New Eagle on the Perch

On our hike today, I spotted an eagle on their favourite perch in McIntyre Creek. This perch is normally occupied by a Bald Eagle, so when I saw this one, I at first thought it was a young bald eagle, but from the colouring I saw when I got the photo on my computer, I am guessing it is a Golden Eagle. It is always enjoyable to see the changing seasons bring out different species. Unfortunately, I was only carrying my pocket camera, with 5x zoom, so wasn't able to get the detail I would have liked. The bird was quite interested in watching us, as much as we were interested in watching it.

Nov. 16/11 - Just got an email from someone who knows birds, and was told this is indeed a young bald eagle, not a golden eagle. "The immature Golden Eagle has no white on the body, only on the wings, at the base of the primaries, and at the base of the tail."

Fall 2010 - McIntyre Creek Scenes

Yesterday I spotted an eagle perched on the tree where (s)he hung out most of the summer. I also saw a very healthy coyote who stopped and stared at us. Today I saw a lone duck swimming. I wondered if it was damaged that it had not flown with the rest of the ducks who had been resident on the pond. I am certain the early snow was a surprise to the ducks as well as the humans in Whitehorse.

Today there were signs out on the trails saying they were closed. I suspect that the new bridges are about to be installed over the Creek over the next several days, and this was the reason the trails were closed. However, it did not stop the many dog walkers and joggers from continuing on their regular paths throughout the area.

Photo by Gerry Steers

July 8, 2010 at McIntyre Creek

Today I saw many happenings at McIntyre Creek. There were cyclist, guys wading in the creek, families enjoying the "beach", and dog walkers. Yesterday there were 3 adult eagles watching the ducks who were huddled into the reeds. A duck family that once had 5 or 6 ducklings was down to 1, and I found it interesting to see that to protect the one remaining baby, one adult swam in front of the duckling, and the other adult swam behind. It appeared to be a male and female sharing the responsibility for protecting their last offspring of the year.

Another thing I found was bear poo, right in the area proposed as Porter Creek D. If we don't leave this corridor open for wildlife to pass, we will be have many more encounters of the unwelcome kind between wildlife and human residents.
Click to view more photos.
All photos by Gerry Steers, Gerry's Computer Magic.

Spring Celebration 2010 Report

"The Friends of McIntyre Creek Spring Celebration held June 11, 12, 13, 2010 was well attended, and enjoyed by the people who took part. The weather was windy and chilly but there was no rain for the event. Several people attended the Yukon Invasive Species weed pulling, (there are a lot of weeds at Yukon College). The dog powered sports dry land racing was an interesting event, and dry land casting was very educational with Dennis Zimmerman and Bruce Ross demonstrating the techniques. Exploring nature with your child was poorly attended as it seamed the soccer and ball tournaments took all the youth. The Bird walk on Friday evening revealed many birds in the wetlands, and a visit to the salmon fish incubation hatchery along Mountain View was very educational. During this event we sampled many of the bugs and things that live in the creek and make it a great place for fish to live"










Photos by Dorothy Bradley.

Bird Watching

The Yukon Bird Observatory blog has been updated and includes the latest from McIntyre Marsh and Albert Creek, both of which have been very busy with birds and visitors/volunteers in the past week. Currently, we are seeing many more of the neotropical migrants including species such as Wilson's Warbler, Yellow Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler.

You can view of blog at http://yukonbirdobservatories.blogspot.com

McIntyre Marsh flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yukonbirds/sets/72157623884862913/

McIntyre Marsh will be open from tomorrow (May 21) to monday (May 24). The station will also be open next weekend.

--
Ben Schonewille

Station Manager
Teslin Lake Bird Observatory

Biodiversity of McIntyre Creek

Gerry Steers, the creator of the Friends of McIntyre Creek biodiversity poster, is shown standing beside her creation. This poster will be present at many of the upcoming events in Whitehorse, so you will be able to get a closer view of the wildlife, and photos of the various activities that take place in our proposed McIntyre Creek park area.

The photos in the poster are all taken from the McIntyre Creek area. Most of the photos are Gerry's, but we did get submissions from other photographers as well, and they have been given credit on the poster for their submissions.

Barrow's Golden Eye

Photo by Julius Debuschewitz
I noticed the duck in the pond at Icy Waters (the first pond). The photo was taken on the morning of May 18, 2009, with a Canon 50D camera and a Canon 100-400 L lens (focal length 400 mm). We often go down there when we are at the actual Marsh to take a look...
Julius

Swan, Duck & Wildlife Sightings

The swans were there as I had surmised. It is a spring ritual, after all! Also, at the Range Road Dump lookout, there were close to 100 swans, about 20 Canada Geese and a plethora of ducks. While cycling on the haul road, I bumped into a moose leaving his drinking hole, located less than a kilometer passed the culvert.

Report and photos by Adam Skutkowski April 29, 2009

American Dipper - McIntyre Creek

The photo of an American Dipper and location information is provided by Adam Skrutkowski. "It was located about 20 feet downstream of the culvert about 2KM from Fish Lake Road on the Copper Haul Road. I was watching the dipper for a while as it dove into the water every 30 seconds or so to feed on the vertebrae in the water. It chirped away between dives."

Swan Viewing

On Sunday, April 26, 2009, there were a dozen swans (and more ducks) in the small opening of water.

The best viewing is to walk in to the end of Range Road Dump or along the bluff from the golf course road. Either way, you have to walk in a bit.

Any day now too, there should be some swan viewing at the Hydro Pond, up the Fish Lake Road, as the south end of the pond is opening up.

Adam

Bird Watching May 19, 2009 with Ione Christensen

May 19, 2009 Bird Watching