Tag Archives: grizzly

Grizzly Bears On Guard

Grizzlies in river

The grizzly bears of Knight Inlet’s Glendale River spend a great deal of time in the river estuary before the salmon arrive. In the spring and early summer they are feeding on sedge grass and turning over rocks along the shore to enhance their diet. When the first few salmon start to arrive in mid-August the bears are in the lower river that we are able to access with our flat bottom shallow draft skiff. These two grizzly bears seem to be on guard looking for the few salmon that are starting to enter the river. Back to back they have the full 360 degrees cover to make sure they spot any salmon trying to get up river.

 

 

Grizzly and cub 2 of 2

grizzly bear discipline

A little discipline became necessary, as this cub was too persistent and demanding. Although we had watched the cubs eating the mother was not ready to spend time playing and quickly put this one in it’s place so she could get back to the important task of fattening up for hibernation.

 

 

Grizzly and cub 1of 2

Grizzly Bear and cub

This grizzly bear mother had her paws full this summer as she had three cubs under her care. It was necessary to obtain enough food for herself and to be able to nurse the cubs. As the season progressed and the salmon came into the river in late August it became a little easier as the cubs were able to eat the salmon she provided and even to scavenge a few of the dead salmon along the shore. However as all “youngsters” with to much free time they want to play and this may not sit well with the parents as tomorrow’s post will show.

 

 

“A family that stay together” Grizzly Bears?

Grizzly Bear Siblings

These two sub-adult bears are likely in their fourth year and it is common to see grizzlies of this age together. Depending whether their mother became pregnant they may have stayed a second (even a third) year, denning together and breaking up in the third (or fourth) year. Alone and vulnerable, siblings will often stay together for some time after their mother abandons them, eating and sleeping side-by-side, and even denning together. The average breeding age for female grizzlies is 4.5 years. Males reach sexual maturity at roughly the same age as their female counterparts. Even though males are capable of breeding at three or four years of age, they rarely have the opportunity to do so because of intense competition from older, bigger males.

 

Advantage – the grizzly bear mother

Grizzly Bear fish fight

Some first year grizzly bear cubs are able to catch salmon in shallow water. This summer (2014) due to the lack of rain and low water levels several thousand pink salmon suffocated in the warm water and this made it easy for the cubs to pick up dead salmon along the shore. Unfortunately for the cubs not all the salmon were in shallow water and this is where the advantage was for their mother. In this photo the mother is sitting on the bottom and the cubs are swimming. The mother is not prepared to share her catch and there is not much the cubs can do about that decision. The overhead photo is because we were in the raised viewing platform that is about eight feet (less than three meters) above the ground and the grizzly bears were close to the bank below.

 

 

Grizzly Bear and a Rising Tide

Grizzly Bear Waiting

Spring (late May through to August 24th) grizzly bear tours are in Glendale Cove and the Glendale River, which flows into Knight Inlet. After August 24th our lodge is permitted to use the viewing platform further up the Glendale River. In the spring we use a sixteen foot (3.5 meter) flat bottom skiff that needs less than one foot (30 cm.) of water to float and thus allowing grizzly bear viewing well within a “basic” camera range. Meaning a long-range telephoto lens may be nice but is not mandatory as many guests use ipads for photos. On this day we moved up river viewing bears as we progressed as fast as the tide would allow. Normally the bears are also staying in the shallower water but there is always an exception and this bear was that exception. It moved down into the deeper water and eventually swam to the far shore.

 

 

Grizzly Bear cub ALERT

Grizzly cub standing

Photos and postings tend to relate to one another. This photo shows one of the triplets from the posting on January 29th. Another grizzly had appeared further up river and as the family moved down river this cub paused to get a better view of the grizzly up river. It did not spend too much time looking as mom soon called it closer.

 

 

Grizzly bears on the beach

Grizzly Ber beach feeding

As mentioned in yesterdays posting there is allot of protein to be found under the rocks on the beach. In the early spring until the salmon arrive in mid-August our grizzly bear tours observe bears on the beach as well as in the Glendale River estuary. In the estuary and along the shore the grizzlies graze on the protein rich sedge grass and turn over rocks the same as black bears. The only difference is that the rocks turned over by the grizzlies can be much larger.

 

 

Extra day at Grizzly Bear Lodge

Trapper Rick's Lodge

If you choose the extra day in camp it is spent with Trapper Rick on a “wild river” that few people outside our guest get to view.  We cross Knight Inlet and travel through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River and spend a day on the river with Trapper Rick.  This river is located on the BC mainland and to view a map of the area of Rick’s river scroll down the sidebar on the left to “Pages” then to “Google Map of Grizzly Bear Lodge Itinerary”.  A picnic lunch (more like a full meal) is provided and normally eaten on the deck of Rick’s cabin. In this photo Rick has just finished demonstrating the setting of a box trap that he used to catch marten, a very effective and humane method of trapping. Rick is very passionate about his river and the guests always come back to the lodge with a greater appreciation of nature and what it takes to live as close to nature as Rick’s life style permits.

 

Grizzly bear fishing techniques

Grizzlies in River estuary

 As mentioned in yesterday’s posting prior to August 25th the grizzly bear tours from the lodge are in the Glendale River estuary and the lower tidal area of the river. After an hour and fifteen minute boat ride from the lodge we transfer into a sixteen foot (five and half meter) shallow draft skiff that we use along the shore and into the river. The shallow draft allows us to move up river as the tide rises and obtain excellent views of the grizzlies. In this case it was August after the salmon had arrived and were still in the lower river with the grizzlies trying to catch the freshly arrived salmon. The run and splash technique is not nearly as effective as the stand and wait method but it is much better for pictures.