To Catch a Salmon
In September 2022, I traveled to Knight Inlet Lodge, a floating hotel on Knight Inlet, British Columbia, to take photos of grizzly bears catching and eating pink salmon. This gallery presents a series of photos of one bear, Beatrice, catching an eating a salmon.
The Lodge is accessible only by boat or floatplane. The staff has constructed several viewing stands where visitors can safely observe the bears.
The photos in this gallery are from one session. The bear, named Beatrice by the staff, enters the stream in pursuit of salmon, which have congregated in the stream, waiting to swim upstream to spawn.
When the females are ready, they will swim to a spawning area, lay on their side and use their tail to hollow out an area. They will then lay the eggs. The male must be present to fertilize the eggs immediately. After spawning both the male and the female will die. For pink salmon, the variety here, the life cycle is two years, from fresh-water birth, migration to salt water, and return to the same stream for spawning.
Read MoreThe Lodge is accessible only by boat or floatplane. The staff has constructed several viewing stands where visitors can safely observe the bears.
The photos in this gallery are from one session. The bear, named Beatrice by the staff, enters the stream in pursuit of salmon, which have congregated in the stream, waiting to swim upstream to spawn.
When the females are ready, they will swim to a spawning area, lay on their side and use their tail to hollow out an area. They will then lay the eggs. The male must be present to fertilize the eggs immediately. After spawning both the male and the female will die. For pink salmon, the variety here, the life cycle is two years, from fresh-water birth, migration to salt water, and return to the same stream for spawning.
