Tag Archives: grizzly
Unhappy Grizzly Bear Cub
This photo was taken on August 25th the first day that we are permitted to use the viewing platform on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. The river is an hour and fifteen-minute boat ride from Grizzly Bear Lodge located on Minstrel Island. This cub did not appear to like the water and kept returning to this rock and watching us in the viewing platform that overlooks the pool adjacent to the spawning channel. This cub was one of three siblings, which spent time with their mother fishing in the river, which is part of the viewing area. After our first week on the stands these cubs paid little attention to the “watchers” and more time eating.
Pre-Salmon Grizzly Bear
This is a healthy spring / early summer grizzly. Grizzly bear viewing from Grizzly Bear Lodge is divided into two seasons, which are marked by the date August 25th. On the 25th we are permitted to use the viewing stands located on a man-made salmon spawning on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. Prior to this date our viewing is along the shore of the river’s estuary and in the river. This photo is from the shore in August prior to the arrival of the salmon. Once the salmon arrive we spend more time in the river and the bears start to show sign of the feeding on the salmon. The most obvious sign is much shorter legs. That is another way of saying that the grizzlies are starting to fatten and the size of their belly makes the legs appear shorter.
Grizzly flaying a salmon
From Wikipedia: “Flaying, also known colloquially as skinning, is the removal of skin from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact.” This grizzly is doing an excellent job of flaying the salmon but I do not think that keeping the skin intact is important. The skin is often the first part of the salmon eaten not because it needs to be removed to get to the flesh but because of the layer of fat located directly beneath the skin. If the bears are selective in their eating because of the abundance of salmon or they are becoming full they will eat the skin, the brain and the roe (eggs) and leave the remainder of the salmon for the seagulls, bald eagles or other scavengers.
Grizzly mother sharing with triplets
The first year grizzly cubs we encounter in the viewing area of
Knight’s Inlet British Columbia are not normally able to catch their own salmon. Especially when the fishing requires them to be in the deeper water adjacent to the viewing platform, deep for them but not their mother. The adult grizzlies are able to pick salmon off the bottom that died because of the low water this summer that permitted the water temperature to rise and reduced the oxygen level to drop. Our viewing platform is located on the Glendale River, which is located, and hour and fifteen minute boat ride up Knight Inlet from the lodge.
A view form the platform
The viewing platform use by Grizzly Bear Lodge is located overlooking the salmon holding area which is the entrance to a man-made spawning channel. The February 21st posting shows the abundance of salmon in this area and it is quite common that after the grizzlies (especially the sub-adult bears) have had their fill of salmon they start to play fight. This fighting is a family “thing” the bears do not normally interact with bears outside the family unit. On this day the fighting lasted about fifteen minutes before they moved the river likely to have a mid-morning rest (nap).
Grizzly mother and three cubs
Prior to having access to the viewing stands on August 25th Grizzly Bear Lodge tours are in the river estuary and the tidal portion of the Glendale River. On this day our first sighting was a mother grizzly waiting in the river for salmon to swim close but after we had watched for a while it seemed more like she was in the river to get away from her second year cubs. The three cubs were in constant battle along the shore and in the water. When they spend that much time playing you know they are well fed and mom just wants some quite for a time. May need to click on the photo to view the grizzlies to the right.
Grizzly Bears Up River
Grizzly bear tours from the lodge leave about eight o’clock in the morning and travel for an hour and a quarter up Knight Inlet. Once we reach Glendale Cove we transfer to a 5.5 meter (yard) skiff that has a shallow draft permitting us to move close to the shore and up the river. Once we are in the river your guide gets out of the boat and starts to pull it quietly up river in the shallow water. When we first see grizzlies we go to the riverbank to wait and to determine which direction the bears are moving. This was a photo I took with my small camera while waiting. When it was safe we moved up river much closer to the bears and the guests obtained some good photos but I was to busy for more of my own. When you are in the wafer it is not good to have a camera in you hands if you decide it is necessary to move the boat.
Interesting Grizzly Bear
This grizzly bear is enjoying the berries from a back berry patch. Now that is not too interesting until you notice the metal roof in the lower right corner of the photo. This is the roof of the smokehouse that is 5 meters (yards) from the back door of Grizzly Bear Lodge and that grizzly is in our black berry patch. This became a problem and it took close to a week of very alert guides and guests until we made enough noise and believe it or not threw enough rocks to scare the bear off our island. The bear population in Knight Inlet is growing so the bear are starting to move out the inlet and even crossing Johnstone Strait to Vancouver Island. In the spring it has become more common to view grizzlies on the larger island around the lodge. There have been grizzlies on the lodge’s Minstrel Island in the past few years but the island is small and they were gone after a day.
Grizzly Bear Aware
As we stand in the viewing platform overlooking the entrance to the spawning channel the grizzly bears are often only 20 to 25 meters (yards) away from the camera lens. The bears have accepted our presence and although they generally ignore the stands at times they let us know they know. This bear spent several minutes glancing our direction that is why it is important to make sure flashes are turn off and there is not sudden movement or load noises. After all we are the guests and this is their home.
