Tag Archives: Knight Inlet

Grizzly Bears at play?

After August 25 our grizzly bear watching tours take place from the viewing stands. The stands are located on the Glendale River, which empties into British Columbia’s Knight Inlet. The salmon have arrived and are in the river and there is lots of wildlife beside the bears. Because of the abundance to salmon for food the grizzly bears often take a “time out” to play. These photos could have the captions: “Leave me alone” and a good right hook “Told you I used to box”.  NOTE this is not one picture just posts that way!!

 

Grizzly Bear Watching

Although most of the time the grizzly bears just ignore us at times the youngers bears do take and interest. In this case it is the grizzly bear doing the watching. You can see the edge of the viewing stand’s concrete footing. Don’t need a much of lens for these shots.

Photos from our Guides

 

Whale watching safari – Orca

A “resting line”. Orcas travel in small pods and will often join up and synchronize their swimming in that they all surface at the same time. This is accompanied by long slow dives. Sort of like an afternoon nap. Ideal for whale watching as it permits one to prepare for photos as the orca tend to do three or four rolls before a long dive.

 

Grizzly Bear and cub

In the spring the grizzly bear cubs we are watching in Knight Inlet are like my grandsons, always looking for adventure. They do not stray very far from their mother who is always alert for danger. Danger in the form of male grizzly not the camera caring guests from our lodge who are watching the bears.

 

Humpback whales in BC

Approximately five years ago humpback whales started spend more time in the area between Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s mainland coast. Telegraph Cove and our viewing area has always been popular for orca but now it is common to see a mother humpback and calf. Every summer we are seeing more calves in our viewing area.

 

Knight Inlet Grizzly Bear along shore

Spring and early summer bring the grizzly bear mothers to the shore of Knight Inlet to look for food. Eating either sedge grass that is common to all of BC coastal river estuary or turning over rocks to eat whatever moves. On the tours from the lodge it is common to see the first year cubs and their mothers. In this case a mother grizzly trying to get a bite to eat while the cub stays close. The spring cubs in the estuary do not stray far from mum.

 

 

Easy Grizzly Watching Tour

A grizzly bear tour from the lodge is always easier on the guide when you arrive at the viewing stand to the site in this picture. Most days we are in the second viewing stand so you do not have the weir in your photos. A little more natural. Yes there are just as many bears at the other stand less than one hundred yards (meters) away. Unlike the grizzly of Alaska the bears of Knight Inlet do not do a lot of fighting as there is an abundance of food for the number of bears so they are to busy eating. By count there are more than forty bears in Glendale River viewing area.

 

Not a Grizzly (Click photo to enlarge)

The grizzly bears of British Columbia, including the Knight Inlet area, are not normally referred to as brown bears. That reference tends to be for the bears in Alaska. The bear in this photo is not a grizzly bear even though it is brown. It is a “Brown” Black Bear, notice no hump. This bear appears along the shore of Knight Inlet on a rare occasion.

 

Knight Inlet Grizzly Bear Watching

Knight Inlet runs approximately 100 kilometers into the BC mainland and is located off the East Coast of Vancouver Island about 100 kilometers north of Campbell River. There are seven rivers running into Knight Inlet but only the Glendale River has a “man made” spawning channel which means many more salmon than some of the other rivers and therefore grizzly bears come from the surrounding area to feed on the Glendale at the base of the viewing stands we use. Even though there are lots of salmon the first step is to catch the salmon. These grizzly bears seem to have that part of their job completed. Photos byBruce & Carole Cripps 5-11