Oh, Canada!
The ONLY way to enter or leave Alaska by road is through Tok, Alaska. Population: 1258
Couldn't find Internet in Tok, so I didn't get to check on the DC eaglets.
Tok, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon: 386 miles.
It took me three days. The road from the Canadian border to Haines Junction alternates between gravel, potholes, and pavement. I counted seven other sedans in this section, three of which were Subarus. All other traffic, about 50 cars, were trucks, U-Hauls, SUVs, campers, or U-Hauls pulling campers. I've been counting cars and listening to Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade. He says that ancestral humans, although anatomically modern, were not behaviorally modern - I've dated people like that.
Between Tok and the Canadian border is the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.
The Tetlin is a 700,000+ acre corridor along the Tanana River bounded to the north by the Alaska Highway, the east by Canada, the south by the Wrangell St. Elias, and the west by the Mentasta Mountains. Used by hundreds of thousands of migrating birds from six continents, it's known as an IBA (Important Bird Area). With habitat fragmentation happening everywhere, IBAs are the most critical places in the world for birds.
Identify an IBA near you and become its champion!
In 1982, biologists counted only 56 Trumpeter Swans in the Upper Tanana Valley. Today, thanks to conservation efforts, thousands of swans are found here.
Photo by John Dykstra
Tetlin Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center
After I entered Canada, two things happened: my gas gauge stopped working and I saw a huge flock of Lapland Longspurs.
I tried to do math to figure out how much gas I had. 45 liter tank = 11.9 gallons. About 40 miles or 64 kilometers to the gallon or 151 miles to the liter. Speed limit in Canada is 56 miles per hour. Gas costs about 1.19 a liter in Canada. One American dollar = 1.29 Canadian dollars. 1 T fresh ginger root = 1/4 t ground ginger. No idea how much gas I have. I plan to fill up in every town.
My bird list so far:
Lapland Longspur LALO
Yellow-Rumped Warbler YRWA
Common Raven CORA
Dark-eyed Junco DEJU
American Robin AMRO
Savannah Sparrow SAVS
Green-winged Teal GWTE
Mallard MALL
Spotted Sandpiper SPSA
Bufflehead BUFF
Bald Eagle BAEA
White-crowned Sparrow WCSP
Black-capped Chickadee BCCH
Common Loon COLO
Northern Flicker NOFL
Lapland Longspur - photo by David Pavlik
Note the black tip on the end of its beak.
I found a Northern Flicker AND a rubber tire perched on neighboring snags.
NOFL on upper left
The Prime Minister of Canada, Tim Horton, has a nice office in Whitehorse, Yukon.
I got coffee and looked at the Yukon Bird Club's newsletter, the Yukon Warbler.
Climate change is making bird ranges contract and expand everywhere. A Pilliated Woodpecker overwintered in Haines Junction this year. Also, Cassin's Finch were first documented in the Yukon last winter.
When I arrived in Whitehorse, the fire in northern Alberta was all over the news.
Residents of Ft. McMurray were evacuated north to minerals camps and then escorted back through their burning town by firefighters. Yesterday 7,500 people were escorted through Fort Mac. A woman being interviewed by the CBC said she posted a message on Facebook saying her home is open to anyone who needs it. "I'll stack 'em three high if I need to."
I'm heading to Laird Hotsprings.