Tag Archives: Knight Inlet BC

Whale watching safari

dolphins playing

On the whale watching day we frequently encounter pacific white side dolphins. The area along BC’s coast between Vancouver Island and the mainland has become a feeding area for the dolphins. Until twenty years ago they rarely appeared in fact so rare that native people did not have a name for them in their language. Now these dolphins are becoming more common in our viewing area. We see pods of several hundred.

 

Grizzly Bear Swimming

glenswimbeach

Grizzly bears are great swimmers and are commonly seen in the water in the river estuaries of BC’s Knight Inlet.  They swim so well that they have now migrated across Johnstone Strait to Vancouver Island and this is between one and a half to a two-mile swim.  The area biologists but radio collars on ten grizzly bears about eleven years ago and one of them crossed Knight Inlet five times.

 

Grizzly Bear Bath

cub-mother-water

Some days the grizzly bear watching on July and early August are quite warm it is unlikely this was a “bath” rather think back on a hot day that you may have experienced and add a heavy fur coat. That is the likely reason mother and cub are in the water. They are in the Glendale River estuary which is a mixture of fresh and salt water so their coast will not contain allot of salt when dry. The sedge grass along the shore is the main reason for the grizzly bears to be in the area as the salmon to not appear until late August.

Grizzy Bear Right-of-Way

river-scenery-8

If you choose to stay the extra night at our lodge the extra day is spent at a “wild” river on a wilderness tour.  We cross Knight Inlet pass through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River and spend a day with Trapper Rick.  The scenery on BC’s mainland in breathtaking and the wildlife viewing provides a reasonable chance of grizzly bear sightings.  Bears are viewed below the falls at Rick’s cabin or on the road to the cabin.  In this case it was on the road and we wait until the bear decides to let us pass.  Having guided for the past twelve summer I can say that seeing a grizzly bear at Rick’s is a different sensation than see one from a viewing stand on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River.

Black Bear while Whale Watching

black-water

Wildlife viewing is where you find it and many of the black bears we find are on whale watching trips. This black bear has done a good job of putting on weight over the summer. He is in good shape for the coming winter. This one was not going swimming rather was concentrating on getting more muscles and barnacles from the rocks before the tide rose.

 

Spring Grizzly Bear Cub

Spring Grizzly Cub

This grizzly bear cub because of the size is from late May or early June.  The mother grizzlies bring their cubs to this part of Knight Inlet to feed on the beaches and turnover rocks. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The “beach food” is important because the only plant food available at this time of the year is the sedge grass. Sedge grass also very high in protein and with inter-tidal zone food it keeps the grizzly bears in good health until the salmon arrive. And no the cub wad not alone on the beach but far enough from mother for a good solo picture.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it and then zoom in the cub is not licking anything I can see just sticking out it’s tongue.

 

Grizzly Bear Siblings Salmon Fishing

Grizzly siblings fishing

Alone and vulnerable sibling grizzly bears of the Knight Inlet area often stay together until they are three or four years old often fishing, 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 the females.  Sub-adult females tend to establish home ranges within or overlapping their mother’s home range. Sub-adult males are usually discouraged from staying in the same area by the larger males and must travel large distances to establish a home range. And even though these sub-adult males are capable of breeding at three or four years of age, they rarely have the opportunity to do so because of these older, bigger males.

Grizzly Eating Salmon – Knight Inlet


Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

The reason Grizzly Bear Lodge is successful viewing bears on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River is the presence of salmon in the man-made spawning channel.  The salmon arrive in the area mid-August and we are permitted to travel to the viewing stands from August 25 to mid-October.  Most salmon caught by the grizzly bears are eaten on site moving off the river to eat would mean loss of a prime fishing position.  There is a change in the bears as we watch from the viewing stands as it is possible to eat only so many salmon at one time and we are in the stands for two hours.  The time limit is determined by government regulations. 

Grizzly Bears at play?

Our grizzly bear viewing area in British Columbia’s Knight Inlet is home to more than fifty bears. The abundance of salmon in our tours’ area reduces the need for bears to fight for the best fishing place. In fact the grizzly bears, big or small, seem to coexist with out much conflict. So it is hard to tell if this is serious or just playing. I was not present when the photo was taken.

 

Good Grizzly Bear Viewing

The grizzly bear that remained took time to sit and study the situation of being “watched” but being young it got bored fast or maybe just an “itch” in need of a back rub. Every tour from the lodge has something different to offer.