Issue link: http://read.canadatravelguides.ca/i/1499370
Albert National Park in Saskatchewan and Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. It is awe-inspiring, but rare, to see an immense herd of handsomely antlered caribou stretching far across the tundra. In September, visitors may view the annual migration of one of the largest herds in the world at Leaf River Lodge in the Northern Québec region of Nunavik. Also in Nunavik, the "Big Three" week-long package offered by Inuit Adventures includes excursions with Inuit guides in search of the polar bear in its natural habitat, witnessing the great caribou migration and encounters with small herds of muskox stranded on Diana Island, offshore from the community of Quaqtaq. DIVING IN The beaver, Canada's national symbol, is an aquatic rodent with a large paddle-shaped tail and prized thick fur. Found in waterways throughout Canada, beavers are industrious, felling trees with their sharp buckteeth and building lodges and dams. Primarily nocturnal, they are best viewed at dusk. One popular place to spot them is Jacques-Cartier Park near Québec City. Beluga whales, not much bigger than dolphins and white in colour, are called the canaries of the sea for their constant singing. Every summer about 3,000 belugas gather in the Churchill River delta in northern Manitoba. You can get close by boat tour and listen to them chattering via a hydrophone. Belugas are so gentle you can venture out on the water in kayaks for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Orca, a.k.a. killer whales, cruise all oceans, but are particularly abundant around Johnstone Strait near northeastern Vancouver Island and in the Salish Sea near Victoria. Extremely intelligent animals that live in matrilineal pods, their high dorsal fins slice elegantly through the water. Numerous boat tours are offered. You may also see grey whales up to 15 m (49 ft.) long, especially around Tofino during their migrations in March and October, as well as dolphins, seals and sea lions. The Atlantic coast and the St. Lawrence River are also prime locales for whale watching. Every summer some 12 species— including minke, humpback, finback and right whales—swim into the Bay of Fundy to mate, play and feast on the bountiful food churned up twice daily by the powerful tides. Salmon live in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and are renowned for spawning, that is fighting their way upstream to lay eggs and die in the same freshwater location where they were hatched. Spawning salmon, the lifeblood of the west coast, provide food for bears, foxes, wolves, eagles and more, who then fertilize the forest with their droppings. Spawning salmon can be seen in fall and 32 CARIBOU MIGRATION, LEAF RIVER LODGE, QC • JEAN-SIMON BÉGIN BALD EAGLE WITH EAGLETS, BC • SHUTTERSTOCK/BIRDIEGAL