Friday June 14, 2019 – Up Mount McIntyre Adventure and ROCK PTARMIGAN DAY


We were on our way to Mount McIntyre at 6 am.  It was a blue sky morning and we were dressed for cool weather.  The day was gorgeous!   The drive up the mountain was truly an adventure.  Washed out roads, and roads so filled with rubble the road looked impassable.  We slowly proceeded up the mountain.   The vistas were spectacular.  The next three photos show the views of the surrounding area around Mount McIntyre.  





This is a stretch of "Road" that Tom and Bruce walked first to decide whether we could drive up.  They moved some of the problem rocks and we drove up the road and what goes up must come down and at this stretch we walked down.


This is the view of Whitehorse in the distance from the top of Mount McIntyre.  Pretty spectacular.
Tom had indicated that there was no guarantee that we could get up to where we hoped to see a Rock Ptarmigan.  It had rained yesterday so the road was drying with the sunshine. 

At the second last stop, the mountain was scoped to see if we could see one.  YES!!  on a rock between two smaller rocks it looked like there was a ptarmigan and maybe a real one!!  But it was so far away.  The guys walked the steep hill/road/wash to see if it was passable in the van.  They moved some of the loose rocks.  Yes it was a go!   It was a careful slow drive dodging and driving around big rocks and depressions in the road.  Carefully and with good driving we made it up to the meadow where we thought we would be able to walk to the ridge and scope the ptarmigan we had seen below.  It was an uphill walk but fine and the first ridge did not allow us to look over it but another meadow upwards had to be climbed.  We all did it.  Through the scope, it was clearly a Rock Ptarmigan!!!   Yay.  The bird flew roundabout to another nearby ridge.  We followed it and saw another ptarmigan, possibly the female partner of the male.    

The male Rock Ptarmigan was viewed again and it was quite close.  Everyone got a great look at it.  We took photos and I was thrilled.  I think everyone was happy to see the bird.  We then slowly walked down the meadows to the vans with smiles on our faces.  

 The female on a rock a distance away.

The magnificent male and a lifer for me, Rock Ptarmigan


The bird was kind of curious about the fuss around him.


Up on the mountain and above the tree line.  Whitehorse is in the distance.


 For one portion of the drive down, we got out of the vehicles to lighten the weight and make it easier for the driver to get down the steep section.  We make several stops for birds such as Dusky Flycatcher and Townsend’s Warbler.  We had great looks.   The photo below is the Dusky Flycatcher.



From here we headed to lunch at Boston Pizza and several of us had very good lunch salads.  Now back at the cabin we had some rare down-time in the middle of the day.  The plan was to head out birding again at 3:30 pm.  I wrote up this part of the day’s activities up to this point and then I had a brainstorm idea to wash some tops and socks, etc as I thought there would be a laundromat nearby or a washer and dryer on the premises.  Nope no washer or dryer was available.  I hand washed what I needed..  My clothes dried in the breeze and heat so that was great.   I have enough clean clothes to last until I get home now, Yipee!

At 3:30 pm we drove to the Whitehorse Lagoons which are up on a mountain.  So they must pump it up there or something.  There were lots of ducks up there, hundreds and it was very breezy, so no bugs.   We birded some of the lagoons and went on to a restaurant for supper, Earl’s.  

 I forgot to let  Jane and Ann know about supper.   They are also in Whitehorse and we had hoped that we could meet up sometime.  But I totally forgot.  With a birding tour, one gets in the groove of where are we going and what time and what will we see.  So the mind is occupied.    
As usual we had some splash to celebrate the birds today.  We also take this opportunity to solve the problems of the world during this time. 

It was a super birding morning today!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 9, 2019 - to Tuk and back today.

Image
It was a sunny (like continual sunshine) and a bit cool this morning when we headed up the Tuk highway at 6 am today.  We stopped for a Black Bear that was eating grass along the dirt highway.  Don spotted him.  The bear then sat and watched us watch him.  Then the bear ambled into the woods.  The fur on the bear was a healthy glossy colour and it was a beautiful animal.  A good start to the morning. Next stop was for what was thought a Great Gray Owl, given it was a very gray colour.  But once we could clearly see the owl, it was determined that it was a northwest Taiga species of Great Horned Owl.  It also looked at us.  Now that was a great second start to the day and we were barely on the Tuk highway.  We drove to the spot where we tried for the Harris' Sparrow yesterday and yes, today the Harris' Sparrow showed itself to us!   From here we stopped when we saw something interesting.  We stopped for Long ta...
Read more

Saturday June 15, 2019 - Whitehorse, Yukon to Watson Lake, Yukon

Image
Our luggage was again expertly packed up and everything fit and we were on the road by 6 am for   Watson Lake.   Goodbye Whitehorse, maybe someday I will come by again and visit the city and its museums.   Today the weather is cool with some high rain clouds in the distance.   Hopefully it will be clear and dry.   It does not take long to get into the vistas of mountains, meadows and lakes.   Stunning scenery!   Today, the highlights of the day were the mammals.  We had at least 6 bears along the highway.  Almost all of the bears looked very healthy and on the chubby side.  Then we stopped for a roadside bathroom break and down in the meadow and ponds were a total of 6 moose!   One male was particularly spectacular as it was feeding in the pond and would submerge itself and then come up like a submarine with water pouring from its rack of antlers.  Everyone watched this for quite a while....
Read more

June 7 - birding around town

Image
I woke up at 5:30 am and I think I fell asleep around 8 pm.  I did not even notice the long daylight.  I did not wake up during the night or anything.  So a wonderful sleep.  Continental breakfast was at 7 am.  While we were downstairs  in the lobby we met up with several retired RCMP people on tour with partners mostly.  They had started in Regina and were going to Tuk today.  There were 48 people on this huge bus which I had seen parked in the parking lot. At breakfast we met up with our guides Tom and  Bruce and we briefly chatted.  I also happened to meet a lady from Bruce's first tour and she was from Austin Texas.  I did not recognize anyone on the birding tour to get up here.  That tour ends today and we are on the next birding tour that eventually heads south along the same route as the first tour which headed north.  We also met a fellow, Martin, at breakfast from Ottawa who is here for work on studying the p...
Read more