30 Mar 8 Best Places to Watch Wildlife in North America
From the world’s largest carnivores to delicate butterflies weighing less than half a gram, wildlife has the power to move and enchant travelers who spend quiet time in nature observing it. Here are eight of the most exciting destinations in North America to do just that.
1) Katmai National Park: Alaskan Brown Bears
Brown bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. ©Brad Josephs/Natural Habitat Adventures
If it’s close encounters with big bears you’re craving, the Katmai Peninsula in southwest Alaska offers some of the most thrilling. Yet your adrenaline will surge from exhilaration, not danger, as you can safely observe Alaskan brown bears – the larger coastal variant of the interior-dwelling grizzly bear – in a couple of different modes. The viewing platforms at Brooks Falls offer iconic scenes of brown bears catching salmon in their jaws as they fish the turbulent water during the summer spawning season. Or, for even more remarkable proximity to Ursus arctos, with no impediments whatsoever, cruise the remote Katmai coast aboard the Natural Habitat Ursus and step ashore to watch the bears on foot in the company of an expert naturalist guide. Though you’re just feet away, the bears are oblivious, focused wholly on eating clams and fish. Since they’ve never been hunted or otherwise disturbed in these protected wilderness environs, they are unconcerned with humans. When it comes to Alaska adventure tours, nothing comes close to Katmai!
Check out our Guided Alaska Adventure Tours.
2) Baja Peninsula: Gray Whales
Gray whale spy-hopping in San Ignacio Lagoon. ©Deborah Doyle/Natural Habitat Adventures
Few wildlife encounters are as moving as coming within arm’s reach of a gentle gray whale. The warm lagoons of Baja on Mexico’s Pacific coast provide shelter for these giant cetaceans that migrate here each winter to birth and nurture their young. Traveling more than 5,000 miles from Alaska’s Bering Sea, the whales usually reach San Ignacio Lagoon and Magdalena Bay by December. February and March are the height of whale-watching season, and delighted visitors often have the chance to see docile mothers and their babies up close. Sometimes, curious females will swim right up alongside excursion skiffs to show off their offspring. Rent a car in Loreto, drive west and pitch your tent at one of the handful of whale camps, or book a package that includes transfers, meals and multiple guided whale-watching excursions. Varied options include sea kayaking and camping, accommodations in beachfront ‘whale cabanas,’ or small-ship journeys in the Sea of Cortez.
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3) Yellowstone National Park: Gray Wolves
A wolf pack in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley. ©Paula Scherbroeck/Natural Habitat Adventures
Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, and they have thrived in the two decades since, helping to rebalance the regional ecosystem. The wide-open plains of the Lamar Valley in the park’s northeast corner offers the world’s best opportunity to see wolves in the wild, though they are elusive predators and require patience (and a good guide) to spot, since pack movements are unpredictable and the impacts of previous interactions with humans have made them shy. Winter tours offer the best chance to spot them, as they stand out against the frozen white backdrop, and tourists in the park are few, offering an experience of silence and solitude that’s hard to find in the park at other times of year. Wolf-watching trips educate visitors about wolf behavior, tracking skills and the latest research conducted by scientists in the region. And even if wolves remain hidden, Yellowstone’s other abundant wildlife is generally on display, including herds of elk and bison. If warm-weather wildlife watching in Yellowstone Country is more appealing, avoid crowded park roads in summer and take to the water: scout for wildlife on the shore as you kayak Jackson Lake and raft the Snake River through Grand Teton National Park.
4) Anguangeo, Mexico: Monarch Butterflies
Monarch butterflies by the millions roost for the winter in the oyamel forests of Mexico’s Central Highlands. ©Astrid Frisch/Natural Habitat Adventures
Sometimes, tiny creatures can be as captivating as megafauna. When fall arrives in the Northeast, monarch butterflies mysteriously know it’s time to fly south to their ancestral breeding grounds. They roost by the millions in a small tract of high-altitude fir forest in Mexico’s Central Highlands from the end of October through early March, clinging to branches in thick clumps that resemble blankets of autumn leaves and taking flight en masse in a fluttering cloud of orange, the sun illuminating their translucent wings. So many monarchs congregate here that you can literally hear their wings vibrating. Visitors access the groves on foot or by horseback, typically as part of a guided package tour based in the former silver-mining town of Anguangeo. http://www.nathab.com/central-america/monarch-butterfly-tour/
5) Churchill, Manitoba: Polar Bears & Belugas
Polar bears are often curious critters! ©Henry H. Holdsworth/Natural Habitat Adventures
Churchill’s most famous wildlife species are both white, and both charming. To see both polar bears and belugas, you’ll have to visit Churchill at different times of year, but either way, you’ll find a fascinating immersion in this subarctic tundra realm that is home to a surprising number of hardy wild creatures. Polar bears are undoubtedly Churchill’s most famous wild denizens, as they congregate here each fall along the shores of Hudson Bay waiting for the ice to freeze and seal hunting season to begin. Package tours include excursions onto the tundra in custom Polar Rovers to observe the bears safely at close range, plus a chance to stay overnight in their habitat at the mobile Tundra Lodge, situated in the heart of polar bear habitat. Come summer, beluga whales by the thousands swim up the mouth of the Churchill River. The small white whales are gentle and friendly, and travelers can view them on Zodiac excursions or even at eye level in the water, snorkeling alongside them in an Arctic wetsuit!
Learn more about Polar Bear Tundra Adventures.
6) Canadian Rockies: Mountain Mammals
Peyto Lake, Banff National Park. The Canadian Rockies provides a stunning backdrop against which to search for abundant wildlife.
The Canadian Rockies, which straddle the Alberta-British Columbia border, are some of the most striking mountains on Earth. They also harbor prolific wildlife that’s readily viewable from hiking trails and cycling along the Icefields Parkway, a scenic drive that connects Banff National Park in the south to Jasper on the north. Kootenay and Yoho national parks round out the quartet of protected areas, and all are home to an abundance of mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black bears and grizzlies, wolves, moose, elk, deer, marmots, pikas and more. The region’s famed mountain lakes, colored turquoise by glacial till, provide an exquisite backdrop for wildlife photography. This is grand country for adventure travel, with multisport trips available that feature hiking, biking, rafting and ice-walking atop the Athabasca Glacier.
7) Año Nuevo, California: Elephant Seals & Seabirds
Watching elephant seals with a park docent at Año Nuevo in California. Photo: California State Parks
Each winter up to 10,000 northern elephant seals return from a life at sea to this rocky stretch of California’s central coast to mate and give birth. Named for their enormous size (males grow from 14 to 16 feet and weigh up to 2.5 tons) and the males’ pendulous, trunk-like noses, elephant seals are a year-round draw at Año Nuevo State Park, one of the largest mainland breeding colonies in the world. A nature preserve has been established to protect the elephant seals along with other wildlife such as sea otters, California sea lions, Steller sea lions, harbor seals, coyotes, and the endangered San Francisco garter snake and California red-legged frog. The preserve, encompassing coastal terrace prairie, wetland marshes, sand dunes and coastal scrub, also shelters native plants and a pristine intertidal ecosystem. Hike along the ocean bluffs to Año Nuevo Point, a major bird migratory route, to see Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, terns, and other seabirds.
Elephant Seal Guided Walks – December 15 to March 31
During the breeding season, when male elephant seals battle on the beaches for mating rights and females give birth to pups in the dunes, access to the Natural Preserve is available only via guided walks. Visitors should book reservations early through Reserve America.
8) British Columbia: Inland Waters Marine Life
Orca in Johnstone Strait, BC. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons
For the ultimate immersive adventure among abundant marine wildlife, spend a month exploring approximately 100 nautical miles of fjords and channels that weave among the bays, coves and islands of British Columbia’s southern coast. As part of NOLS’ Pacific Northwest Sea Kayaking & Sailing wilderness education course, you’ll learn technical skills including paddling strokes, weather analysis and how to interpret tides and currents while you kayak the remote outer coast of Vancouver Island. Camp ashore on wild sandy beaches and investigate tidal lagoons rich in sea life, watching for bears ashore and bald eagles in the trees. Then, learn to sail a 36-foot keelboat through the Strait of Georgia and on to Desolation Sound as you are introduced to chart reading, coastal navigation and seamanship. Captain George Vancouver first sailed these waters in 1792 and found the wilderness realm so raw and forbidding that it inspired the name that remains today. Desolation Sound Marine Park is the largest marine park in the province, protecting 21,000 acres of land and some 40 miles of shoreline. Its waters are home to orcas, humpback whales, porpoises, seals, sea lions and otters.
Learn more about British Columbia adventure travel.
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