salmon!! It was fascinating watching the bear’s fish. We couldn’t believe how many Salmon those bears caught and ate.  They just kept eating!  The river was just like a soup of Salmon.”
The grizzly bear watching day takes you on a ride up Knight Inlet to Glendale River. After August 24th the viewing takes place from the stands, which overlook he, entrance to the man made spawning channel. This is where the grizzlies come to fish, eat and fatten for the winter. For “salmon soup” see tomorrow’s post.

 

Grizzly Mother with catch

grizzly fishing

This grizzly bear uses the same method as the cub from yesterday’s posting. She sits in a deep (1 to 2 meters – 3 to 6 feet) area of the river and picks up the dead salmon off the bottom. She does not even bother to look into the water but rather reaches down and pulls up salmon until she has one that meets her criterion of eatable. The calorie value of salmon does not change if it is several days old but the amount of calories burned to catch the salmon makes a difference. The grizzly bears of central British Columbia do not have this source of food to fatten for the winter so “waste not want not” seems a good policy.

 

Grizzly Cub with Catch

Grizzly cub and salmon

Although Bob and Helen’s photo shows the grizzly cub with a salmon it is important to read the posting from December 7th to remember that the cub did not really catch the salmon but rather picked it up from the bottom. It does not matter the source of the food as long as it provides the necessary calories to fatten for hibernation. The grizzly bears of Knight Inlet start to hibernate in late November or early December depending on the winter and the important part is the amount of fat and not the source. Tomorrow’s post shows mom’s method of catching salmon.

 

Grizzly Bear Triplets

Grizzly Bear triplets

 

Comparing this photo with the posting of December 5th it is obvious that they are the same bears but the background is different. In the background of this photo are more than a dozen dead salmon. This summer was an extremely dry with no rain for several months. The lack of rain meant that the Glendale River was lower than normal and Tom Brown lake that feeds the river was much warmer than normal the result was a very low oxygen level in the water and many dead salmon. The dead salmon count was several thousand but many of the late arriving salmon stayed in the bay at the mouth of the river so when the rains came in October so did more salmon.

 

Grizzly Bears Cubs

Grizzly Bear Cubs

If the number of multiple births in a grizzly bear population is an indication of the health of it’s population then the bears of Knight Inlet are healthy. Twins are common, triplets frequent and even the occasional quadruplets can be seen the viewing area of Grizzly Bear Lodge. This photo from Paul and Sheila Williams from the UK was taken from the viewing stands on the Glendale River. The stands are used by the Lodge after August 24 and through to mid-October.

 

More Grizzly Bears make Interesting Pictures

Grizzlies play fighting

Play fighting between grizzly bears is a daily occurrence. The first and second year cubs are trying to assert their dominance and cubs will fight with their mother to improve their skills and strength. This behaviour makes for great photos and interesting viewing. The fighting will turn to feeding in seconds nut once the stomachs are full it becomes necessary for the cubs to burn off calories not realizing they should be saving them for hibernation.

 

Glendale River Grizzly

 

Grizzly Bear Fishing

The spring and early summer grizzly bear tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge take place on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River and in the river estuary. After an hour and fifteen minute boat ride up the inlet we transfer to a sixteen foot skiff which permits us to travel in the shallow water of the estuary and up the river at lower tides. As this photo shows the first sighting of a grizzly is normally from a distance and as the tide rises we are able to move closer. The next two posting of the pictures provided by Craig and Pat Brown from USA will show the improved viewing as the tide rises.

 

Running grizzly on the Glendale River- 3 of 3

Grizzly Bear Running

This grizzly took an interest in something at the waters edge and ran in that direction. I had to move the skiff to the opposite side of the river as it ran by the boat approximately ten meters of thirty feet way. This bear did not even look in our direction but ran into the water and started to swim back and forth along the shore of the bay. We still do not know what prompted this behaviour but the bear stayed there for about twenty minutes before moving further along the shore and we proceeded up river and saw several more grizzly bears.