We are often asked about the wildlife that we encountered. Wildlife tends to be reserved about being seeing by humans and especially when a moving vehicle approaches. So most of the time we could drive through long stretches of road and not see anyone or any wild animals. On occasion we'd get a quick glimpse, before it disappeared back into the brush.

Once in a while we'd get lucky.

We were spending the night at a primitive campsite in Bucking Horse Prov. Park, British Columbia. We had been walking along a river bank, when Peggy decided to go back to the camp, while I went further upstream. About fifty feet from where Peggy had turned around, it came out of some trees into a clearing. I was about twenty feet from a moose cow eating willow branches. She saw me, but ignored me, while I carefully set up my tripod and took a few shots. I was thrilled to see this magnificent creature. Her coat was lustrous and smooth. She was not as impressed with me. For most of the shots, she turned her rump towards me. I guessed I had been put in my place.

The moose cow ambled off into bush and I continued upstream. About half an hour later I came to another clearing and there was the cow with two calves. In the picture above the younger calf is hidden behind the cow and older calf. The younger calf was much shyer than its older sibling. They did not linger long in my view, so I was pleased to have gotten a few shots off.

As I was returning from my moose encounters, I heard this racket at a picnic table near the campsite. It was a one-eyed crow playing with bottle cap - flipping it over and over on the table with its beak. It finally flew off with it. The Native Americans tell many tales about Raven, the trickster, and I could see where they got their start.

My career as a wildlife photog soon hit the skids. My next major opportunity was aboard a catamaran to visit the Columbian and Meare's Glaciers. Aboard the ship we got good views of marine and bird life. Above is the "Old Man of the Seas" - the whiskery sea otters taking a little siesta. We watched while they slept, they do this roll in the water so they would not dry out.

Bald eagles are found all along the northwestern Pacific Coast. They are quite fond of the salmon that inhabit its waters.

Harbor seals sunning them selves on ice flows near Meare's Glacier. The Harbor seals are smaller than their brown cousins, the North Fur seals. Both are common to this area.

Just north of Hyder the Park Service has set up a unique board walk high above Fish Creek. The creek is a salmon spawning creek, which means bears come to feed on the returning salmon. It is a perfect platform to observe black and grizzly bears when they come down to feed.

The rangers told us that this black bear sow lost a cub to grizzly boar a few seasons back. So she is extremely wary of them and does not feed when they are present.

Click below for details of trip:
Introduction
Itinerary
Chitina Cabbage Festival
Northern Lights
Portfolio
Wildlife