This report is about a trip Mira Furgoch and I did to James Bay in August 2010. The entire trip took 10 days involving 5 days of camping on the remote island called Ship Sands Island. This report is meant for anyone who is interested in what we saw and did, as well for people who are considering going there. Hopefully you'll find some more useful information here concerning the trip that will help you plan a trip to the same area and hopefully you enjoy reading our story!
The idea to go to James Bay started in early May, I'm not entirely sure how the idea came about but it was certainly a good idea!
Here are a few maps to show you where we went exactly:
A fair bit of planning went into the trip before we committed to going. We talked to a lot of people to give us an idea as to what we should expect when we were there. Thanks to Ken Burrell and Jean Iron for answering many questions!
The majority of the preparation time was taken up by planning for food and water. We learned early on that there was no source of fresh water on the island and as a result we had to take enough water with us to last the trip. To ensure that we had enough water for the days that we did not have access to any fresh water we had to bring enough water containers for 2 liters each day. So, carrying 20 liters of water, 5 plus days of food, all of our regular camping gear plus all the camera and bird watching gear made for a heavy pack. That mix left us with only one option: a base camp! Not as much maneuverability but it was necessary, and in the end it was more than good enough.
August 26 - Thursday:
We took the 12 hour train from Toronto to Cochrane, Ontario with the Ontario Northlander. Not a terribly exciting ride but the trip had started and I couldn't have possibly asked for more! The 12 hours went by quicker than I expected and soon enough we were camping out in Cochrane next to a small pond near the train station.
August 26 - Thursday:
We took the 12 hour train from Toronto to Cochrane, Ontario with the Ontario Northlander. Not a terribly exciting ride but the trip had started and I couldn't have possibly asked for more! The 12 hours went by quicker than I expected and soon enough we were camping out in Cochrane next to a small pond near the train station.
August 27 - Friday:
Friday involved another long 6 hour train ride from Cochrane to Moosonee. Once we arrived in Moosonee our plan of action was to find a water-taxi driver, find a water source and notify MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) of our plans - in case something were to happen to us.
Soon enough we were loading a water-taxi to whisk us away to our secluded island for the low price of $300 (round trip)!!! Crazy, but we had made it that far, we weren't about to turn around.
It was about 18:30pm when we finally reached the island and we had thought about for many days and months before.
We pitched our tent about 50 meters in land from the point where we were dropped off.
Once we were all set up and ready to explore it was getting dark and the tide was high. We sat by the coast with fascination that we had made it this far. 4 more full days of practically pure birding. Pure in more ways than one! Pure because there wasn't much else to watch, except for the rising tide, and the only other wildlife we saw was 1 American Toad and pure because nobody else would be there to disturb the birds :) In fact the only other people we saw over those four days was one person in a water-taxi about 3 kilometers out on the water and 2 people in a canoe on the other side of the Moose River!
On our way out to the island we saw our first Arctic Terns and 1 Little Gull and in the evening we had our first Short-eared Owl. Things were looking good :)
Before you continue reading about what we did and saw on the island I should explain a few things. While we were there the tide typically was high during the nights and was low during the day. On average the tide would retreat at about 7 or 8 am and would rise by 4 or 5 pm. This was convenient (and we planned our trip around this) because of a few reasons. Most importantly, shorebirds are much more active at low tide because they can feed on the exposed mudflats. Secondly, it became a lot easier to walk around the island on the mudflats at low tide because several creeks that came out of the island were prone to flooding that made them difficult to cross.
On our way out to the island we saw our first Arctic Terns and 1 Little Gull and in the evening we had our first Short-eared Owl. Things were looking good :)
Before you continue reading about what we did and saw on the island I should explain a few things. While we were there the tide typically was high during the nights and was low during the day. On average the tide would retreat at about 7 or 8 am and would rise by 4 or 5 pm. This was convenient (and we planned our trip around this) because of a few reasons. Most importantly, shorebirds are much more active at low tide because they can feed on the exposed mudflats. Secondly, it became a lot easier to walk around the island on the mudflats at low tide because several creeks that came out of the island were prone to flooding that made them difficult to cross.
August 28 - Saturday:
First full day of birding, and first day on the mudflats. We started the day early and were ready to go by 7am. First thing we noticed were the flies. I am going to try and refrain from complaining about them, I've done enough of that!
Once we were walking on the coastline there were fewer flies but still enough to keep us practically jogging.
Once we were walking on the coastline there were fewer flies but still enough to keep us practically jogging.
It wasn't long until we could see the mudflats beginning to appear and our first shorebirds. Hundreds of them. Like ants constantly crawling about. This took our mind off of the flies and they didn't bother us once we were on the mudflats - apparently they don't like it out there. Only when we were on the actual island were there flies. This first day we were still paranoid about the flies while we were on the mudflats and we wore our full anti-fly wear.
But we quickly learned that it was very warm and the flies had all gone for the day. Next lesson we learned was that we could walk barefoot! It felt great on the feet to walk around in the mud and not have to worry about glass or anything else cutting into our feet. I had expectations of seeing thousands of shorebirds and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The only problem was that I wanted to photograph them all! I had to force myself to find birds I hadn't seen before and try to photograph them!
We continued walking around the edge of the island for the first part of the day until we reached Wavy Creek (a river that separates the island from the mainland). We had lunch here with thousands of ducks on one side upstream and thousands of shorebirds on the other side towards the mudflats. While we were eating I noticed a group or large shorebirds coming in our direction. Eventually they flew within 30 meters and landed less than 100 meters downstream of where we were. Marbled Godwits! These were our first godwits, and they were one species I was really hoping to see and photograph. We tried to get closer to them but they took off to feed a few kilometers further out on the mudflats. Mudflats aren't a misnomer, they really are flat, and that can pose a problem. There's practically no conception of distance and the further you walk out the further away the ocean seems! We decided to walk along Wavy Creek to try and reach the ocean. After an hour of walking under the blazing arctic sun the ocean did not seem any closer! But the island sure seemed far away! We decided to turn around and try again tomorrow.
On our way back to the campsite the tide was noticeably rising. There were a number of creeks between us and the campsite that tended to flood during high tide. Although they are crossable at high tide it makes a big difference to cross them when they're not flooded. No one wants their pants to get wet! We rushed ourselves back and in this rush we were a little careless about covering ourselves up to protect against flies. By the time we were back in our tent we had many fly bites with some large swelling occurring! We made sure that wouldn't happen again! Another problem with the flies that we learned early on was that they liked to follow us in to the tent! Usually we would bring in an average of about 100 flies each time! And even more flies would get caught between the tent and the tent fly. That meant some serious fly massacre-ing! By the end of the trip my tent was literally turned black from the dead flies!!!
August 29 - Sunday:
We woke early, again, and prepared ourselves for the onslaught of flies before we got out of our tent. Once we were out we ran the few hundred meters to the beginning of the mudflats. Stripped down to our shorts and t-shirt and began our second day out on the mudflats. My impression of the arctic is that it is warm, sunny, and the water is great for swimming! Definitely a misconception, but if I return I know that I'll be expecting tolerable weather at the very least!
Today we tried to get further out on the mudflats so we didn't spend as much time photographing and birding in the morning. We were at Wavy Creek by 9 am. We crossed the creek which is about 15 meters across but 30 cm deep at the most, and it is warm (or at least it was at that time of year). Once on the other side we headed straight for the ocean.
That's Mira in the yellow
A few kilometers later and we were within a half a kilometer of a large flock of Canada Geese. I could see a lot of shorebirds swarming around them but still too far to ID them. Interestingly, on this side (the North/West side) of the creek there were almost no shorebirds except for this large congregation. Whereas, on the other side of the creek the shorebirds were fairly evenly spread out. Anyway, once we got closer we could ID them. Red Knots and White-rumped Sandpipers, our first (and only) for the trip. At one point the Red Knots flew in and landed about 30 meters from us, unfortunately I didn't have my camera out in time before they moved on.
Soon enough we decided it was a good idea to turn around before we would be racing the tide back to the island.
That's me trying to reach the ocean (the small black dot)
That evening while back in our tent we were getting ready to go to bed when Mira noticed something move past our tent 'window'. We turned off our light and gazed outside. Another dark flash moved past our window. A few more fly-bys and we ID'd it as a Short-eared Owl. It was checking out the new occupants of the island!
August 30 - Monday:
Today we concentrated on photographing Marbled Godwits as well as checking out the ducks by walking up Wavy Creek. The Marbled Godwits had returned to the exact same spot the previous two days at the exact same time for drinking and preening. So I tried to hide in the grassy mud nearby before they came so that they would land near me! Well it didn't work out exactly as planned. I saw them flying in from a distance at their usual time. However, they must have noticed me and decided to land further downstream. I didn't know what to do so I decided to wait some more and see what happens. I couldn't complain, there was a Whimbrel nearby! The Godwits decided I wasn't so much of a threat after all and came a little closer. But they put a patch of grass between me and them. So I decided to crawl, well it wasn't much of a crawl it was more of a slide, across the mud to the other patch of grass. From there I got to a good angle and got what I had hoped for :) Unfortunately, they didn't stick around for too long. Their daily drink and preening break was always short lived. Nevertheless, I am happy with what I got:
After this success we walked upstream. It didn't last long because the terrain wasn't as nice to walk on in bare feet, and at this point we were pretty well habituated to walking with no shoes so we didn't want to change that. So we went back to the mudflats and enjoyed our last full day on the mudflats. We did see a melanistic Least Sandpiper!
We built sand castles for the tide to consume!
That night we decided to move our camp further away from the trees and more out in the open so that we wouldn't have to deal with as many flies. It certainly made a big difference and we were a lot more comfortable in our new surroundings. But that night a major storm passed by. At around 1 am I heard some distant thunder that progressively got closer. I wasn't too happy about this; we were after all pretty close to the Moose River during high tide. The banks could easily flood over if the tide was particularly high and if the storm dropped enough water. By 2 am water was trickling in the corners of the tent. I got out of the tent to inspect the situation. I couldn't see much in the dark with so much rain. I also didn't want to stay outside of the tent for too long because there was lightning and I was standing in a very large field with me being the tallest object for a few kilometers in each direction. Thankfully the river wasn't flooding but water was pooling on the ground because, apparently, the ground was so tightly packed that the water wasn't going into it! I decided there was practically nothing we could do about this so I decided to go back into the tent and wait it out. By 2:30 the storm had passed and I was relieved. Another hour later and again I heard some distant thunder. Not good, but the same thing happened and we survived, our sleeping pads a little wet but can't complain when you're out there!
August 31 - Tuesday:
We were scheduled to be picked up at noon by the water-taxi so we only had a few hours left on the mudflats. Today we were out on the mudflats while the tide was still very high and there were no shorebirds to be seen.
While we waited for the tide to go back out we wanted to track how fast it moved because we were curious and impatient! So we made a "Tide-Ometer"!
While we waited for the tide to go back out we wanted to track how fast it moved because we were curious and impatient! So we made a "Tide-Ometer"!
As soon as the tide lowered shorebirds streamed by eager to feed on invertebrates!
Wayne (the water-taxi driver) came to pick us up perfectly on time. It was sort of surreal to be all packed up ready to go as I watched him in my scope. After months of planning and countless hours of forethought it was over. The first thing he asked was "how were the flies" then "how about that storm"! Apparently it was only the third thunder and lightning storm they had had all year! I suppose that comes with the warm weather we got. It was a fair trade. Amazing weather every day we were there with one night of worrying.
We went to Moose Factory for the rest of the day. We practically sat around and slept for most of the time we were there. We were justifiably exhausted from having walked several kilometers for the previous few days and had very little sleep the night before.
That night we stayed in Moosonee.
We went to Moose Factory for the rest of the day. We practically sat around and slept for most of the time we were there. We were justifiably exhausted from having walked several kilometers for the previous few days and had very little sleep the night before.
That night we stayed in Moosonee.
September 1 - Wednesday:
During the morning we explored the community a little more and by 5 pm we were ready to take the Polar Bear express back to Cochrane.
September 2 - Thursday:
We had a full day in Cochrane so we checked out the Polar Bear habitat. At the time they had only one Polar Bear under their care.
In the evening we took the 12 hour bus back to Toronto in time to catch my flight to St. John's, Newfoundland.
I was sad to leave the North. It was better than I had expected and I can't wait to go back. Maybe next year we'll return. I am happy I got the chance to go out there, it was definitely an experience I'll never forget (and one reason I wrote this, so that I'll be able to read about it when I'm old and full of wisdom...) and I'll be peering at my photographs for many hours for the rest of my life.
If you have any questions, comments or anything to say at all you can contact me at:
I was sad to leave the North. It was better than I had expected and I can't wait to go back. Maybe next year we'll return. I am happy I got the chance to go out there, it was definitely an experience I'll never forget (and one reason I wrote this, so that I'll be able to read about it when I'm old and full of wisdom...) and I'll be peering at my photographs for many hours for the rest of my life.
If you have any questions, comments or anything to say at all you can contact me at:
alvanbuckley@gmail.com
Thanks for reading :)
-Alvan
