Not all grizzly bears look “majestic” when you first see them. After diving for salmon their first appearance they look rather sad. Some of the bear’s fish in shallow water while other take to looking around sunken logs to trap fish. Wildlife viewing is never predictable and every tour is unique.
This grizzly bear cub because of the size is from late May or early June. The mother grizzlies bring their cubs to this part of Knight Inlet to feed on the beaches and turnover rocks. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The “beach food” is important because the only plant food available at this time of the year is the sedge grass. Sedge grass also very high in protein and with inter-tidal zone food it keeps the grizzly bears in good health until the salmon arrive. And no the cub wad not alone on the beach but far enough from mother for a good solo picture. If you click on the photo to enlarge it and then zoom in the cub is not licking anything I can see just sticking out it’s tongue.
Fall grizzly bear viewing from our lodge on Knight Inlet takes place on the Glendale River and a man made salmon spawning channel. There are two viewing platforms next to the part of the river the salmon use to pass over a weir into the spawning channel. The second stand we normally use has a deep pool on one side, the natural river on the other two sides leaving the forth for a narrow road. This grizzly, in the deep pool, has it’s eye on us in the stand maybe because we made to much noise or just out of curiosity. At this time of the year a grizzly bears prime concern is food namely pink salmon. Hibernation maybe a little more than two months away and this is the time to “bulk up” for the long winter. A bear without sufficient fat may not survive the winter and in the case of a female it may mean that she will absorb her “eggs” and not proceed with a pregnancy.
Luwen & Liwen from Singapore got a great picture of a grizzly bear on the Glendale River in Knight Inlet eating one of the favourite parts of a salmon it just caught: the eggs or roe. During the peak of the salmon run the bears have access to an abundance of salmon at that time they will eat only the parts highest in calories – the eggs, skin and brains. Salmon roe and skin are also high in fat; grizzlies will often discard the body of the fish, which is left for the eagles. Early is the salmon run the grizzly devour the whole fish to “bulk up” for the coming winter this is also true later in the season for those bears that have not achieved sufficient weight or fat to survive the winter.
Just when you think the grizzly bears you are viewing do not really know that you are there you get one that looks you right in the eye when caught taking a photo. To put a human touch it would be “A little privacy if you don’t mind.” The bears on the lodge’s tour up Knight Inlet tend to ignore our intrusion into their life. In the spring and summer, while they are feeding on the beach they only acknowledge our presence if we get to close. In the fall in the viewing stands on the Glendale River sudden movement, load noises or a cameras flash left on will get their attention. For the most part the grizzly is aware but chooses to ignore. Guest James O’Donoghue from the UK provided this photo.
The abundance of salmon in the Glendale River means the grizzly bears are not very aggressive and tend to be more tolerant of each other. This makes for a safer location for mothers to bring their cubs to learn to fish for salmon. The first photo provide by James O’Donoghue shows a mother leading her two cubs into the fishing area and by their size these cubs would be in their second summer with mom. It is time to learn to catch salmon as it could be their last year before they are on their own although some cubs do spend a third season with mom. If you check out the waters around the bears there are not many salmon in the river so it must be early in the season this means today’s lesson may be one in patience.
The area Grizzly Bear Lodge uses for viewing bears in the fall is on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. The viewing stands are a fifteen minute van ride up the river and are located right on the river a few meters (yards) from the waters edge. Some parts of the viewing area are in shallow water where the bears are seen chasing the salmon and catching them on the surface. This takes quite a bit of energy and time as the fish are fast. Other bears prefer to conserve their energy and fish in the deep water, which requires bears to dive to pick up dead or wounded salmon that have drift down from up stream. When deep water fishing it is often easier to walk to shore to eat than constantly diving to retrieve the dropped meat. James O’Donoghue of the UK provided this photo.
No this is not a cub but rather an adult grizzly bear sitting in sedge grass. The grass in the estuary of Knight Inlet’s Glendale River is better than a meter (3 feet) high. In the spring bears come to this area to feed on the sedge grass is it up to 25% protein and as the berries in the coastal forests are not yet available this is the reason why grizzly bears are in the estuary. At lower tides when more of the beach is exposed the bears will spent more time turning over rocks in the inter-tidal zone looking for food high in protein such as crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. Much a grizzly’s time in the spring is spent in search of food this changes in the fall once the salmon arrive and food is more abundant. Photo by guest Debbie Zygmunt.
Guest Debbie Zygmut has taken a picture of the classic grizzly bear pose in the estuary of the Glendale River part the Knight Inlet river systems. Standing in the sedge grass head up trying to catch our scent. A grizzly bears sense of smell is better than a dogs as National Geographic says: “Grizzly bears have “dish-shaped noses” with a sense of smell seven times stronger than a bloodhound’s.” A common misconception is that bears have poor eyesight. The reasons behind this may be that their sense of smell is so good they need to rely less on eyesight, but evidence indicates that bears’ eyesight is comparable to humans.
As stated in yesterdays post; although the grizzly bear siblings may spend their first three or four years together it does not mean they will share their salmon catch. Sleeping and denning together is one thing but food is survival and that becomes an individual matter. It is common to see the sibling sub-adults traveling together in the spring in Knight Inlet’ Glendale River estuary and even on the river later in the fall when the pink salmon arrive in the river. They may have shared their mother’s food but not the food they catch.
Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.
The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.
Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.
Angus Reid
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