The bears of yesterday’s post may be siblings but the sharing of their catch is not an option. Even as cubs with their mother for the first two summers they did not share their mothers catch except with their mother and then under protest. A cub or sub-adult bear does not gain enough weight (fat) to survive the winter if it worries about another’s health.
Debbie’s photo of a grizzly bear sitting in the sedge grass of British Columbia’s Knight Inlet gives the impression of a “cute” little bear. The “cute” may be lost when one realizes that the sedge grass in the spring is more than a meter (three feet) tall and that this is the same bear that was shown is yesterday’s posting.
A classic grizzly bear pose is captured by Debbie Zygmunt in the Glendale River estuary. The spring grizzly tours up Knight Inlet view grizzlies in the estuary sedge grass and along the shore of the bay. Until the salmon arrive in late August the grizzlies spend their time turning over rocks in search of protein or grazing on the protein rich grasses. The bears of the area have accepted the presence of the skiffs used for touring along the shore and this provides ample opportunity for great photographs.
The grizzly tour day for Ingo and his crew was successful. An hour and half run up Knight Inlet to the salmon-spawning channel on the Glendale River provide many good photos. This one shows a grizzly bear having a hard time making a decision. The decision is to go into the river and catch a fresh salmon or to save energy and eat one of the two at its feet? In this case the easy meal won. Later in the season when this bear has more bulk (fat) it will be more selective and go for the fresh salmon and likely only eat the row, skin and brain.
The tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge start in May and run through the start of October and this passage of time allows the guides an opportunity to watch the bears as they change over time. The cubs appear on the beach in late May looking like the posting on April 8th and progress to the larger cubs in the April 10th posting until by the end of their second summer they are like today’s posting. The abundance of salmon in the river and good mothers produce a high survival rate amongst the cubs of Knight Inlet’s Glendale River.
The sign of a hungry grizzly bear is the salmon it eats. Bears will get selective in their eating habits as they bulk up and consecrate on female salmon because of either high fat row (eggs). The salmon that return to the Glendale River which is the river Grizzly Bear Lodge use for its viewing in the fall are mostly pink salmon or humpback salmon. The males develop a pronounced humped back thus they are also known as “humpies”. The salmon in the mouth of this grizzly is a male so it has not reached the selective feeding stage. The other reason could be that it is the end of the season and this bear just wants that bit of extra bulk and does not have time to be selective.
These two juvenile sibling grizzly bears are waiting for a chance to move out into the river to fish for salmon. Being young they need to time their fishing to avoid the older males and the mothers with cubs. The area Grizzly Bear Lodge use on Knight Inlet for its tours has more than forty bears but there is such an abundance of food little fighting occurs and it is more about a bear timing its approach to the river. From the size of these bears bellies they seem to be successful and should have no trouble reaching a weight which will carry them through hibernation.
In the spring an important part of a grizzly bear’s diet is high protein sedge grass. This grass grows in the estuary of the Glendale River that is flooded with salt water at high tide. After the hour or so boat ride from Grizzly Bear Lodge to the river estuary we change boats for a large skiff which allows us to travel up the rive through the acres of sedge grass and obtain some close up photo of the bears grazing. This grizzly is letting us know that we may be with in its comfort zone and it is time to drift down river and give it room. Grizzly bears eat the grass in spring and early summer but once it goes to seed they move on to other food sources like salmon.
This past summer part of the early run of salmon into the spawning channel died because fresh cool water from the lake feeding the channel was not released soon enough. If the water in the spawning beds becomes too warm it loses oxygen and salmon suffocate. This photo shows a late August grizzly bear; late August because it does not have the fat belly it will have later in the season when one normally sees this number of dead uneaten salmon. The positive of the salmon kill is that many more bears came early to feed in the area of the spawning channel. Unfortunately the control of water to the spawning beds is not under the control of those most often in the area and it takes time for other to respond.
The May grizzly cub shown in the April 8th posting shows by comparison the growth that takes place in a little over three months. Even without another grizzly in the photos the size difference is amazing. This growth is because grizzly bear milk contains up to 33 percent fat, more than that in heavy whipping cream. While whole milk just as it came from the cow contains about 3 1/2 percent milk fat. During this time the cubs alternate between nursing, grazing on sedge grass, a variety of berries and obtaining protein from under the rocks turned over on the beach.
Just like that another season has come to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful staff and the guests this season. It was an excellent season and we are already looking forward to next May.
One of the highlights of the season was all of the new cubs out. It was awesome to see so many new cubs of the year and that is great news for our bear populations moving forward. We had great spring viewing and this continued through summer. On our river trips we started to see salmon arriving in August and enjoyed some great shoulder season viewing. The fish at the viewing platforms were a little late showing up this year, but viewing during late September at the platforms was great and the estuary viewing remained strong throughout the season.
Out in the whale watching world it was another year that saw large numbers of resident Orca who remained in the area right into October. The Humpback viewing was also great with large numbers feeding in Blackfish Sound. It is so amazing to have these magnificent animals back in our waters in such numbers.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We rebuilt the front deck last spring, utilising cedar cut on site. We will continue with some siding, rooms improvements and hopefully a floating sauna ready for the start of our season.
2026 is already looking like a very busy season for us. We only have limited high season availability so please book early to ensure we have space for your group.
Looking forward to seeing you next year
Angus Reid
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