Birds and Nature North America

headed south on the Alaska Highway in the Yukon

Across the Continent

(part 10)

Yukon - British Columbia - Alberta

23-26 June 2022

wide open spaces of Alberta

I spent the night of 23 June in the Tatchun Lake campground in Carmacks, Yukon. The spruce forest was swarming with hungry mosquitoes. I departed early the next morning, headed for Whitehorse and then Watson Lake. I arrived at Norm Leclerc's automotive garage at 5 PM in Watson Lake and let Norm do a once-over on the vehicle. He had worked on my car on my drive up here in May. He gave the car the thumbs up and provided advice on where to have dinner in town (at Andrea's). A plate of crispy fried chicken hit the spot. I tented at at Watson Lake Campground--another mosquito-rich camping spot... My highway sightings of this day were 2 Porcupines, 1 Arctic Ground Squirrel, and 1 Red Squirrel. Pretty slim pickings...

yearling Cross Fox

Up at 3:30am (24 June). I continued down the Alaska Highway towards Fort St. John, in British Columbia. This particular stretch of highway provided the big pay-off for wildlife: Bison, Caribou, Moose, Red Fox, Dall Sheep, Coyote, and some new birds for the trip: Tennessee and Magnolia Warblers and Blue Jay (surprising eastern boreal species). And more glorious cloudless weather...

heifer and mother Woodland Bison

I spent the night at Charley Lake (in northeastern BC). It was a Sunday night and the campground was crowded with summer campers... The aspen forest of the campground was filled with eastern birds that I had not seen or heard for quite a while: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-eyed Vireo, White-throated Sparrow, American Redstart, and Yellow Warbler...

bull Woodland Bison with a major hump

On the 25th of June I drove from Charley Lake (87 km north of Dawson Creek) to Olds, Alberta--twelve hours of driving. I departed the boreal forest and entered the northern plains. That evening, the only place I could find to camp was the Olds town park where a youth baseball tournament was being staged. Olds is a bit east of Banff and a bit north of Calgary, and just south of Red Deer. I set up my tent in a gravel spot right next to the ball field, surrounded by RVs owned by the traveling families with their young ball players. I was definitely out of the woods here... Talked to some friendly senior ladies, here to watch the baseball. They reported that they were big Trump fans and they cheerfully disparaged their overly liberal Prime Minister (their car sported a bumper sticker with colorful text that I cannot repeat here...)

old timer Woodland Bison bull

Muncho Lake herd

Dall Sheep ewes and youngsters

cow Moose giving me the eye

spry Coyote making for the cover of the woods

Alberta farm

Central and southern Alberta has the look of big sky farm country, with vast plains and fields. This is also big oil country... A freight train passed by at 2AM and it was as if I was camped right on the track--the train sounds were so deafening...It seems camping places are always placed near train tracks...and it seems the freight train has a habit of passing by at 2AM.

Ferruginous Hawk--hunter of the High Plains

On the 26th of June I drove a long and sunny eight hours to Glasgow, Montana. I passed through the conifer-forested Cypress Hills and then into some lonely high plains entirely free of trees.

buck Pronghorn

I was headed to Glasgow, Montana, because of the presence of the Bentonite Road, a paradise of high plains habitat and wildlife that I will report on in the next blog.

high plains

I crossed the international border into the US at Wild Horse. Needless to say, there was not a line at the

US customs barrier. I passed through with minimal comment from the border staff... It felt as if I had turned a page in my big trip... the main events were all done and I just had a few beautiful stops before I made my way home...

more high plains

I arrived at the Shady Rest RV park in Glasgow at the end of the day and luckily the nice three-genration family that ran the park had a convenient spot for me. The granddad had lived in Maryland and attended the University of Maryland was was a Terps fan. They made me feel welcome... This was not my first time here (I think I was last here in 2020). Glasgow is a nice town in an amazing corner of Montana...

bird of the high plains--Upland Sandpiper

On the Montana side of the border there is much more crop agriculture along the little road that leads me to Havre, Montana... Horned Larks are hyper-abundant along the two-lane road, bereft of traffic.