At the end of August, Dian and I camped at Anahim Lake. It was a convenient location to leave the trailer without pulling it down a treacherous hill to Bella Coola and Tweedsmuir Park. This area has a reputation for Grizzly sightings and nothing gets the heart racing faster than a Grizzly.
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| This map shows the route we traveled. It was a 2-day trip to get there. |
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| A Common Loon patrolled the waters on Anahim Lake behind our campsite. |
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| We were sitting on the banks of the Atnarko River with a few other people when someone said "there is a bear behind us." This Grizzly had crept up and was wondering what to do with us. We all stood up and stayed close together to form a large, and hopefully, intimidating presence. |
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| It, fortunately, circumvented us and climbed down into the river. |
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| The difference in lighting gave the bear a different color. In the shadows it was dark. In the sunlight it had a reddish sheen. |
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| It looked back at us from approximately 10 meters. It eventually went upstream where it caught a large salmon. Unfortunately too far away for a good picture. There is a bear viewing platform just upriver but it didn't open until Sept.1 and we were a week too early. |
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| Back at the Anahim campsite, we saw a few Spruce Grouse. This female posed nicely. |
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| This Barred Owl was seen back home in Abbotsford. |
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| On Oct. 9 we went to the West Kootenays for a couple of days. |
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| This Grizzly was just leaving a small community. Its scat revealed it was probably raiding apple trees in someone's yard. It didn't present any exceptional photo opportunities before it left the road and disappeared up a river. |
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| We walked the shores of Kootenay Lake and found 2 migrating Snow Buntings. |
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| This Canvasback Duck was also along the Kootenay Lakeshore. The fall colors on the water were striking. |
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| An American Dipper was resting in Davis Creek near Kaslo. Its eyes are closed revealing its white eyelids. |
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| We just forked out $200 for this substandard picture. This is what we spent on fares to take the ferry to Victoria to find what may be North America's (apart from Alaska) first record of a Yellow-browed Warbler. Definitely Canada's first record. It was found by Geoffry Newell and Jeff Gaskin Oct. 18. This warbler is usually found in Siberia in summer and migrates to southern Asia in winter. This one took a wrong turn. One was seen in the Mexican Baja some years ago. |
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