Wildlife in British Columbia's Grouse Mountain

From birds to bears, Canada’s Grouse Mountain is a refuge for animals great and small. Katrina Lobley meets a couple of the locals.

There’s a bear in there. Actually, there are two. Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain, just a 20-minute drive from downtown, offers one of the world’s most accessible grizzly bear encounters. Also known as the Peak of Vancouver, Grouse Mountain has many attractions but perhaps the most alluring, especially for international visitors, is its Refuge for Endangered Wildlife, a research, education and conservation centre that provides sanctuary for at-risk wildlife and runs leading-edge interpretive programs. This is where you will find two male grizzlies, Grinder and Coola, who were the refuge’s first residents when it opened its doors in 2001.

Despite the tough beginning and his tiny size, Grinder has grown into the dominant bear at the refuge. With his outgoing and high-spirited personality, it’s usually Grinder who kickstarts a play-fighting session with his housemate, Coola. Coola’s mother was killed by a truck on a highway near Bella Coola in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest on British Columbia’s Central Coast. When conservation officers arrived on the scene, they saw Coola and two siblings waiting by their mother’s body –but the other cubs ran off into the forest and weren’t seen again. Coola was in good shape when he was found and he’s grown into a chilled-out bear who’s happy to sit back and let Grinder make the new discoveries. Coola’s favourite thing to do is to sit in a pond up to his neck while feeling around for his “bath toys” –a log, a large bone and his favourite rock. 

One of the best ways to see the bears in their mountaintop habitat is through the Breakfast with the Bears experience on our Reflections of the Rockies and Alaska Cruise, which includes early access to the mountain via the Skyride tram. Once you reach the refuge, hear a wildlife ranger explain grizzly bear behaviour and conservation, then watch the bears have breakfast and explore their habitat.

For your own breakfast, choices include Coola pancakes with honey butter and Grouse Mountain syrup and the Grinder “Bearioche” French toast with West Coast “bluebeary” jam. October and November sees the bears pig out on extra food (they stack on 20 per cent more weight to help them through their winter dormancy). Coola also gets busy with bed-making, arranging Pacific silver-fir branches into a deep mattress for both bears to enjoy in their den’s pitch-black sleeping chamber.

Grouse Mountain Refuge is home to Cleo the barn owl and Blizzard the snowy owl, and also works with the Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Centre on a spotted owl program. The northern spotted owl, a non-migratory bird that usually lives in old-growth forests, is critically endangered in British Columbia, with fewer than 20 birds reported in the wild. The plan is to release captive-born owls into protected areas to rebuild these depleted natural populations.

The refuge team also maintains a hummingbird feeding station on the mountain and conducts hummingbird monitoring sessions every fortnight during spring and summer. This research helps build an accurate picture of hummingbird ecology, migration and behaviour across North America. Even Vancouver locals are surprised by the behaviour of one species. The pretty Anna’s hummingbird, recognisable by the males’ iridescent magenta head feathers, winters in the Vancouver area. It was once thought these birds were migrators that headed down to the United States and warmer coastal areas but it now seems they like to stick around Vancouver and Vancouver Island because increased human populations have provided more food in the shape of garden flowers and feeders.

There are birds of prey, too: golden eagles, one of British Columbia’s largest raptors that’s often seen soaring gracefully on thermals; red-tailed hawks, North America’s most common raptor; and peregrine falcons, the world’s fastest living animal. During the summer season, ranger talks and flight demonstrations aim to highlight the extraordinary hunting skills of these amazing feathered species.

 If you go for a stroll through Grouse Mountain’s forests, slopes and valleys, you might see other wildlife such as American black bears, Columbian black-tailed deer, coyotes (a small but vocal pack live on the Cut ski run), snowshoe hares, pikas, pine martens and the chestnut-brown Douglas squirrel. Once you’re back home, you can check on Coola and Grinder remotely through the refuge’s infra-red den camera.

Discover more of the locations Travelmarvel visit in Canada and Alaska on our website and immerse yourself in Canadian cultural experiences and nature.

 

Images courtesy of bgsmith, Grouse Mountain, Suzanne Rushton Photography, Graham Werner.