Page 32 - 2024-2025 Travel Guide to Canada

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River are also prime locales for whale
watching. Every summer some 12 species—
including minke, humpback, finback and
right whales—swim into the Bay of Fundy
to mate, play and feast on the bountiful
food churned up twice daily by the
powerful tides.
Salmon live in both the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans and are renowned for
spawning, that is fighting their way
upstream to lay eggs and die in the same
freshwater location where they were
hatched. Spawning salmon, the lifeblood of
the west coast, provide food for bears, foxes,
wolves, eagles and more, who then fertilize
the forest with their droppings. Spawning
salmon can be seen in fall and the first half
of winter at many locations, often far inland.
FLYING HIGH
Featured on the dollar coin, loons are duck-
sized birds, regally patterned in black and
white. Excellent swimmers, they catch
small fish in fast underwater chases. Other
than in the extreme north, their eerie,
echoing calls can be heard on numerous
lakes, especially in the Canadian Shield.
Canada geese, another national icon, are so
common across the country they have
become a pest at some golf courses and
parks. In the air, however, they fly in an
elegant V-formation. Once migratory, many
now reside here year-round.
BALD EAGLE WITH EAGLETS, BC • SHUTTERSTOCK/BIRDIEGAL
The bald eagle, a noble raptor most associ-
ated with the United States, actually builds
enormous nests in tall trees across most of
North America. The bald eagle, with its white
head and tail, is particularly abundant in
western British Columbia. The best time to
see eagles in B.C. is in fall and the first half of
winter when they gather, sometimes in the
thousands, at spawning sites such as
Brackendale and the upper Harrison River.
On the other side of the country, huge
numbers of ethereal snow geese make quite
a sight in spring and fall when they take
their migratory pit stops along Québec’s St.
Lawrence River.
The Bay of Fundy provides another avian
spectacle. In late July and August, more than
two million tiny sandpipers flock into the
coastal region to gorge on shrimp before
flying south. Mary’s Point in New Brunswick
and Evangeline Beach in Nova Scotia are two
top places for viewing.
Newfoundland is also a hot spot for
birders. The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve,
for instance, has North America’s largest
Atlantic puffin colony, while the Cape St.
Mary’s Ecological Reserve is known for
razorbills, cormorants, kittiwakes and dive-
bombing gannets.
MUCH MORE
This is but a small sampling, a teaser, to
encourage you to get outdoors and see the
vast array of creatures that live in Canada.
SPIRIT BEAR AND HER CUB, GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST, B.C. • SHUTTERSTOCK/ RICHARD SEELEY