Visit Swan Haven
About forty minutes south of Whitehorse, just off the Alaska Highway on M’Clintock Bay on Marsh Lake is a Yukon government interpretative centre known as Swan Haven. During the month of April, thousands of birds gather in the shallow waters to feed. From the centres viewing decks, you can see a couple of kilometres of birds swimming, feeding, landing and taking off. The swans are the most spectacular and impressive but shorebirds, ducks and geese add to the cacophony of sound. There are spotting scopes available and wildlife viewing interpreters on hand.
Check out this website … and be sure to scroll down and list to the sound clips of the swans!
www.environmentyukon.gov.yk.ca/wildlifebiodiversity/swanhaven.php
Bird watching with local birders
There is no better way to learn than to talk to the locals! Tom and Spence of Tom’s Touring Service are great tour guides, but we aren’t birders, so we have arranged for some local birders to join us for a day to share the details of the Yukon Birds. In addition to discussing the migrating birds at Swan Haven, they will guide us along the shores of the lakes and through the woods where spring nesting will already be underway!
Check out the website of the Yukon Bird Club. www.yukonweb.com/community/ybc/
Southern Lakes tour
After a morning at Swan Haven, we will head south along the Alaska Highway to Jakes Corner and then west to the Tagish River Bridge where it is possible to get closer to the migrating birds without disturbing them. We’ll have lunch at Tagish and then head onto the historic and picturesque village of Carcross on Bennett Lake. www.travelyukon.com/About Yukon/Yukon Communities/Carcross
While we are in Carcross, we will hear from a member of the Carcross Tagish First Nation about swans in their traditional culture. We’ll also go for a walk in the desert, a unique ecological area of sand dunes.
Explore the Yukon Wildlife Preserve
A guided interpretative walk of the 750 acre Yukon Wildlife Preserve, home to over 120 animals including caribou, musk-ox, mule deer, bison, moose, elk, mountain goats, lynx, arctic fox and sheep. This unique wilderness Preserve has seven distinct habitats for the animals so you will see them in their natural environment. The Preserve is dedicated to education, conservation and research and is a highlight on the agenda of visitors to the Yukon. www.yukonwildlife.ca
Swim/ soak at Takhini Hot Springs
Just a five minute walk from your accommodations are natural mineral hotsprings where you can soak away your cares while enjoying the mountain scenery. Takhini Hot Springs has two connected swimming pools which are filled with hot (40°C) odourless mineral water from deep within the earth. The water contains magnesium, calcium, iron and other trace minerals. The maximum depth of the hotter pool is 1.2 metres while the cooler pool (37°C) is 2 metres at the centre. www.takhinihotsprings.yk.ca
City tour of Whitehorse
A tour of the City of Whitehorse www.visitwhitehorse.com featuring historic buildings from the gold rush era and the building blitz of the Alaska Highway during the Second World War. Whitehorse is known as “the wilderness city” … a blend of spectacular northern scenery, vibrant community life and services and facilities which will amaze you. Your city tour will include a visit to the MacBride Museum of Yukon History and the natural world. www.macbridemuseum.com/