Trip
Summary
Date: June
8 - 17, 2008
Duration: 10 days
Leader: Peter Burke
Limit: 12 people
Cost: $3275 USD/CDN, Single supplement $595 USD/CDN (Prices
include 5% GST)
Departs: Edmonton, Alberta tour ends in Calgary
Highlights:
• Spectacular mountain scenery in the heart of Canada’s mountain
National
Parks
• Excellent bird and mammal watching across a range of elevations and habitats
Featured Birds & Mammals:
• White-tailed Ptarmigan
• American Dipper
• Black Swift
• Lewis’s Woodpecker
• Chestnut-collared Longspur
• Sprague’s Pipit
• Baird’s Sparrow
• Moose
• Mountain Goat
• Bighorn Sheep
• Pronghorn
Summary:
• Moderate walking, some hiking
• One or two steep (optional) hikes
• Highly variable weather, possible snow at the Whistlers
• Good quality accommodation
• 4 to 8 participants with one leader; 9 to 12 participants with two leaders
• One or two 15-passenger vans |
This
tour combines great bird and mammal watching amidst spectacular mountain
scenery. We visit the famed Mountain National Parks of the Canadian
Rockies – Banff,
Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay as well as Kananaskis Country and a few
lesser known but equally charming areas. We explore both sides of the
continental divide including the headwaters of the Columbia River and
the very productive Columbia River wetlands – the longest wetlands
in North America. We will visit a wide range of habitats from the alpine
tundra to prairie grasslands. We amble through magnificent Rocky Mountain
forests looking for warblers and other passerines, scan clear mountain
streams for American Dippers, and search the prairies and astonishingly
productive potholes for grassland birds, raptors, ducks and shorebirds.
We take the longest tram ride in Canada to the Whistlers and look for
high elevation species such as White-tailed Ptarmigan. And we see lots
of mammals - elk, moose, bear, deer, coyote, beaver, porcupine, mountain
goat, bighorn sheep and more.
See detailed itinerary
below
Click
here to download a checklist of birds and mammals from our 2007 Canadian
Rockies tour (179 KB PDF).
Click
here to download a checklist from our 2006 tour
Click
here to download a checklist from our 2002 tour
To
download a registration form click here.
Photos: Elk
by Renee Franken |
Itinerary
Day
1 - Arrival and Orientation
The tour begins in the evening in Edmonton, Alberta. We will meet over dinner
for a brief introduction and orientation to discuss the upcoming adventure.
Night in Edmonton.
Days 2 and 3 - Jasper National Park
We travel west on Highway 16 from Edmonton to Jasper, stopping along the way
to look for forest and water birds, and for a picnic lunch, perhaps on a quiet
lakeshore alive with warblers and other songbirds. As we enter Jasper National
Park we will scan the mountains and roadsides for big game animals and birds
before checking in to our delightful and comfortable cottages on the Athabasca
River—a setting which is truly awe-inspiring. After dinner, we will begin
our birding explorations in the diverse mountain habitats.
During our time in the park we visit several birding hotspots: lowland habitats
such as Cottonwood Slough, the
Maligne Valley and the higher elevation alpine regions
like The Whistlers. In front of our cottages, we will gaze upon the beautiful
Athabasca River, watching for American Dipper, Osprey, Spotted Sandpiper, and
Common Merganser. At Cottonwood Slough we look for Calliope Hummingbird, Willow
and Alder flycatchers, Northern Waterthrush, Gray Jay, and Swamp, Song and
Lincoln’s sparrows. Along the Maligne Valley road we search for Harlequin
Duck, Townsend’s Solitaire, Winter Wren and Varied Thrush. A highlight
will be a gondola ride up The Whistlers. The views from the alpine meadows
can be spectacular, and the birds found here are easily approached
and are species generally not found elsewhere. We will be looking for White-tailed
Ptarmigan, American Pipit, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and Townsend’s Solitaire,
as well as the hoary marmot, or “whistler”. Nights in Jasper.
Day 4 - Columbia Icefields and Lake Louise
Today will be mostly a driving day as we make several stops on our way to Lake
Louise. We travel south along the spectacular Icefields Parkway through Jasper
then Banff National Parks. This is an unforgettable drive through the mountains.
Over the day, we will travel along Continental Divide and go over two major
mountain passes. Our first stop will be at Athabasca Falls where we hope to
see American Dipper. We will also stop at the Columbia Icefields to soak up
the spectacular scenery of the Athabasca Glacier, learn a bit about glaciation,
and bird the open subalpine forests nearby. The lookout at Bow Summit provides
a wonderful view of Peyto lake and glacier. We arrive in the town of Lake Louise
in the afternoon and visit beautiful Lake Louise - a spectacular setting -
where we should find Clark’s Nutcracker. This is an area with a fascinating
history including the amazing engineering of the railroad, the colourful mountaineering
history, and the connection to Canada’s group of seven artists.
Day 5 – Lake Louise to Invermere
We depart Lake Louise and head over Kicking Horse Pass into British Columbia
and our next National Park, Yoho. We travel down to the town of Field and on
to the rich forests along the Kicking Horse River. Townsend’s Warblers
and Hammond’s Flycatchers should be singing from these montane forests.
As we descend into the town of Golden, we will get our first views of the Purcell
Mountains on the west side of the Rocky Mountain Trench and the Columbia River
Wetlands. These wetlands are a Ramsar site, recognized for their tremendous
importance to breeding and migrating birds. At 180 km long, they are one of
the longest wetlands in North America. We will get a better view of these mountains
and wetlands with a gondola ride and lunch at the top of Kicking Horse Resort.
The views from the restaurant are breathtaking! We descend the gondola and
begin our journey south along the wetlands. We will stop at several points
to sample the amazing diversity this area holds. The wetlands are home to Bald
Eagle, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, Wood Duck, Cinnamon Teal, Hooded Merganser,
Sora, and much more. In the forests along the wetlands we are likely to encounter
Least and Willow Flycatcher, Northern Waterthrush, and we have good chances
for Bullock’s Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Veery. Night in Invermere.
Day 6 – Invermere
We have time to explore the diverse habitats and birds of this area. The grasslands
and savannas hold Lewis’s Woodpecker, Western Meadowlark, Mountain and
Western Bluebird, Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting, and Long-billed Curlew.
Cassin’s Vireo as well as Dusky and Pacific-slope Flycatcher can be
found in these forests and with luck we may find Blue Grouse crossing our path.
We make a stop to watch White-throated Swifts while enjoying an ice cream cone – what
fun! Some more time in the wetlands will also give us chance to look for a
few more species we may not have seen yesterday. Night in Invermere.
Day 7 – Invermere to Canmore
After a final morning in this beautiful valley, we head back into the Rocky
Mountains and Kootenay and Banff National Parks. The drive through Kootenay
Park provides more stunning scenery as we travel up to the Continental Divide.
Kootenay Park recently experienced a very large fire so we will stop to see
if we have any luck finding Black-backed Woodpecker, which is a post-fire specialist.
We enter Banff National Park and bird along the Bow Valley Parkway,
an area occupied by Hammond’s Flycatcher and Harlequin
Duck, and then continue on for a visit to the famous and picturesque
town of Banff, arriving at our
hotel in time for dinner. Night in Canmore.
Day 8 - Kananaskis Valley
The fantastically beautiful Kananaskis Valley, on the eastern slopes of the
Rocky Mountains, consists mainly of Lodgepole pine and spruce forest, with
aspen and willow near water. Several large lakes and extensive wetlands dot
the valley. The diverse habitats at the low elevations along the highway
support a great variety of bird species. During the day we visit several
locations
including Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, where we look for Boreal Chickadee
and Spruce Grouse — and we may also find Varied Thrush, Townsend’s
Warbler, Red Crossbill, Belted Kingfisher and perhaps a Northern Goshawk.
Night in Calgary.
Day 9 – Prairie around Calgary
For a change of pace today, we head east from Calgary into the short
grass prairie of southern Alberta. As we travel out of the Calgary,
we watch for
Swainson’s and Ferruginous Hawks, Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Prairie
Falcon, and perhaps Willet and Upland Sandpiper in the open prairie. Pronghorns
feeding close to the road may present an exciting photo opportunity. We arrive
in mid-morning in Dinosaur Provincial Park, which could produce such
summer residents as Rock Wren, Say's Phoebe, Brown Thrasher, Western Kingbird
and Baltimore Oriole. After lunch we wind our
way south, stopping to search for Sprague’s Pipit and Baird’s
Sparrow and at a small lake Western Grebe, American White Pelican and Caspian
Tern.
Then we head back to Calgary where we will enjoy a final dinner together.
Night in
Calgary.
Day 10 - Departure
Our trip concludes in Calgary, after breakfast.
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