Bella nursing in Glendale Cove

July just flew by and August seems to be following suit this year. Hard to believe it’s the middle of August already! Time and tide wait for no one, this we know, but I for one always want to hold on to summer for just a moment longer.

The bear viewing through July and into the first half of August this season has been fantastic – our guides and guests have enjoyed glimpsing moments from the secret lives of bears… sightings of bear cubs nursing, even a female with four cubs! and our favourite movie star Bella with her yearling cubs.

Some of the warm afternoons have been spent lazily by the grizzly inhabitants of the area, we even caught some of them sleeping on the job!

The pink salmon arrived early to Glendale Cove this year, first appearing in July. As of August 11^th, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans over-flight salmon count was up to 82,000 adult salmon that have returned to the Glendale so far. Pretty incredible! We’re still seeing lots of “jumpers” or jumping salmon holding off the river mouth and out around the cove as well. Looks like it may be a year of well-fed grizzlies.

A couple of interesting sightings of the avian kind have also occurred in Glendale Cove. We were lucky enough to see a couple of Semipalmated Plovers out on the beach for a few days in the end of July – a species that doesn’t normally inhabit Glendale Cove.
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels also arrived this year in larger numbers than I have seen in the last five seasons. We had over ten individuals fluttering around the Cove, sometimes coming very close to the Estuary tour boats. Lodge Manager Brian Collen managed to snap a quick picture while out on the water.

Normally these Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels are pelagic - found much further offshore - in the North Pacific Ocean, spending up to 8 months of the year out at sea. Their nesting areas run along the west coast of North America, from northern California up to Alaska. The British Columbian coastal breeding areas seem to be much further north than Knight Inlet.

We were lucky enough to view the Storm-petrels feeding on several occasions (most likely trying to feed on small fish or zooplankton) by hovering, dancing their feet along the surface of the water, and dipping their heads under the surface. Definitely neat to watch!

Happy trails!

Moira Le Patourel

Lead Guide