Black Bear Adventure
‘There’s one!” I called out. “Good spotting!” said our guide Kyler, as he spun the boat around confirming the humped black form on the shoreline was a black bear. The thrill of seeing a large mammal in its natural habitat never gets old for me.
Black bear foraging at low tide
We’d come to the west coast of Vancouver Island for a birthday celebration. I looked forward to enjoying the amenities of a wonderful inn plus the prospect of seeing bears in the wild. Black bears inhabit every province of Canada except Prince Edward Island. They are omnivores with an extraordinary sense of smell, better than any sniffer dog! As a canoe tripper in Ontario, we hauled our food packs into the trees at night to protect our supplies from bear raids. The black bears of Vancouver Island are one of six subspecies of British Columbia’s black bears. They are slightly bigger than mainland bears, likely due to the high protein food source available to them along the coast.
Low tides during the summer solstice attract hungry bears. They use their keen sense of smell and powerful limbs to roll away rocks in search of crabs and bivalves which they eat whole. We set out at 6:30 am fully geared up in flotation suits to keep us safe and warm from the rain and chilly weather. If any mishap occurred, I’d be like a bobbing red blob in the ocean – easy to find!
Ready for a bear watching adventure!
It had been over 35 years since we last visited the magical coast of Clayoquot Sound. The First Nations of Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht and Hesquiaht have been stewards of the region’s green valleys, fjords, islands and ancient forests since time immemorial. In 2000, the area became British Columbia’s first UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. The coastline is a critical piece of The Emerald Edge, a 100 million-acre coastal, temperate rainforest. Rain forest means a LOT of rain. Our day was typical; cool and wet, perfect weather for bears.
The Mystical Beauty of Clayoquot Sound
We watched the bear forage along the shore until Kyle got a call saying there was a mother with three cubs in the neighbouring bay. Mother bears give birth in their winter dens in January. They nurse and warm their tiny 1/2-pound babies (typically 2-4 cubs) losing up to one third of their winter body weight in the process. The cubs emerge around April when they are 4-5 pounds. Like several African mammals, bears have delayed implantation of their fertilized eggs. Although gestation is 7 months, fetal development takes place mainly in the last two months of pregnancy. The egg will only implant in the uterus if the mother has stored enough body fat and other nutrients to survive over winter and provide milk for her cubs until she resumes feeding in the spring. It’s nature’s way of bear birth control.
We were delighted to find a healthy mother and her cubs foraging along the shore. Three adorable fur balls followed their mother exploring and learning how to survive from her example.
We hung out with the family for over an hour until Mama suddenly froze and turned her attention to the woods. Her cubs scrambled to her side as she sniffed the air. An invisible signal sent the cubs racing for the woods. Bear cubs are vulnerable to other black bears, wolves, mountain lions, coyotes, lynx and humans.
Kyler explained that the cubs would hide in a tree while mama took care of any threat. The term “Mama Bear” is renowned for powerful maternal instincts that will stop at nothing to protect her children. Never get between a mother bear and her cubs is wise advice.
Here’s a short video clip of the male bear foraging. Come back for the second episode of bear watching next week.
Many thanks to those of you who sent congratulations about the CAPA competition. I appreciate your words of support so much.