Summer Adventuring

This year's big adventure was a birding vacation that started in Edmonton, hopped up to Yellowknife, and ended in Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island. It's been fun being able to say that I went to the arctic to escape the southern Ontario heat wave… that may have been coincidence but it was a nice side-effect nonetheless.

The far north is a very interesting place; we tend to take trees for granted here in the south so it's a bit unsettling to suddenly be somewhere there are none. Spring was about two weeks late this year, apparently, which meant when we arrived there was still a lot of ice on the water and the ground was still brown and barren. If I have one disappointment about the trip, it's that I didn't get to see the carpet of colour that the tundra apparently turns into in the height of summer… but even in the four full days of sunshine that we had there (and I do mean full days, there was no night) it's amazing how much started to grow and bloom, so that was its own fascinating experience. And the very big benefit to the situation was that there were no biting bugs to worry about, so as disappointments go this one is definitely not a dealbreaker.

There were a lot of very memorable moments, and a lot of very memorable birds. But the single moment that stands out more than any other came at the end of an hour+ long hike across the tundra, when we stopped near an isolated bay and had four Yellow-billed Loons start singing to each other in an eerie call-and-echo chorus that echoed off the water. That's definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences you never forget.

My life list got a huge boost, too, of course. I wouldn't say I'm a Lister, but I do list, if you can appreciate the difference. Highlights include:

• Greater White-fronted Goose (I chase this one every year when they migrate through, and have never managed to catch one)
• Brant
• King Eider
• Surf Scoter
• Pacific Loon
• Yellow-billed Loon
• American White Pelican
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Sabine's Gull
• Arctic Tern
• Long-tailed Jaeger
• Western Tanager
• Harris' Sparrow
• Yellow-headed Blackbird

…among others. Seriously, there were so many birds. Red Phalarope is the one that got away, but that just means I'll have to go back sometime, right?

American White Pelican

Surf Scoter

Bald Eagle

King Eider

American Golden-plover

Greater White-fronted Goose

Snow Bunting

Stilt Sandpiper