Sunday June 16, 2019 - Watson Lake to Fort Nelson
While it was a hot evening last night in Watson Lake, this morning it was fresh and clear with a slight wind. We packed up for a drive of 550 km today to Fort Nelson, BC.
We had a long drive through some of the most fantastic scenery in Canada. Large vistas of mountains, lakes, forested hills and raging creeks. We saw 16 Black bears today along the highway. And sometimes they looked at us looking at them and other times they continued doing what they were doing. We had bison and fox also.
This morning the weather seemed to change every five minutes. Cool and sunny one time, rainy and blustery the next time we stopped. I put on my zip up sweater and my down vest for our picnic lunch. Finally on the way home in the last 160 km, it started warming up and quickly to the low eighties. I shed my down vest and sweater and long sleeve cotton top and I was fine in a t-shirt.
On the drive we saw a Red Fox with a dead hare carrying it back to its den. It was a fox with a purpose. We also saw three moose along the road too. But the biggest crowd of mammals was over 50 Bison. Some were pale coloured new youngsters which were tiny beside their mother. The bison herd casually strolled across the highway (they have the right of way) and then ate at the grasses along the highway.
Then a while later we came upon the Stone Sheep which are a subspecies of the Dall Sheep. These sheep were along Stone Mountain. And included a youngster and several family groups.
There was a young moose that I managed to photograph.
One of the lakes we saw Common and Pacific Loons along with several duck species. At one stop we had almost all of the swallow species that were possible. We saw Trumpeter Swan with young cygnets. We stopped at interesting spots along the road and continued on the long drive.
Our lunch today was a picnic lunch along a lake and a handy lakeside outhouse too. We enjoy our picnic lunches as it a lovely way to eat and watch the birds.
After lunch we had to go through a construction zone of several km. Rocks were chucked up by the traffic and several gravel rocks came our way. First one put a chip in the windshield. This then was not as bad as the large crack across the windshield from the drive up to Inuvik. Both van windshields have cracks in them. The vans are coated in dead bugs but neither van had a flat tire which was really unusual as there were two spares and two brand new tires in the back, just in case. We did not have to use them.
We arrived in Fort Nelson at 2;15pm. This is a small town surrounded by small hills and many many poplar trees. That is what is noticeable. There are coniferous trees also but it is the long white trunks everywhere that one sees. Before we reached Fort Nelson, we stopped at a side road and we got a lovely Mourning Warbler. One sweet bird!
In the later afternoon we went birding in and around Fort Nelson. Someone in one of the vans spotted something along the ditch by the road we were driving on. Is it a dog? We reversed and it was a Momma bear and three small bear cubs. They were so cute!! We all stayed in the vans and admired the bear family eating away at huge dandelions. They seemed to bite off the flower part or the fuzzy head part and eat away at everything else with a hearty appetite. The three little cubs were doing the same. It was amazing. We were all smiling.
This is a Brewer's Black Bird which was along the fence of the Fort Nelson Airport
Then we checked into our room. I was hot and tired. There was an hour before we headed out to bird in the late afternoon. So I cranked the air conditioning to super cold and got on the internet with my phone finally as mostly our travels have always been in "no service" areas. I laid down and turned on the TV that had cable. All these small pleasures in the cooling room were great. It was hard to get up to go birding. We first stopped to see the momma bear with three cubs. Then we went to a marsh area to try for the Hawk Owl. We had tried several times during our trip for this special owl with no luck. At this spot we heard the Hawk Owl. Then we saw it. We could hear something calling it. It was another Hawk Owl. Bruce and Tom went in to the marsh and told us to wait. We waited. Tom came out and said "come on it doesn't matter if you get your feet wet!!"
We all trooped in quietly. We walked about 50 feet and in front of us on a stick was a Hawk Owlet!! Looking at us and not moving. We ooed and awed at it and took some photos and then quietly left. Talk about a special moment with a owl. We were so thrilled to see the Hawk Owl and it was a lifer for one of the birders in our group!
From here we drove down several other roads. We had great looks at a Western Tanager and Magnolia Warbler. We tried for a Canada Warbler and a Connecticut Warbler but no luck with those.
So for a final day of the birding tour we had a super mammal day and some sweet birds.
At our last supper we went around the table with each of us listing our favourite bird and our favourite place or time during the week. It was fun to relive the special moments and many noted that the trip up Mount McIntyre was really an adventure and to see the Rock Ptarmigan on the mountain was just so great. Others liked the momma bear with three cubs moment. This was a super trip.
We thanked Tom and Bruce for the trip and toasted them several times. We hope to do another future birding trip!
The birding was great!! The organization of the trip was expert and food and accommodations were great.
Barb
We had a long drive through some of the most fantastic scenery in Canada. Large vistas of mountains, lakes, forested hills and raging creeks. We saw 16 Black bears today along the highway. And sometimes they looked at us looking at them and other times they continued doing what they were doing. We had bison and fox also.
This morning the weather seemed to change every five minutes. Cool and sunny one time, rainy and blustery the next time we stopped. I put on my zip up sweater and my down vest for our picnic lunch. Finally on the way home in the last 160 km, it started warming up and quickly to the low eighties. I shed my down vest and sweater and long sleeve cotton top and I was fine in a t-shirt.
On the drive we saw a Red Fox with a dead hare carrying it back to its den. It was a fox with a purpose. We also saw three moose along the road too. But the biggest crowd of mammals was over 50 Bison. Some were pale coloured new youngsters which were tiny beside their mother. The bison herd casually strolled across the highway (they have the right of way) and then ate at the grasses along the highway.
Then a while later we came upon the Stone Sheep which are a subspecies of the Dall Sheep. These sheep were along Stone Mountain. And included a youngster and several family groups.
Our lunch today was a picnic lunch along a lake and a handy lakeside outhouse too. We enjoy our picnic lunches as it a lovely way to eat and watch the birds.
After lunch we had to go through a construction zone of several km. Rocks were chucked up by the traffic and several gravel rocks came our way. First one put a chip in the windshield. This then was not as bad as the large crack across the windshield from the drive up to Inuvik. Both van windshields have cracks in them. The vans are coated in dead bugs but neither van had a flat tire which was really unusual as there were two spares and two brand new tires in the back, just in case. We did not have to use them.
We arrived in Fort Nelson at 2;15pm. This is a small town surrounded by small hills and many many poplar trees. That is what is noticeable. There are coniferous trees also but it is the long white trunks everywhere that one sees. Before we reached Fort Nelson, we stopped at a side road and we got a lovely Mourning Warbler. One sweet bird!
In the later afternoon we went birding in and around Fort Nelson. Someone in one of the vans spotted something along the ditch by the road we were driving on. Is it a dog? We reversed and it was a Momma bear and three small bear cubs. They were so cute!! We all stayed in the vans and admired the bear family eating away at huge dandelions. They seemed to bite off the flower part or the fuzzy head part and eat away at everything else with a hearty appetite. The three little cubs were doing the same. It was amazing. We were all smiling.
This is a Brewer's Black Bird which was along the fence of the Fort Nelson Airport
We all trooped in quietly. We walked about 50 feet and in front of us on a stick was a Hawk Owlet!! Looking at us and not moving. We ooed and awed at it and took some photos and then quietly left. Talk about a special moment with a owl. We were so thrilled to see the Hawk Owl and it was a lifer for one of the birders in our group!
From here we drove down several other roads. We had great looks at a Western Tanager and Magnolia Warbler. We tried for a Canada Warbler and a Connecticut Warbler but no luck with those.
So for a final day of the birding tour we had a super mammal day and some sweet birds.
At our last supper we went around the table with each of us listing our favourite bird and our favourite place or time during the week. It was fun to relive the special moments and many noted that the trip up Mount McIntyre was really an adventure and to see the Rock Ptarmigan on the mountain was just so great. Others liked the momma bear with three cubs moment. This was a super trip.
We thanked Tom and Bruce for the trip and toasted them several times. We hope to do another future birding trip!
The birding was great!! The organization of the trip was expert and food and accommodations were great.
Barb
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