My annual birding trip for 2026 featured extended stops in 3 Canadian provinces and territories:
- Alberta (AB) - 3 days concentrating in and around Calgary and Edmonton,
- Northwest Territories (NWT) - 3 days centered on Yellowknife, and
- Nunavut (NU) - 4 days in Cambridge Bay with a brief stop in Kugluktuk.
For AB my goal was to fill gaps in my province list which stood at 173 before
the trip, hoping for perhaps 17 additions. This was my first trip to NWT and NU, so my
goals there were to maximize the number of species I could find in each
territory, hopefully at least 60 in NWT and 40 in NU. All in all, I hoped for 117 new
"ticks".
I was joined by my local NC birding friend Bill Hooker for the entire trip, and
his wife Anita for the first 2 days.
By all accounts the trip was a great success! Among the 198 species we had on the trip, 41
were new for my AB list bringing my province total to 214. We had 76 species in NWT, and 40 in NU
including all our realistic Arctic targets. That gave me 157 new ticks for the trip, well
over my goal. Four of these species were
new for my Canada list, now at 393. Plus, we got to experience a little slice of
Inuit culture among the nice people of Cambridge Bay.
My top 5 favorite sightings of the trip were:
- 3 Yellow Rails calling midday from an Edmonton wetlands
- 3 Yellow-billed Loons in Cambridge Bay
- A remarkable 19 Long-tailed Jaegers across multiple stops in Cambridge Bay
- 120 Sabine's Gulls tallied in several Cambridge Bay locations
- Baby sandpipers and waterfowl throughout the tundra and Arctic ponds
The eBird Trip Report can be found here: ebird.org/tripreport/546824
There’s now only one Canadian territory that I’ve yet to
bird – Yukon Territory. Whitehorse, the
largest city in the Yukon, is located in the southwest part of the territory
near British Columbia and close to the Alaska panhandle. Birding in all three of those jurisdictions
would make for a nice trip in 2027!
This post summarizes the NU portion of the trip. See my previous blog posts for the AB and NWT
portions of the trip.
Planning for Birding Cambridge Bay
I often start my planning for birding a new area by reading
either paper or on-line field guides about the site. However, I found no field guides that
addressed Cambridge Bay specifically, or even NU in general. Though I shouldn’t be too surprised given Cambridge
Bay’s small size (population of about 1,700 per its Wikipedia page). There were a couple bird guiding companies
that offered trips that included Cambridge Bay with a few helpful details
provided on their websites. And of
course, there’s always eBird, where I reviewed data from the few hotspots in
the area. The basic strategy was to bird
along the 4 roads that emanated from the town like spokes of a wheel, as well
as a couple spots right in town. It was a
pretty simple approach for what really was a pretty small area.
All in all, I felt as prepared as I could be as the NU
portion of our trip approached. One
guiding company had seen 40 species in Cambridge Bay in 5 days of birding the
previous year. We were going to give it
just 4 days, which still felt like more than enough time given the limited
habitat and access. And despite not
knowing the area well, I still hoped for perhaps 40 species.
July 6 – First Day
in Cambridge Bay, NU
Our midday flight from Yellowknife was delayed a couple
hours, making us even more anxious to get started on our NU bird lists when we
landed. But first we had some logistical
issues to deal with. An employee from
the motel was waiting for us at the airport with our keys – that was easy. But when we tried to contact the rental car
company to get our truck we realized we had no cell reception and could not
make a call. Luckily, we were able to
use the motel employee’s phone and found out our truck was waiting for us just
outside the airport – keys were in the visor.
And our bags arrived right on time on this carousel guarded by a stuffed
Musk Ox.
We were finally ready to get underway, and got this nice view of Cambridge Bay as we headed out of the airport.
Our first NU bird would turn out to be an attractive Pacific Loon swimming in a small lake adjacent to the road just outside the airport (NU #1). And just a short distance further we ran into Tundra Swans appropriately foraging in the tundra (NU #2).
As we rode around town looking for our hotel (if only signage were better) we saw quite a number of Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and Lapland Longspurs (NU #3 -#5). Quite a step up from House Sparrows and Starlings you see in downtown settings to the south.
With logistics all set, we were finally ready for some real
birding. Our first stop was Lake
Cambridge a short distance from town. As
we were getting the scope set up we were serenaded by White-crowned Sparrows
and a Redpoll (NU #6 - #7), plus this cooperative Lapland Longspur.
Resting on the lake were some of the most attractive water birds you could ask for. First there was a raft of male King Eiders in all their spectacular breeding plumage colors (NU #8). Were the females all off tending to their nests?
Along with a small flock of male and female Long-tailed Ducks in their striking black-and-white breeding plumages (NU #9). Not to mention a flock of Red-necked Phalaropes feeding on the surface, including this colorful female (NU #10).
We also had several Semipalmated Sandpipers feeding along
the muddy edges acting like non-breeding migrants unlike the breeding Semi
Sands we would later see in the tundra (NU #11).
We then turned our attention to the open water to the south,
and a small island that had several roosting adult Glaucous Gulls – the first
of many for us (NU #12). Though it was
interesting that we never saw any immature gulls on the trip. And as we were admiring the Glaucous Gulls a
much smaller very pale gull joined them, which turned out to be our only
Iceland Gull for the trip (NU #13). Swimming
near the island were the first of many Common Eiders – both males and females
(NU #14), as numerous Arctic Terns flew by and dove for food (NU #15).
We then turned our attention back to Lake Cambridge and
started to see several families of Geese.
With a little study we could pick out both the smaller Cackling Geese
with the shorter necks and stubbier bills, and the larger Canada Geese (NU
#16-17). In fact, the parents in one
family appeared to be one Cackling and one Canada. My province and territory map for Canada
Goose is inserted below. The light
blue-shaded jurisdictions are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular
range. The cross-hatched ones are those
where I’ve yet to see Canada Goose where it is regular. I’ve now seen Canada Goose in each province
and territory except Yukon. That is, until
next year.
Next, we drove a short distance to the north to the hotspot
titled “Dump and Sewage Pond” – a birder’s two favorite birding locations all
rolled into one hotspot. Soon we had
numerous Common Ravens (NU #18) feeding with the Glaucous Gulls at the
dump. (Wonder how the Gulls stay so
immaculate feeding in all that trash.)
With nothing else notable at the dump we turned a bit to the left to focus on the sewage pond. The pond had a number of muddy edges and small vegetated peninsulas, along with a few acres of open water. That was actually quite nice habitat as sewage ponds go. Here’s a shot of part of the pond with a family of White-fronted Geese swimming by (NU #19). White-fronted was also a new bird for my Canada list.
And a shot of a much closer White-fronted just passing by.
Scanning across the open water we found a number of Northern Pintails, but surprisingly no other dabblers (NU #20). More in-depth scans of the muddy edges picked-up a Semipalmated Plover and a couple handsome Stilt Sandpipers in breeding plumage (NU #21-22). And speaking of handsome birds, one of the areas with low vegetation contained what appeared to be a small breeding colony of Sabine’s Gulls (NU #23, also new for my Canada list) that aggressively chased away any Glaucous Gulls that came close.
As an aside, there is some debate about the correct pronunciation of this bird’s name. You’d imagine this bird was named after someone named Sabine, and the bird’s name would be pronounced the same way Mr. or Mrs. Sabine pronounced their name. This quote on the Sabine’s Gull is from the St. Louis Audubon website:-
“Arctic gull named after a distinguished Irish scientist and
naturalist, Edward Sabine, who apparently pronounced his name to rhyme with
“cabin”. “
There you have it. For
instance, it’s not pronounced anything like Sabine Pass on the Texas Gulf
Coast.
We then turned our attention back to the dump to look for
any other gulls that may have arrived. Unfortunately,
we only found Glaucous Gulls. But then on
another scan we found the first of nearly a dozen Sandhill Cranes foraging in
the trash (NU #24). I’ve never
experienced Cranes at landfills in the US, but now we’ve found that they’re
regular at both the Yellowknife, NWT landfill and the Cambridge Bay, NU
landfill.
One of our last birds of the day was this striking male Snow Bunting. I’ve cropped the photo to remove most of the tire it was sitting on to make it look at least a bit more natural.
That gave us 24 for the territory, 2 of which were new for my Canada list. A great start to the NU part of the trip.
July 7 – Day 2 in Cambridge Bay
Our plan for this day was to head east out of town on the
9-mile long road to Mt. Pelly. This
picture taken by Bill shows the typical tundra habitat with numerous small
ponds, and with the long, low Mt. Pelly off in the distance.
Nearly every small pond or patch of tundra vegetation had at least one pair of nesting shorebirds. And most pairs had very young baby birds in tow. The dominant species were Semipalmated Sandpipers, Baird’s Sandpipers (NU #25), Semipalmated Sandpipers, Red-necked Phalaropes, and Stilt Sandpipers. Interesting to see these shorebirds roosting on rocks and singing occasionally. And our only Black-bellied Plovers were a pair that flew in and landed nearby, including this attractive adult bird (NU #26).
And speaking of Plovers, nearby we had a small group of American Golden-Plovers calling and foraging in the tundra (NU#27).
Mixed in with the sandpipers were numerous Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs, and a couple American Pipits (NU #28).
With all these smaller birds foraging in the tundra and pond
edges, it was not surprising that there were a number of predators in the area
as well. Most striking were our first of
many Long-tailed Jaegers (NU #29), also new for my Canada list, including this
nicely perched bird.
We also had 2 Rough-legged Hawks (NU #30), interestingly the only ones for the trip. And we had our only Parasitic Jaeger for the trip here as well (NU #31).
Along the way we were always close to ponds or a rapidly
flowing river. Waterfowl featured
Pintails, Common Eiders, Tundra Swans, and Cackling and White-fronted Geese. And as we neared Mount Pelly we started to
see flocks of Snow Geese (NU #32). All
the Geese species had family groups complete with young goslings.
Soon after I took this photo, we took a side road hoping to get
a closer view of Mt. Pelly and the possibility of seeing Peregrines nesting
there.
However, we almost got the truck stuck in deep loose gravel. Luckily Bill was able to cleverly back us out
of the area, and we decided to pass on the Peregrine search.
Although we had planned to spend the entire day along the
road to Mt. Pelly, we were done birding the 9-mile length of the road by lunchtime. So with time on our hands we had a nice
sit-down lunch at our favorite Kuugak Café,
We then headed out of town to the west for an afternoon of
birding along the 7-mile-long Dease Road.
Although parts of Dease Road went through tundra habitat similar to the
road to Mt. Pelly, the key attraction along Dease Road was that it passed along
the north shore of the Northwest Passage.
Much of the water was still frozen, with some breaks of open water.
Many of the pockets of open water contained flocks of diving ducks, dominated by Long-tailed Ducks which we estimated at 150 in total. We also had about a dozen Common Eiders, including this pair dozing on the ice.
At one point we spotted a lone diving duck that stayed on the surface just long enough for us to identify it as a Red-throated Loon (NU #33) – our only new bird for the territory along Dease Road.
July 8 – Day 3 in Cambridge Bay
The plan for the morning of the 8th was to head out of town
to the northwest along Dew Line Road. “Dew”
in this case has nothing to do with morning condensation but instead is actually
an acronym for Distant Early Warning (DEW).
The DEW Line was a system of Cold War radar stations stretching across
the Arctic from Alaska through Canada to Greenland and Iceland to detect
incoming Soviet bombers. (from the DEW
Line Wikipedia page) Although the DEW
Line is no longer functional, much of the original equipment and buildings at
Cambridge Bay are still in place.
And the 8-mile-long road built to maintain the facilities is still intact and provides access into some excellent tundra habitat. Among our 24 species we found along the Dew Line Road were many of the species we found along the other roads we birded. Notable were 14 Pacific Loons – with 1 or 2 on most every large water body, a high count of 18 Tundra Swans, 2 Sandhill Cranes in much more natural habitat than the dump, and a high tally of 7 Long-tailed Jaegers.
Then there was our one addition to our NU lists. While scoping one of the larger lakes we
heard a calling Loon. It was very
similar to the call of a Common Loon, but it didn’t quite sound right. Merlin picked it up and called it a Common
Loon. I played recordings of a
Yellow-billed Loon and Merlin called them Common Loon as well. Merlin was clearly confused, especially since
Common Loons are replaced in this area by Yellow-billed Loons. We concluded we had a calling Yellow-billed
Loon (NU #34). A bit further down the
road we heard another one calling.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find either one despite much searching.
One last noteworthy sighting wasn’t a bird, but instead an
Arctic Hare that was quite cooperative.
Next we were off to the mile-long Town Water Road, that goes north of town and ends at a large lake that is the water supply for Cambridge Bay. Along the way we spotted a stunning Red-throated Loon in breeding plumage – much closer and more satisfying than the one we saw at a distance among the ice on the Northwest Passage.
But the key attraction for us were the recent reports of
Yellow-billed Loon along the road. We
checked every lake along the way with no luck.
And then when we reached the lake at the end of the road we noticed a
bird some distance out. With quick scope
views confirmed we had the Yellow-billed Loon.
Eventually it swam closer and gave us some great views.
What a spectacular bird!
We had a bit of time before dinner and decided to make one more
trip to the dump and sewage pond. (A
great place to visit before eating a meal…)
Although both sites were quite birdy, we didn’t find anything new, and
in fact we were probably seeing the same individuals we saw on our earlier trip
there.
We ended the day adding just 1 new bird for our NU list (the
Yellow-billed Loon), but it was a good one.
July 9 – Day 4 in Cambridge Bay - Nunavut Day
After 2 and a half days in Cambridge Bay we had pretty well
birded all the hotspots and roads that access the tundra. And we had seen most every bird that we
expected. So on a whim we went to the
airport to see if we could move our flights up a day, to give us an extra day
in the Edmonton area. But the changes
would have resulted in extra plane fares of more than $1,500 a piece, not to
mention logistical nightmares, so we stuck with our original plan.
We decided to go back and bird the same areas we had birded already,
hoping to fill the handful of gaps that remained in our NU lists. Our first stop before breakfast was the Dew
Line Road. The key target here was a
Savannah Sparrow that had been reported a couple times that week by tour groups,
though with no location given. On our
trip there the day before I noticed a small brushy area near the beginning of
the road – the only realistic Savannah Sparrow habitat along the road. And a brown passerine actually flashed by as
we drove by there, which made me wonder if we had seen our target. (I put it down as a classic “LBJ” – little
brown job.) That evening I ran into one
of the tour group participants and asked where they had the Savannah – I was
told it was in a brushy area near the beginning of the road. Looks like we had the right spot all along. We went right there on the morning of the 9th,
played just a bit of tape, and the Savannah Sparrow flew right in to investigate
(NU #35). It even sang for us a bit. In my province map below, NU is shaded dark
blue to indicate that Savannah Sparrow is a rarity there. Nice to have our first rarity for NU!
Next we headed back to the road to Mount Pelly, where our
key target was Pectoral Sandpiper. Sibley
says that Pectorals nest on “grassy lowland tundra”, suggesting that they
prefer wetter areas. The problem was
that the tundra seemed to be drier than normal, with wetter areas limited to spots
adjacent to some of the ponds and lakes.
Perhaps the Pectoral Sandpipers had had a generally unsuccessful nesting
season as a result, and had already left their nesting habitat. In any case, we went out of our way to focus
on wetter, grassy areas with no luck.
Perhaps we might still find Pectorals acting as migrant “sand”-pipers on
mudflats instead.
As we got closer to Mount Pelly we encountered significant numbers
of Snow Geese, most being mated pairs, with numerous goslings. While scanning through the Geese we encountered
several dark phase Snows, with darker goslings.
Then in one pair of white geese we noticed that one bird was significantly
smaller than the other. With a closer
scope view we could see it had a stubbier bill – we had a Ross’s Goose (NU #36)
mated with a Snow. And they had a bunch
of hybrid goslings. That was a nice
surprise, even though we missed our target Pectoral.
With a successful first two stops of the day, we headed to lunch
at the local Inuit café, only to find that it was closed. We walked over to the other restaurant in
town (the Kuugak Café) and it was closed too.
What was up? We ran into someone
on the street who told us that most everything was closed that day in
celebration of Nunavut Day.
Nunavut Day is celebrated annually on July 9 to commemorate
the signing of the historic Nunavut Land Claims Agreement in 1993. While Nunavut officially separated from the
Northwest Territories to become a distinct territory on April 1, 1999, July 9
was chosen for the official territorial holiday because the land claims
agreement carries immense historical and cultural weight for the Inuit people. (paraphrased from the Wikipedia Nunavut page)
Luckily the town grocery store was open where I bought chicken
fingers for lunch and a frozen boxed lasagna for dinner, which together cost a
mere $35. I didn’t dare look at the sodium
content in the nutrition information on the boxes.
We were both a bit burned-out and initially decided to take
the afternoon off. But after a quick
power nap I felt recharged and decided to head back out for yet another stop at
my favorite spot – the Dump and Sewage Pond.
The first scans yielded the same species, in fact probably the same
birds we saw earlier. Then again, how
can you be blasé over Arctic species like King Eider, Sabine’s Gull, and Snow
Buntings – all in beautiful breeding plumage?
But then with another scan I spotted a dabbling duck swimming by which
was much darker than the Pintails we’ve been seeing in good numbers. It was a hen American Wigeon, likely the same
one reported a couple of times there recently (NU #37). I’ve now seen this species in each province
and territory except Yukon, including now as a rarity in NU.
July 10 – Day 5 in Cambridge Bay and Brief Stop in Kugluktuk
We had an afternoon flight out of Cambridge Bay that day
which gave us plenty of time for birding a couple hotspots. Our first stop of the day was back at the
Sewage Pond where we hoped to re-find the Wigeon for Bill’s list. Despite lots of searching the only dabblers
we could find were Pintails. On one of
the scans we noticed a taller shorebird foraging along a muddy edge – we
finally found a Pectoral Sandpiper! (NU #38). Couldn’t find them in their nesting habitat,
but ran into one truly acting like a migrant sandpiper.
Our last stop was a return trip to Dease Road. Although we didn’t encounter anything new for
our lists, we got more great views of local specialties like Long-tailed
Jaegers, King and Common Eiders, and Pacific Loons.
Our flight back to Edmonton had a planned 30-minute stop in
the little Inuit town of Kugluktuk. There
had been several eBird checklists recently posted from the airport. Although each checklist only had a couple species,
those species would be new for our NU lists.
So we were looking forward to birding near the Kugluktuk airport, albeit
briefly.
When we arrived at the Cambridge Bay airport we discovered
that the flight was delayed by a couple hours.
And discussions with one of the airline employees indicated that they
would make up some of that time by making only an abbreviated stop in Kugluktuk
– only 5 minutes at most. When we
disembarked at Kugluktuk Bill and I scurried over to the edge of the gravel
parking area hoping against hope that we might see a couple birds.
And that’s exactly what we saw – 2 birds. A square-tailed swallow zipped by which, based on the range maps, would have to be a Cliff Swallow (NU #39). And a sparrow popped out of the small brushy area that turned out to be an American Tree Sparrow (NU #40). Not bad for 2 minutes of birding. Who knows what we might have seen if we had even just a few more minutes. We ran back to the airport building and just a couple minutes later we were boarding the plane to head back to Edmonton.
What a great way to end the NU portion of our trip. I reached my goal of seeing 40 species, and
didn’t even end up getting stranded in Kugluktuk.
And now a few comments about our stay in Cambridge Bay. First of all, about the weather: July is historically the hottest month of the
year, with average highs around 55°F / 13°C and lows near 43°F / 6°C. To be prepared for the cold conditions, I
packed my winter coat, lined pants, long underwear, hat, and gloves. But highs were in the 50’s just one day, and
in the 70’s every other day. And it seemed
to be quite dry as well. Precipitation
is normally pretty limited in the high arctic anyway, but I brought along boots
expecting to be walking through wet tundra.
As it turns out, my boots were another item I packed that were not
needed on the trip. At least the
mosquitoes were not bad as a result.
Finally, a few observations on the local infrastructure. Few of the buildings and homes have
underground water or sewage lines, presumably because of the potential for
freezing the lines in winter. Instead,
each one has a water tank which has to be filled using a water truck. And each has a sewage tank that has to be
pumped out with a vacuum truck. There
were notes in our hotel rooms to be mindful of your water use, but I didn’t
think too much of it. That is until on Nunavut
Day when our motel ran out of water. Of
course, everything was closed that day so there could be no water deliveries. And we still didn’t have any water when we
checked out the next day.
