Every fall, millions of salmon migrate up the river, grizzlies and black bears come to feast.

The salmon migration in Canada

Angelika Ahrens, 08.10.2025

Fog lies over the fjord of Knight Inlet, the mountains towering into the sky like ancient sentinels. The water shimmers silvery, sea eagles circle, seagulls screech - and suddenly they appear: the grizzlies.

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It's a spectacle as old as the coastal mountains of British Columbia itself, and yet it takes your breath away every fall. From August to mid-October the salmon return from the Pacific to the rivers to spawn. They transform the quiet wilderness into a stage full of movement, colors and sounds. The rivers bubble with life, an ancient spectacle that revitalizes the coast year after year. Millions of salmon, especially pink salmon, fight their way upstream. And on the shore stand the true rulers of this scenery: the bears. Every step of the grizzlies on the damp riverbank, every snort makes the wilderness palpable.

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