Crane Gets A Flight South

Crane Gets A Flight South

23/12/19 | Fundraising, Rehabilitation

Canadian wildlife

by Neil Tracey and Lindsay Caskenette | Dec 19, 2023

4 minute read - 

Back in early November, a sandhill crane came into the Yukon Wildlife Preserve’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre with a number of wounds, including a laceration to its eyelid. We are pleased to say that it has been successfully released! But when a bird like this misses the migration, how exactly do you release it?

mature bald eagle in rehabilitation

Photo credit: Neil Tracey

With the help of the amazing folks at Air North, Yukon’s Airline and George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary we were able to transport the crane all the way from Whitehorse to its new winter home outside of Vancouver.

Logo Air North
Logo George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC, Canada.

George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is a federal Migratory Birds Sanctuary located in Delta, British Columbia (about an hour from downtown Vancouver). It has a small population of sandhill cranes that overwinter there, which we hoped would help this newly released bird transition back to the wild. We were a little nervous, as sandhill cranes can be quite unaccepting to newcomers, but in this case things went very well!

• • •

6:00am

Yukon Wildlife Preserve’s veterinarian, Dr. Maria Hallock, collects the crane from the rehabilitation centre. It will ride to Vancouver in a large dog kennel, specially equipped with barriers to limit visibility and help the crane stay calm on the long journey.

6:45am

The crane arrives at Air North Cargo at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport. Checking in a crane is more complicated than checking in a human. Permits and paperwork is processed and the kennel is given a final check to ensure it is secure.

7:30am

Neil checks in for the flight. Neil is the Manager of Programming and Education at Yukon Wildlife Preserve. Before moving to Whitehorse, he worked in wildlife rehabilitation in British Columbia. He was originally going on vacation to visit family; he added a crane release to his itinerary.

8:45am

Air North flight 521 departs for Vancouver. The weather is surprisingly good, and the flight is very smooth.

12:00pm

Air North flight 521 arrives in Vancouver.

12:30pm

Neil and the crane depart for the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, British Columbia.

1:00pm

Kathleen Fry, Sanctuary Manager, meets the bird. She is a big fan of cranes. It shows. She escorts the crane and Neil to the release site, a beautiful lagoon between a set of dykes.

mature bald eagle in rehabilitation

Photo credit: Neil Tracey

1:01pm

The bird makes a break for it! While the team at the Sanctuary had set up a small fenced area to release the bird into - hoping to make the transition to a new environment smoother - the bird almost immediately ducked under the fence and ran off into the reeds.

1:02pm

The crane stops moving and relaxes in the reeds. It blends in extremely well and is challenging to see.

3:00pm

The crane is still in the reeds, relaxing. It has moved a few steps, but is staying in the same protected area.

Normally, when an animal is released back to nature, we do not know exactly what happens next. This time, thanks to updates from the team at Reifel Sanctuary, we can not only tell you what happened next but we also have some amazing photos! Thanks to Kathleen Fry at the Sanctuary for giving us permission to share her photos.

mature bald eagle in rehabilitation

Photo credit: Kathleen Fry - Day 2

Day 2

The crane visited with 15 local resident cranes in the morning before disappearing. This was a huge positive step, as the other cranes did not act aggressively toward the newcomer. In this photo from Kathleen, the rehabilitated crane is clearly identified by his small size and darker colours.

Day 3

The crane is slowly adapting to the wet coastal weather and seems to be keeping his feathers in better condition.

Day 5

Everything looks fine! The newly released crane seems to be hanging around the release area, is staying active, and is interacting appropriately with the other cranes in the area.

Photo credit Kathleen Fry - Day 5 after this crane was rehabilitation in the Yukon, flown South by Air North and released in BC.

Photo credit: Kathleen Fry - Day 5

If you are visiting the Vancouver area, you can reserve a spot to visit the Sanctuary. You might see the rehabilitated crane or some of the songbirds, waterfowl, and other species that call the Sanctuary home!

Wildlife rehabilitation doesn’t take a holiday! If you would like to support future rehabilitation efforts, donations are accepted all year round.

Donate Now
Neil Tracey

Neil Tracey

Manager Education and Programming

Neil is an interpreter and biologist who has worked in wildlife rehabilitation, interpretation, and education. He joined the team in early 2023 from Vancouver. In his spare time he teaches first aid and grows far more plants than he has space for at home.

Explore by Category

Explore by Author

Your Yukon NightHawks

Your Yukon NightHawks

23/12/14 | Community Contribution, Research

Canadian wildlife

by Lindsay Caskenette | Dec 14, 2023

This article was originally published in The Preserve Post newsletter in Spring 2016. More current information and contact for the regional project can be doing on WildResearch.

2 minute read - 

Is it true, that the early bird gets the worm? Not always!

COIN male. 
 Credit: Anne Brigham

A group of highly camouflaged birds, called nightjars, spend their days resting, waking  up just in time for sunset. These birds are most active during twilight – not actually early birds!

The Common Nighthawk, the Yukon’s only nightjar, can often be found feasting on insects above the YWP wetlands during those twilight hours.

 

offspring nightjars nighthawk, wildlife research blog.

Common nighthawk chicks July 7.
Credit: Andrea Sidler

You’ve likely heard the electric peent calls of nighthawks filling the air, or maybe observed their silhouettes circling high above. Perhaps you’ve witnessed the males’ aerial maneuvers as he protects a territory. He shows off his white wing-bars to potential mates while performing spectacular dives toward the ground, pulling up at the last minute, and creating a  mechanical “booming” sound with his wings.

Nighthawk sound recorder. Audio wildlife research.

A sound recorder mounted to a tree with some information for a, human passerby. Credit: Andrea Sidler

In the Yukon, we are lucky we get to experience these unique birds. It is not like this everywhere. In fact, Canadian populations have declined by over 50% in just 30 years (status: Threatened). As a species, nighthawks are poorly understood, particularly here, on their boreal forest breeding grounds.

By using remotely recording sound meters, Canadian Wildlife Service investigated how the Norths’ perpetual daylight influenced the timing of nighthawk activity. For two summers, the YWP was home to recorders which, each night, recorded the calls of resident populations. During June, nighthawks were most active around 2:00 am. However, by the end of July, as true night returned to the YT, this changed.

female nighthawk, nightjars. wildlife research blog

A well camoflauged female.
Credit: Andrea Sidler

There were two activity peaks, one at dawn (4:00 am) and one at dusk (11:30 pm) –similar to southern populations - demonstrating that nighthawks are indeed affected by the changing day-length!

We are trying to learn more about what landscapes our nighthawks use. To help address this, WildResearch is expanding their nighthawk surveying program to the Yukon this summer. WildResearch relies on the collective power of volunteer citizen scientists to conduct surveys (2-3 hrs), which contribute data to conservation efforts. If you’re interested in getting involved contact your regional coordinator. Find out who that is by visiting the WildResaearch site.

Andrea Sidler

Andrea Sidler

Guest Researcher / Author

Explore by Category

Explore by Author

How are Animals Named?

How are Animals Named?

23/11/22 | Wildlife

Canadian wildlife

Nov 22, 2023

11 min read -

Throughout history, various languages and cultures have contributed to a wide - and often confusing - vocabulary used to describe animals' genders, the young stages of their lives and what they may be called when they are gathered together in groups.

deer buck - mule deer
deer doe - mule deer

Mule deer:
Males are called bucks. Females are called does & young are fawns.
A group of deer are often called a herd but more fun versions include a bevy, a bunch, a rangale or a parcel
- though a parcel is often in reference to a group of young deer.

Historically, adjectives were the labels of choice to communicate animal gender identifiers. A broad selection of these labels has resulted - which are not universally applied, even within the same species. For example: in the deer family or Cervidae, males are identified as bucks and females are called does. In moose, and caribou - also members of the Cervidae family - males are called bulls and females are called cows while elk males are referred to as stags.

Moose taken September 2013. Displaying fall rut behaviour between a bull and cow.
caribou bull and cow. Both male and females have antlers. Caribou are cervids.
Elk a stag and cow. These are cervids and males have antlers.

Cervids
From left to right - moose, caribou and Elk.
Males are called bulls (elk are called stags) and females are called cows.

Generally these cervids in groupings would be called herds (though moose are not actually herd animals) while elk can be also called a gang - watch out!

Not limited to just fur-bearing creatures, these titles are applied to other species and there are often departures from the naming conventions used. Rabbits are called bucks and does while steelhead trout males are called bucks, with females being called hens rather than does.

There is also a vast difference in the scientific naming of all creatures. Over the centuries a number of early scientists attempted to establish a format to classify animal groups. Ancient Chinese created the first recorded reference in 2700 BC, but it was quite limited and focused primarily on flora (vegetation) of their geographic region. 

Check out our Facebook post to learn more about Vulpes vulpes; not all red foxes are created equally but all are a red fox!

  1. Remember Fox and the Hound? A male is called a tod (sometimes a reynard or a dog), while females are referred to as vixens.
  2. Young are most commonly called kits but can also go by cubs, or pups.
  3. The collective noun to describe a group of foxes are a skulk, earth or a leash! These names are related to fox behaviour corresponding respectively as a group hunting together, a mama fox with her kits, and a group of domesticated or captive foxes as a leash.

Now, there are other foxes including Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), swift fox (Vulpes velox), fennec fox (Vulpes zerda), and others across the world for a total of 12 species that comprise the largest genus, Vulpes.

Smaller classifications exist within the genus Urocyon which include the gray fox. The only extant species of fox belonging to the Otocyon genus is that of the bat-eared fox found in the African savanna.

Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle described a large number of natural groups, and although he ranked them from simple to complex, his order was not an evolutionary one. He was far ahead of his time in separating invertebrate animals into different groups and was aware that whales, dolphins, and porpoises had mammalian characters and were not fish. The Aristotelian method dominated classification for many centuries. During this period, it provided a procedure for attempting to define living things through careful analysis, it neglected the variations between living things.

In 1758 Carolus Linnaeus, who is usually regarded as the founder of modern taxonomy and whose books are considered the beginning of modern botanical and zoological nomenclature, drew up rules for assigning names to plants and animals. He was the first to use binomial nomenclature consistently. Although he introduced the standard hierarchy of class, order, family, genus, and species, his main success in his own day was providing workable keys, making it possible to identify plants and animals from his cataloging. Linnaeus was the father of the Field Guide.

Lynx classification

Over the centuries a number of paleontologists, biologists, and scientists contributed to refining Taxonomy as we know it today. Perhaps the most notable of these was Charles Darwin - who explained his theory of evolution by describing how animals changed over time, yet still remained within specific categories in taxonomy.

Below is a table defining each classification of steppe Bison, the 15,000-year-old ancestor of today’s wood bison. As you can see, their classifications are not much different, other than identifying wood bison as a sub-species.

While their scientific classifications are very similar, the animals themselves were quite different. Steppe bison persisted through the great extinction of the last Ice Age up until about 5,400 years ago. A relatively recent find in Whitehorse city limits proves steppe bison persisted giving rise to the bison seen in the Yukon today but are not the direct descendants of the steppe bison.

Darwin’s famous illustration The Tree of Life displays the evolutionary relationships between species. This idea caused a great deal of controversy when he concluded that mankind evolved from the apes which was contrary to the religious teachings of the day.

Credit

Muskox and bison - both species are members of the Bovidea family. In this family, males are called bulls and females are called cows. The young are called calves and groups of both species are referred to as "herds". But that is where the line is drawn for their nomenclatures. The Inuit name for muskox is "omingmak," which means "the animal with the skin like a beard." Geographically, today's populations of muskox and bison do not overlap and their adaptions to winter survival as a result are very different.

We can see from this phylogenetic tree how bovids (horn bearing) and cervids (antler bearing) are related to each other. The animals with icons represent those species at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. The Yukon has 9 of the 11 ungulates of North America, excluding the bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope. What's also interesting to note is that mountain goats are their own genus and muskox are more closely related to sheep and goats than they are bison!

When we dive into the scientific name we can see how the classifications carry over. For instance muskox, Ovibos, share genus naming from sheep and cow. Caribou or Rangifer tarandus is reindeer in Latin, from the Greek tárandos, also meaning reindeer. So when someone asks you the difference between caribou and reindeer, you can say, nothing! (Except, reindeer fly!)

Classification tree for ungulates bovid and cervid

(Note: this a general phylogenetic tree; it is not complete and does not represent accurate branch length for amount of genetic change and complexities of sub-taxa).

Beyond the labels used for animal species, their offspring also suffer from a variety of descriptors to classify their young age. There are calves, fawns, foals, pups, cubs, kittens, chicks, hatchlings, fry and owlets to name a few. Yes, there is a lot to remember, but with practice you can master the various names used to identify animal difference.

These descriptor variations also extend to the words used to describe a group of an individual species. There are herds, colonies, congresses, tribes, swarms, flocks, droves, clutches, packs, murders, litters, pods, braces, convocations, gangs, schools, hordes, gaggles, bands, and numerous other words used to describe a group of same-species creatures. There are even names given to groupings of animals that are, in fact, unlikely to group together given their territorial and/or solitary nature - like owls, moose or wolverines.

Even within a class of animals like birds, its a complex web of classification and further to each species' grouping names.

Birds:

  • In general - Flock
  • Eagle - convocation
  • Falcon - cast
  • Owl - parliament, stare or wisdom
  • Swallows - flight, gulp
  • Swans - bevy, wedge
  • Ptarmigans - covey
  • Ravens - unkindness, rave, conspiracy
  • Magpies - tiding, mischief
  • Grouse - pack, covey
  • Crane - sedge
  • Ducks - raft in water and skein when flying
    • mallards on the ground can be called a sord
  • Geese - gaggle
  • Loons - asylum

 

 

 Other mammals:

  • Squirrel - scurry
  • Wild canids, dogs - pack
  • Goats - tribe
  • Otters - romp
  • Porcupines - prickle
  • Voles - colony
  • Wolverines - mob
  • Martens - richness

Invertebrates:

  • Bees - grist, hive or swarm
  • Caterpillars - army
  • Flies - business

Amphibians (no reptiles in the Yukon):

  • Frogs - army
  • Toads - knot

Fish:

  • Trout - school
  • Salmon - bind, draught or run

It's an interesting read to understand the many different words used to describe an animal’s gender, how they are identified when they are youngsters and in groups together. Of course, the list above is centered on animals that make their home in the Yukon - imagine some of the animals that live in your neck of the woods, or places you've travelled to, and what those animals' naming classifications may be.

What is more, the naming of animal's as described by history must also recognize that many of these species, (beyond the few mentioned like Wapati and Omingnak), also hold Traditional and First Nation naming of animals that are descriptive, communicating the animals' place, use or spiritual significance.

Do you have any interesting or favourite animal classification terms/names? Share them with us in the comment section below!

Doug Caldwell

Doug Caldwell

Wildlife Interpreter

Doug is one of the Interpretive Wildlife Guides here at the Preserve. An avid angler and hunter he has a broad knowledge of Yukon’s wilderness and the creatures that live here. With a focus on the young visitors to the Preserve, Doug takes the extra time to help our guests to better appreciate the many wonders of the animal kingdom here in the Yukon.

Lindsay Caskenette

Lindsay Caskenette

Manager Visitor Services

Lindsay joined the Wildlife Preserve team March 2014. Originally from Ontario, she came to the Yukon in search of new adventures and new career challenges. Lindsay holds a degree in Environmental Studies with honours from Wilfrid Laurier University and brings with her a strong passion for sharing what nature, animals, and the environment can teach us.

867-456-7400
Lindsay@yukonwildlife.ca

Explore by Category

Explore by Author

Feathered Friends in Rehabilitation

Feathered Friends in Rehabilitation

23/11/03 | Animal Care, Rehabilitation

Canadian wildlife

by Lindsay Caskenette | Nov 3, 2023

1 minute read - 

Generally, this time of year, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is a lot more quiet than in the months leading up to fall. But in the final days of October the Centre got feathered with some new arrivals. 

October 30th, 2023 Conservation Officers from Dawson brought in a mature bald eagle that was observed to be weak, unable to fly and found near a road being harassed by ravens and magpies. The bird was severely underweight. Being on the ground for an unknown amount of time, the birds tail feathers were damaged. Upon its admittance, the bird eagerly ate and some fluids were administered.

mature bald eagle in rehabilitation

The next day, the Animal Health Unit of the Department of Environment brought a sandhill crane that was unable to fly. Similar to the eagle it was being harassed by scavenging birds. The bird has two lacerations, one of the left eyelid that is not affecting the eye and another on the left tip of the wing. Without much information to these injuries, Dr. Maria Hallock is ensuring they are cleaned and sanitized. The crane is given meloxicam, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), to relieve pain and swelling. 

Now both birds just need time to heal, good food to gain weight and protection, while they return to normal health condition. We expect both animals to make a full recovery and be released back into the wild.

Since the crane should be already venturing down-south for Fall migration, the Preserve will look to some rehabilitation centres in B.C. that could admit the animal to provide its final phase of care after we give it a one-way ticket South via Air North!

Help us get them back on their wings. We could use your help. If you are able to support the care of these two animals, please consider donating. Every contribution makes a difference and as a non-profit charitable organization, you can receive a charitable tax receipt for your support. 

Donate Now

Photo credit: B.Forsythe

Lindsay Caskenette

Lindsay Caskenette

Manager Visitor Services

Lindsay joined the Wildlife Preserve team March 2014. Originally from Ontario, she came to the Yukon in search of new adventures and new career challenges. Lindsay holds a degree in Environmental Studies with honours from Wilfrid Laurier University and brings with her a strong passion for sharing what nature, animals, and the environment can teach us.

867-456-7400
Lindsay@yukonwildlife.ca

Explore by Category

Explore by Author

Faces of the Preserve: Doug

Faces of the Preserve: Doug

23/05/12 | Faces of the Preserve - staff

Canadian wildlife

by Doug Caldwell | May 12, 2023

12 min read -

It takes passion and love for Yukon’s wild spaces and the wildlife that inhabit it, to support the Yukon Wildlife Preserve - a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and protection of Yukon’s natural spaces. 

Meet our Wildlife Interpreter Doug! Here he shares his unique and fascinating life story that led him to not only to the Yukon but eventually to the Wildlife Preserve.

"I was born in Victoria, BC in the mid 50’s and am the eldest of four children. Mom said I was born with an extra helping of curiosity. We were the typical nuclear family of the day. Both my parents enjoyed camping and the outdoors, so we did that a lot. I can remember wet, rainy days in a small tent on the beach near Tofino or in one of the provincial parks up island. When I was around seven, we quit the tent and graduated to a small travel trailer for our camping shelter.

We kids explored everything that did not run away as we got closer. Each year we would expand our knowledge of the forest plants and animals, the rocks, waterways and seashore to see what we could collect as we explored and combed the beaches with our shoulders sunburned from squatting in tidal pools observing all the life they contained. Mom was ever diligent to make sure nothing that was dead or could die found its way into the trailer or the back seat of the car. I had to empty my pockets into a plastic pail before I could enter…it was a rule!

One morning, my sister Sharon found a tiny grey kitten snuggled up to the warm rocks of the campfire at Ivy Green Provincial Park. That was the only creature we were ever permitted to take home with us and that cat named Smoky lasted a good long time as I recall, probably because it was spoiled terribly compared to the life of a feral animal trying to make a living in the wilderness.

My siblings and I lived in a time that is far removed from today. Back then flotsam on the beach may have included Japanese fishing floats hand-blown from coarse green glass and wrapped in netting woven from long eel grass. We hunted sand dollars of all colours & sizes (the best ones were at Tribune Bay on Hornby Island), crustacean shells, wave-polished glass and stones, crustaceans and hermit crabs out shopping for a new shell to call home, and the jetsam that washed in on the previous high tides. Each day was fresh and new waiting to be discovered, poked, prodded and inspected.

Flotsam on the beach may have included Japanese fishing floats hand-blown from coarse green glass and wrapped in netting woven from long eel grass

Sometimes we would find something that we had seen in a nature book our paternal grandfather had given as a gift, so returning home the book was found and we would learn more about our latest discovery.  My grandfather was hopeful that we kids would take an interest in the natural world, and he would buy us books to inspire our curiosity to all facets of the earth and all that crawls on it. He gifted us with the complete Time Life series of the natural world and an annual subscription to National Geographic. I still have those books and I will sometimes open one and be transported back to the big green chair in our living room sitting next to my grandfather’s spirit as I re-read the descriptions of animals or the planet and how it all works as a singular complex biological entity. 

My grandfather was a keen and accomplished angler who infected my dad as a kid with the same passion for testing wits with fish. Grandpa and dad passed this affliction to my brothers and I, and we would often be on the Malahat long before the sun came up; my brother Dave and I slept in the back seat while Dad and Uncle John navigated us to that day’s selected fishing spot. The Cowichan, or Englishman’s River, the Oyster and Gold Rivers, Sooke and Campbell River and many others, were flogged with fly patterns and spinners for rainbows, sea-run cutthroat, seasonal salmon and steelhead. Sometimes we drove along an old logging road to get to a special spot my dad fished with grandpa when he was our age.

Doug's First Fish!

My first fish!

My grandfather was a significant contributor to my perspectives today and I often recall his comments from my childhood when I am telling our visitors about the wildlife here at the Preserve. Back then it was called ecology, today it’s called environmentalism. In each time frame it is still a profound love of our world and all the creatures that live with us.”

When I was twelve the family moved to the mainland and we settled in the cattle farming region of south Surrey. I won’t bore you with my teen years, suffice to say I was right and all those who opposed me were not.

After graduating high school at Lord Tweedsmuir High School in Cloverdale, I worked various jobs in the marine sector from maintenance to a deckhand on a salmon trawler to eventually a trained mechanic with the Mercury Marine in Burnaby, B.C.  

“Being a not-so-big-kinda guy I often got the jobs working down in the oily dank and sour bilges and honestly I quickly developed a dislike for that working environment, so I began to learn about navigational gear and other electronics that don’t live in the bilges, rather they cling high up on the masts and elevated superstructures where a skill-testing climb was required. I quit being a bilge rat and became a mast monkey. I spent a few years installing and repairing radio gear, radar systems, and similar equipment in boats, aircraft, cars and trucks.

My mast monkey days!

Time passed and I met and married my wife Chris. In the fall of 1976, I was recruited for a job working as a marine mechanic for the National Geographic’s support depot in Perth, Australia. At the same time my dad had a business venture here in Whitehorse he wanted me to work in. Two job offers: One hot - one cold. My mom ended up making the choice for us as she quite passionately said she was not going to sit on an airplane for 15 bloody hours to visit her grandchildren. We moved to Whitehorse.

For our first two years in the Yukon, I spent working to get my dad’s business up and running, then I worked at Sea-Land Recreational fixing boats until I jumped out of one and injured my knee which would require 8 weeks in a cast. Thus began my four year gig at CKRW as an announcer/operator- a DJ in common terms. I loved that job; playing music and informing the audience of the day’s events. But we had another baby on the way which required more income, so without another job waiting, I quit the radio business in 1984 and looked for new employment opportunities which led me to a different kind of radio business.

Next, I accepted a job with Total North Communications which took me to many remote wilderness locations all across the North as we installed remote communications systems for mining camps, exploration ventures, governments, community radio and TV stations, and mountaintop repeater systems which put us right in the middle of the wilderness.

Repraing the Carcross TV system.

I got paid to travel to exotic remote northern places that people pay dearly to visit and experience. While working in the Kluane National Park area on a mountaintop, young Dall sheep would be sniffing in our toolboxes unafraid as we were quite probably the first humans they had ever seen. We watched from the safety of a helicopter as the namesake grizzly of the Golden Bear Mine south of Atlin tore apart a repeater box we thought would be bear-proof…we were wrong. One trip into the far north we had to land the Twin Otter on the frozen tundra, roll a couple fuel drums off the plane and pump the fuel into the plane as a group of caribou watched from some distance. Then we put everything back into the plane and resumed our travel before it got too dark.

Left to right: Refueling the Carcross TV systems on Caribou Mountain; Repeater cornshell Kluane National Park; Installing a repeater near Kluane Lake. 

This job took me to some awe-inspiring locations, often where humans had not yet made footprints. I met some truly amazing people and had some adventurous experiences, some of which prompted my wife to beg me to quit field work and find something safer. Hard landing a helicopter is not a crash, but she saw things differently than I, so after the third hard landing I gave up field work and moved upstairs into sales and marketing and got fat.

In 1991 I was hired on with the Yukon Government’s Executive Council Office to work in policy and communications and the next 25 years went by in a blur. In 2016, I retired from my formal working career with the government, but I don’t sit still very well and needed something to do.

After a month of completing chores around the house and finishing the ‘honey-do’ list, Up North Adventures called to ask if I would be interested in piloting their rough water support boat used to ferry canoe tour groups through the rough and dangerous waters of Lake Laberge and a few other Yukon water systems. Additionally, I would guide fishing parties in search of our local fish species. Inspired by working in that wilderness setting once again, I thought I was set for the rest of my working days. I had a portable office that met my needs very well.”

My portable office for a few years!

After an injury however, a change of pace was needed.

"I saw the job posting here at the Preserve and I considered this would be a great place to work based on previous visits with my grandchildren, and the lack of heavy lifting suited me as I hoped to grow gracefully into my autumn years.

Doug shares stories with guests about the Arctic Fox.
Photo credit: L.Caskenette

When hired and oriented to my new role as a Wildlife Interpreter it took some time for me to become satisfied with the tour presentation I had created. There is so much to share in just the limited hour and a half of a bus tour. Then one day, my memory took me back to one of those chats with my grandfather explaining the world around us and I then knew what my goal here at the Preserve was and I have been refining my tour presentations ever since. I have a presentation now for each season focusing on what the animals are doing at that time in their lives.

I have made it my mission to try and inspire young people to have the same sense of awe and wonder of our natural world as I did when it was explained to me in ways I understood and appreciated. So that’s my focus today - I want to inspire the next generations to love, understand and admire our natural wilderness and the ecology that makes it work.

Guided bus tours are offered daily at the Preserve. Book online!
Photo credit: L.Caskenette

Getting to know our visitors is another part of the job I love. Our international visitors are often drawn here by the romantic stories of the Gold Rush and other days gone by in the North. Many of them hope to see the iconic animals of our unspoiled paradise and learn more about them. I am happy to report we often make some long-held wishes come true for these people as they see a real live moose, musk ox, or other favourite creature up close for the first time. Many visitors are already awestruck with the Yukon and have questions about living here and enduring the cold winters, viewing the Aurora and how we cope without all the big-city conveniences they are familiar with. Some of our elderly visitors are transported back to the memories of their childhood when indoor plumbing was a luxury few had in their homes, very few owned automobiles and the technologies of today were promoted in Popular Mechanics.”

Northern and Arctic icons, moose and muskox.
Photo credit: L.Caskenette

Over the past five years, Doug has met quite a number of people from different walks of life, but a few occasions have stuck out to him.

“One was in the winter of 2018 when a couple from Barcelona toured the Preserve. They were the only ones on the bus and it was around 20 below and we had stopped at the muskox platform for a closer look. I told them about the animals and their natural environment and answered their questions. The lady walked closer to the fence and Jesse, one of our cow musk oxen slowly walked through the snow towards her and stopped so they were only about ten feet apart, face to face with just the wire fence between them. They remained silently staring at each other this way for a bit of time until we got back on the bus. Seated behind me, I could hear the couple quietly speaking in Spanish with some very impassioned tones until the lady began to cry softly. Later in the tour she came to me and apologised for being so emotional.

She could not explain why she felt the way she did but was grateful she had connected with the musk ox and how it was meaningful for her and she would remember it always.

Face to face with Northern wildlife.
Photo credit: L.Caskenette

During my introductory comments on the bus I want people to relax and enjoy themselves and participate rather than just staring out the windows. So as an icebreaker to promote dialog I often point to one of them and ask “What’s your favourite animal in the whole world?” Some need some time to think about it before answering while others answer almost immediately. I have heard everything from horses, dogs and common pets to tarantulas, anacondas, giraffes and polar bears. Animals they adored as kids still have a special appeal for them. It’s that inner-child I want to connect with and helping them to recall being a kid helps to make that happen more easily. I often see the expression on people’s faces that says, “Ask me next!””

Join Doug for a guided bus tour
Photo credit: L.Caskenette

Doug is one of the integral members of the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and his passion helps to connect visitors to Yukon’s iconic wildlife and the habitat in which they live. Next time you visit, stop in and say hello to Doug or share your own story. 

“I have a wonderful opportunity to help our visitors to better understand and appreciate the natural world around us, how it came to be, how it works and how we can help to ensure it continues as it has for millions of years. Kids are keen to know more and I figure if I can help them to understand Nature better, they’ll be inspired to protect it better than previous generations have. As my grandfather demonstrated to me all those years ago, knowledge of our natural world is key to this success. So, I hope I do as good a job with our visitors as he did with me.”

Stories by Doug Caldwell. Read more from Doug. Photos - Doug Caldwell unless otherwise noted.

Doug Caldwell

Doug Caldwell

Wildlife Interpreter

Doug is one of the Interpretive Wildlife Guides here at the Preserve. An avid angler and hunter he has a broad knowledge of Yukon’s wilderness and the creatures that live here. With a focus on the young visitors to the Preserve, Doug takes the extra time to help our guests to better appreciate the many wonders of the animal kingdom here in the Yukon.

Explore by Category

Explore by Author