Tag Archives: grizzly

Grizzlies fighting over territory?

Grizzlies Fighting

Not a territorial fight rather siblings play-fighting. In the spring and early summer there are eight or ten bears we see on most days and there may be the same number further up the river. In the fall once the salmon arrive the number of bears in the area has been estimated as high as fifty. The interesting fact about the bears in the Glendale River valley is that there is so much food that it does not pay to fight because an injury at that time of the year means you may not survive hibernation.

 

 

Grizzly Bear Fishing

Adult Grizzly Eating

When there is an abundance of salmon grizzly bears become selective. Male salmon because they do not contain high fat roe (eggs) are second choice. We watched this bear pass several males until it selected a female. Also this was late September and the grizzlies had been feeding on salmon for a month and a half, which also makes them more selective as they bulk up for hibernation.

 

 

Learn through imitation 2 of 2

Grizzly cub rolling rock

On grizzly bears tours from the lodge in the spring we watch the grizzlies along the shore scrapping mussels and barnacles from logs and turning over rocks for high in protein food made up of crab, clams, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. This cub less than six months old is already turning over rocks to supplement mothers milk, which has 4.5 times more fat and 17 times more protein than human milk.

 

 

Learn through imitation 1 of 2

Eating like MoM

The first and second year grizzly bear cubs we observe on our tours in the area of Knight Inlet are learning the necessary life skills from their mother. In this case it sat in the water held the salmon in one paw and started to eat. Rolling rocks is tomorrow’s post.

 

 

Grizzly Bear Siblings

Grizzly siblings fishing

Female grizzlies reach sexual maturity at 4.5 years and males at roughly the same age as their female counterparts. For this reason it is common for siblings to stay together after they leave their mother and even den together until one becomes pregnant and dens on her own. These siblings may share a den, spend time together and fish together but they will not share this salmon. When if comes to food it is “winner keeps not shares”.

 

 

Big enough for a small Grizzly

Male Balck Bear

This photo shows a large male black bear in the late fall. Late fall because it has had a long time to fatten on all the berries and the protein it scavenged from the beach. On your first evening on the lodge we go on an hour plus tour looking for black bear and every trip from the lodge runs along the shore looking for black bears. This past season all the guests saw grizzlies but not everyone saw a black bear. The berries were plentiful this year and lasted longer than normal so there were fewer bears on the beach. However the bears we saw were big.

 

 

Caught one 2 of 2

Grizzly fishing

Another technique used by grizzly bears for catching salmon is to walk along the shore and select the one you want to eat. This worked well last summer for several weeks after a hot period and no rain. The water in the river and spawning channel was very low and got very warm causing close to a thousand fish to suffocate and provide easy meals for the bears.

 

 

Caught one 1 of 2

Grizzlies in river estuary

Grizzly bear watching in August after the salmon have arrived can be very entertaining. As the tide rises we move up the river with the salmon and meet the grizzlies as they come down river to fish for salmon. It is important to note that not all grizzlies are not created equal when it comes to fishing. Many of the younger bears use the “dash and splash technique”, which is great for photos but not for catching salmon. On this day the one bear used the “wait and it will come to me approach” and was very successful. This catch was its third of the morning.

 

 

Grizzly Coming Our Way

Large grizzly bear

The viewing stand we use in the fall is located on the Glendale River and the grizzlies we view use the river as their highway as well as their larder. This good sized male grizzly came down the river very close to our platform and fished for salmon for the for more than half and hour before continuing down river. As I have stated before in the blog it is good to have the big bears have a short visit because they tend to scare other bears.

 

 

Successful Fishing

Bald Eagle Fishing

Whether you are on the lodge’s front deck, on a grizzly bear trip, whale watching in Johnstone Straits, or on your way to Trapper Rick’s you will see bald eagles. The likely hood of watching them catch a fish increases when whale watching because there is an abundance of herring in the area and therefore more fish to catch. However this eagle picked up a rock cod which is a bottom fish and that means that it was caught and thrown to the eagle to get the photo.