Canada - June 2006

The Birds and Mammals of Alberta and British Columbia

By Jim Rose

A typical Rockies lake and mountain scene

This was a three week touring holiday with my wife Sue, starting in Calgary (Alberta) on 4th June and ending in Vancouver (British Columbia).   On the way we visited Banff, Jasper, Clearwater, Kelowna, Vancouver and Vancouver Island.  While on Vancouver Island we took part in a two day Bear watching tour from of Campbell River which proved to be one of the highlights of the holiday.

Being a keen birder I wanted to see as many different birds species as possible, as well as see the Bears and Whales which Western Canada have to offer.   Along the way we also saw a range of other mammals, some of which I managed to photograph.

On the following pages there are photographs of many of the bird and mammal species seen.  Please bear in mind that all photographs were taken while generally touring around and no special stake-outs were undertaken or any hides used.  Hence the less than professional quality of some of the photographs.  Hopefully these pages will give potential visitors to the area an idea of what wildlife can be seen without trying too hard, in this fantastic part of the world.  Click on the links below to navigate to the various pages.

The Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper. A young Black Bear decides to cross the road.  Fortunately I was going slow enough to stop in time.  Within 30 seconds he was back in the forest.

 

We had a hire car during the entire trip, except for the excursion to watch the Bears at Knights Inlet, where we were flown out in a float plane.  For more information on this visit http://www.grizzlytours.com .  Our accommodation was a mixture of hotels, cabins, B&Bs and staying with friends.

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