Happy holidays from the grouse mountain wildlife team

2023 was a great year for Grinder and Coola, our two Grizzly Bears, who celebrated their 22nd Bear-thday this summer (though their actual birthday is sometime in January each year during hibernation!) with a grizzly bear sized ice/fruit/salmon/whipped cream cake!  The bears also had a physical checkup from our Director and Veterinarian, Dr. Ken Macquisten, in the springtime and passed with flying colors.  They then went on to have a standard lazy bear summer followed by a great Fall putting on the weight for their long 2023/2024 winter sleep which started on November 23rd, 2023.  We look forward to seeing them out and about again in the Spring!

Our Owl Wildlife Ambassadors had a great summer of owl talks, school visits, camp visits and general wanderings around the mountain!  We welcomed a new addition this year and after a naming contest introduced Apollo our newest ambassador - a young male Great Horned Owl.  He continues to do well here and is back in action giving owl talks daily, along with Odin our Barred Owl and Cleo our Barn Owl.

Our hummingbird conservation and monitoring program ran from June to August and we continue to contribute data to an overall study and report on the status of hummingbird populations in BC and western North America.  Our station on top of Grouse Mountain serves as an important control site as the birds up here show different statuses from birds found at lower elevations.  Stay tuned for an updated webpage in the spring showing off some of the important research we have been helping with!

Finally we are now into our 2023 Peak of Christmas event and giving daily Reindeer Talks.  Be sure to visit Vixen at the habitat and say hi to her and our ranger team this holiday season!

We look forward to spending the next couple of months getting ready for an exciting 2024 season ahead.  

Happy Holidays everyone! Here is a short gallery of some of our images from this past year: