Mountains and large snow-melt-fed rivers everywhere! I believe this is the Coal River....

 Across the Continent, Part 2 (of 10):

British Columbia, 26-27 May 2022

     Drake and hen Barrow's Goldeneye in  a small patch of open water in frozen-over Muncho Lake, BC.

I departed the campgrounds at Whitecourt, Alberta, at 7am on the 26th of May, headed north and west. I was woken this morning by songs of White-throated Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and of course American Robin--the omnipresent bird of this trip. Morning temperature was in the 30s and the sky was clear.

    Roadside vistas galore in northern BC. So many snow-coated mountain ranges! Cassiar Mts?

On this day (Day Five) I drove 520 miles, ending at Andy Bailey Regional Park, south of Fort Nelson, BC. I was on the Alaska Highway, headed to the Yukon. In the morning I passed through lots of young aspen forests, a sign of logging or fire. At Pink Mountain I saw logging trucks headed south with piles of conifer logs. Resource extraction is the watchword in these parts... north of Pink Mountain the aspen stands remained wintery--bare of leaves.

    I encountered 8 porcupines on the 2 days of driving through BC. Each one was distinct... 

The first day of my BC drive was relatively quiet, regarding roadside wildlife: several Mule Deer, one Caribou, one Black Bear, two Sandhill Cranes, 30+ Common Ravens, three American Kestrels, and four Red-tailed Hawks.

    I had six Black Bears on the two days of driving in northern BC. 

The dominant roadside birds were familiar: robin, red-wing, raven, crow, kestrel, red-tail... 

    Caribou were foraging along the board in the wilder parts of northern BC.

In the afternoon of the 26th I passed through a mix of spruce and aspen forests, having left the prairie behind. There were patches of roadside snowpack. 

    Dall Sheep came down to the road to get the minerals deposited along the roadside... 

I spent the night of the 26th in Andy Bailey Regional Park, between Prophet River and Fort Nelson. My campsite was right on Andy Bailey Lake, which was very birdy--Common Loons, Blue-winged Teal, American Bittern, Greater Yellowlegs, Ring-necked Duck, and Bonaparte's Gulls, among others. The White Spruce stands featured Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The mosquitoes were quite friendly that evening... I used my Thermacell device to keep them away from the picnic table...

    Wonderful weather along the route made travel a pleasure. I experience only brief rainshowers on the trip North. The road

     was empty of vehicles!

On Day Six I departed Andy Bailey Regional Park at 0615am and drove 475 miles, to Teslin, Yukon. This stretch took me through the most creature-rich stretch of road of the entire trip. It was already light at 4am. The loon pair was calling to wake me up... Three of my beloved shorebirds were noisy and active along the lakeshore here: Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper. 

    A juvenile Golden Eagle

The long winding drive into the Yukon was spectacular--the only similar road vistas to this were in the interior of Alaska (Denali Highway and Glennallen Highway).  Snow-capped peaks in all directions.

    A young bull Moose with nubbins...

Day Six's drive was very productive in terms of quadrupeds: five Black Bears, four groups of Caribou, herds of Woodland Bison, Mule Deer, one Moose, Beaver, and many Porcupines. I encountered more than a hundred Woodland Bison foraging at the roadside, in small groups of males or herds of cows and calves. Barrow's Goldeneye and Dusky Grouse were two two best birds of the day.

    The only Dusky Grouse of the trip was a brief encounter on the road.

                                       This Red Fox was clearly habituated to humankind...

    One never tires of the new scenes of mountains clad in snow...

Once in the north country one had to keep an eye on the gas tank. There were long stretches without gas stations. I stopped at Coal River for gasoline and also had lunch in the tiny restaurant there. I feasted on a bison burger with the works, which powered me for the PM drive to Teslin, Yukon.

    a curious Red Squirrel

    four drake Ring-necked Ducks on a mountain pond by the road.

    two cow Woodland Bison with a gambolling calf.

    herds of cow Woodland Bison were along the road near Muncho Lake

I saw both Tree Swallows and Violet-Green Swallows nesting in the small roadside communities. The most remarkable thing about the Alaska Highway here was that I typically could see no cars coming or ging. The road of virtually empty. I would go minutes without passing a car. This made the driving and nature-watching all that much better. Nice to be on the lonely highway!

    I saw many Swainson's Hawks in the prairie lands of Alberta and eastern BC.

I cross into the Yukon at 2 PM, where the landscape was a sandy glacial outwash cloaked with small  Lodgepole Pines. This type of habitat burns regularly. Forest fire is a big thing in northern Canada.

I stopped at Rugged Terrain Repairs in Watson Lake, Yukon, to have mechanic Norm LeClerc take a quick look at my car. Given I was alone, I did want to have my car break down in the middle of no where... Norm found all sorts of issues, which he addressed, and in 90 minutes I was back on the road, feeling a lot more confident about the future of the trip...  While at Norm's fix-it shop, I bumped into Melody Campbell, a young ornithologist whose ancient Ford truck had broken down. Melody was stuck in Watson Lake, waiting for the arrival of repair parts from some distant supplier. This is the situation I was hoping to avoid. While Norm worked on my car, I chatted with Melody about her current plans (she was headed to Seward, Alaska for work), and her past bird research (she had studied Tree Swallows). What serendipity that I met an ornithologist at Norm's repair shop in Watson Lake! 

    As I drove farther and farther north, the sun set later and later in the evening....

I now had properly inflated tires. The Nissan Dealer in DC had under-inflated my new offroad tires and as a result the car's gasoline mileage was terrible. I instantly got 4 more miles per gallon, which is significant given the currently high price of gasoline. 

I spent the night of Day Six at the Lake Teslin Campground, in the southern Yukon. Snow was piled up around the campground and the aspens were entirely in winter-mode. I am headed northward back into winter even though each day the timing of the sunset stetches later in the evening. It is a chilly night!

My next Blog will feature the Yukon....