Photos of Animals, Fish, Birds & Bugs on a Canoe Trip

[PaddlingPitt]

On the Thelon River, NWT, Kathleen and I had pulled ashore in mid-afternoon for a snack. Kathleen hopped out, and was holding the boat for me to get out, when this Grizzly came out of the bush. Kathleen hopped back in, and we pushed off from shore. "Hold still, Kathleen, while I get a picture!' When we gave slide shows, I often said that I had to put on my wide-angle lens, as the bear was too close.



The bear was not at all aggressive, and soon lost interest as we paddled away.



We paddled for another couple of hours before heading to shore again.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

On the Thelon River, NWT, Kathleen and I had pulled ashore

Aside from the wide angle grizzly, which I'd rather not see in person, why does the shore have such a wide, excavated expanse of dirt? Is it because the Thelon is often raging 10-20 feet higher and scouring out a much bigger channel?

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Aside from the wide angle grizzly, which I'd rather not see in person, why does the shore have such a wide, excavated expanse of dirt? Is it because the Thelon is often raging 10-20 feet higher and scouring out a much bigger channel?

I think that’s right, Glenn. When the ice goes out on the spring flood, the river banks are heavily scoured. Common on large, Arctic rivers.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Glenn recently posted some images of flowers, which inspired me to post these pictures captured on the South Saskatchewan River in its Alberta section.



Prairie Sunflower



From left to right: Kathleen, Prickly Pear



Sneezeweed

 

[stripperguy]

Snake with a lump, Boreas Ponds, ADK's

Swimming whitetail, Rock Lake, ADK's

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Last two images from the South Saskatchewan River in Alberta.




Tick Seed




Prairie Coneflower

 

[Jim Dodd]

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Cormorant in Connecticut

 

[Mason]

Not wildlife, but wildlife related. If you look hard, you can see brown bear tracks on the hull. They were much more evident a few minutes earlier (when I didn't have my camera) before they got rained on after I turned it over (it had flipped over during the bear's amble). Our boats were stashed alongside the Noatak R (Alaska), and we were camped probably 75m away up on a rise. The bear came during the night/early morning, walking directly down the canoe along the narrow beach, where we had grilled some trout the evening before. The bear bent 2-3 of the ribs on the boat (17' PakCanoe), but not seriously. We still had 2 weeks left on the river. Luckily I stashed mine, brand new, just a few feet uphill in the willows where it apparently didn't provide a suitable pathway. Interestingly, the bear did not investigate where we had the fire, so I guess we were pretty clean in our cleanup.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Near the Starvation River, a tributary of the Coppermine River, NWT.



Entering the Coppermine, on river left.


Canoeing with the Caribou, Coppermine River, NWT.



Shaking the Coppermine River from their coats.

 

[deerfly]

party animal

 

[deerfly]

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

 

[Robin]

Wind bound on Marshall Lake, nw Ontario this woodland caribou came out of the bush and walked up to the spot where I was hunkered down.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Cobscook Bay, way downeast Maine, which has a tidal range of 24 feet. My Huki V1B Hawaiian OC-1 is on the right with the second best all-around paddler I've ever known, the tragically deceased Clark Bowlen, standing over his Necky Tornak.



One of many seals swimming and sunning on rocks.

 

[Aslowhand]

Woodland Caribou Provincial Park

 

[Mike McCrea]

Two peculiar bird photos.

Diamondback terrapin shells in an abandoned osprey nest. An ornithologist friend suggested that this was eagle predation, using the abandoned osprey nest (built atop a duck blind) as a feeding platform.

IMG011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Camped back in a live oak grotto at Hammocks Beach I heard a sudden splashing of waves in the shallowing tidal creek beside camp and walked down to the water’s edge for a looksee. The splashing was a mixed flock of shorebirds, with more flying in from all directions, all beating the water with their wings, driving a school of fry into the shallows.

PA301471 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

The Ocklawaha River in Florida was the site of the famous steamboat "jungle cruises" in Florida in the 19th and early 20th century, and the location of many Hollywood jungle movies.





A wonderful canoe trip now, how many ibis (?) can you count on the tree?



Soon NONE!

The flock preceded me for miles down the river.



But you can't look upwards too long on the Ock. There are things to see and avoid at water level.

 

[Woodpuppy]

Countless gators on Florida rivers, a great deal of colonial water birds, the occasional owl, osprey, and creepy crawlies!

 

[memaquay]

We see lots of these way back in the bush, It is illegal to pick them in Ontario. This was somewhere in back of Marshall Lake.