Tag Archives: grizzly

On the other side of the stands grizzly bears travel up and down the river and often stop to fish.  It is also their approach around the end of the finger into the holding pool. In this case a mother with this years cubs spends some time fishing, teaching and feeding in the natural river.

This picture was taken from the viewing stands on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River.  We are able to use the stands, which are located at the mouth of the man made spawning channel after the 24th of August.  The stand we use is at the end of a finger of land that has the natural river on one side and the holding pool for the spawning area on the other side.  This photo taken between the shoulders of two guests shows a grizzly bear walking along the edge of the holding pool toward the stand. The vehicle we use is up the bank about five meters (fifteen feet) from the bear, which is about ten meters from the stand.

No this bear has not become so attached to the salmon it wants to cuddle the fish rather its front paw was injured in a fight and it is not able to hold the salmon.  This bear got into a fight with a mother grizzly that had a cub close and came out second best.  Its front paw cannot support any weight but it manages to catch and eat salmon and is putting on the necessary bulk to survive hibernation.  Only time will tell if it will survive the winter but so far we have been watching it for over a month and all is well.

“Brown bear claws are long and curved, ranging in color from yellow to brown.  In rare cases grizzlies have been observed with white claws.  These claws are used to dig up roots and bulbs of plants as well as to excavate den sites (Brown 1993, p 74).”  The white claws are often seen on the grizzly bears we view on the wild river we visit on the extra day in the lodge. 

As the tide rises in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River estuary the grizzly bear tour from our lodge is able to move up the river and observe bears in their natural surroundings. Even thought the bears have accepted our presence the key: “Is to leave the bears as you find them”. As long as this “philosophy” is followed the bears ignore our viewing and provide opportunities for many great photos such as this mother and her cubs feeding in the river on a rising tide. 

The watercolour indicates that his photo was taken after a heavy ran.  The water in the entrance to the spawning channel on the Glendale River is normally clear and it is easy to see the salmon swimming but the rains bring runoff sediment to the river and poor visibility.  This does not seem to bother the grizzly bear’s ability to catch salmon as this bear sits and eats freshly caught pink salmon.

Grizzly bear tours from our lodge, until August 24, are along the shores of Knight Inlet especially in the estuary of the Glendale River. The tour leaves the lodge at 8:00 a.m. and travels up Knight Inlet looking for black bears, eagles and other marine “wildlife” such as dolphins, whales and orca. Upon arriving at the river estuary we transfer to a 17-foot flat bottom skiff which has a very shallow draft (of maybe six inches). This allows us to travel up the river and estuary where the bears are feeding sedge grass. It is not uncommon to have sub-adult grizzly bear siblings in the area. In the case of this photo they are trying to catch one of the first pink salmon which start arriving in the area in early August. It is easy to see that the tide is on the rise, which means the water is too deep for a successful catch.

The why of this grizzly bear’s style is that her front paw was damaged in a fight with another bear so she is unable to hold the salmon against a rock and balance to eat. She is an excellent fisher and catches all the salmon she can eat and is getting quite fat in preparing for hibernation. As time has progressed she has become very adept and developed her own fishing and eating methods and it is time that will determine if she heals over the winter and we see her back next year.