top of page

Breeding Birds of Churchill Another Great Year!

Trip report, June 19-26th, 2014. by David Hemmings

For those of you who have never been to Churchill in June to photograph birds, you really are missing something very special.

I just got home from leading the Breeding Birds of Churchill photo adventure with Natures Photo Adventures in Churchill, Manitoba. This place is a wonderful spot to be in June to see and photograph some beautiful bird species in breeding plumage. Species such as the American Golden Plover, Pacific Loon, Arctic Terns, Parasitic Jaegers, Hudsonian Godwits, Whimbrels to name a few.

This year was considerably warmer than normal in Churchill during late June with temperatures soaring to 26 degrees celsius some days. There was a lot of sunshine, lots of warm temps and it was a bit more challenging than previous years to find and photograph our target species. With a lot of walking and looking we did manage to see and photograph pretty much all of our targets for the trip including the Pacific Loon and American Golden Plover, definitely highlights of the trip! We even photographed a Crossfox and a Red Fox kit outside of its den in some beautiful golden evening light.

We had a great group of photographers on this year’s trip and we all had a blast out on the tundra amongst the birds and flowers. The pesky mosquitoes were doing their best to make us run for the hills but we had our deet repellent and our bug jackets so they were no match for us!

For those who were counting we saw over 60 species and photographed the ones that were high on our wish list. The Godwits and Dunlins are spectacular in their breeding plumage at this time of year. We also located and photographed in the nest, the only gull species that nest in trees, the Bonaparte Gull.

We also took a side trip out onto Hudson’s Bay and the Churchill river to see and photograph the friendly and curious Beluga whales that frequent this area in the thousands in June. What an experience that was! Not five minutes into our trip, we were greeted by a large pod of the sociable whales as they swam beside the boat and gave us a few upward glances as if to say hello.

Cape Merry was as beautiful as ever with large pieces of ice dotting the Hudson’s Bay landscape. This is a magical place where you can watch the whale, seals and eiders up close and get great shots of the eiders flying by.

Be sure to join us in 2015 by visiting www.naturesphotoadventures to reserve your spot.

Looking forward to seeing you there! Read more and see more photographs on the Churchill Photo Workshop Page or contact info@naturesphotoadventures.com

bottom of page