ALBERTA:  The Great Canadian Rockies Scenic Nature Tour
July 10 - July 19, 2008

Note: This tour is currently filled.  Please contact us at
travel@njaudubon.org if you wish to be wait listed.

GENERAL INFORMATION:  Visit one of North America’s most spectacularly beautiful regions, the Canadian Rockies in Alberta and British Columbia. The tour will be a photographer’s dream with glorious panoramas of majestic mountains, pristine lakes, waterfalls and glaciers as well as abundant natural history. We will seek out the region’s avian specialties and be on the alert for Grizzle and Black Bears, Mountain Goats, Big-horned Sheep, Mountain Lion, Moose, and Elk to name a few of the region’s many mammals. Experience vast alpine meadows blanketed with wildflowers along with the many resident butterflies. We will take a ski gondola Ride to the top of a mountain and enjoy walking the meadow above witnessing the grandeur of distant peaks and abundant scenery.
Tour stops include: Banff, Banff National Park, Lake Louise, Emerald Lake, Jasper, Jasper National Park, Yoho National Park, and Revelstoke National Parks. Sit back let us do the driving while you take in a feast for your eyes and escape the heat and humidity of summer back home. Day time temperatures seldom exceed the 70’s in this region. Birds we may encounter include: Spruce and Dusky Grouse, Harlequin Duck, Golden and Bald Eagles, Three-toed Woodpeckers, Black Swift, American Dipper, Bohemian Waxwing, Boreal Chickadee, Clark’s Nutcracker, Gray and Steller’s Jays, Townsend Solitaire, Mountain Bluebird, Varied Thrush, Townsend’s Warbler, Gray-crowned Rosy-finch, Pine Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeak, Cassin’s Finch and Red Crossbill.

PACE, WEATHER AND TRAVEL CONDITIONS:
The pace of the tour will be moderate as a typical day will begin around 7:00 a.m. following breakfast and end at 7:00 p.m. We will tempted by sunsets at 9:30 p.m. to extends our days in this beautiful country and may acquiesce to this temptation on days with long drives if the group does not protest. We will begin our tour in the lobby of our Calgary motel and proceed west and north enjoying this glorious country.
The weather here should be glorious with daytime temperatures in the 70’s, but mornings and high elevation locations can be cool with temperatures in the 40’s with the possibility of snow flurries. Dressing in layers will offer optimum comfort here.
Our nature observations will take place primarily from pull offs on national park roads, along back roads and by walking trails and campgrounds.
Transportation will be in two mini-vans which will require a minimum of luggage and a limit of ten participants.
You will receive an additional pre-tour information letter including a list of things to bring, lists of motels and information regarding accessing the motel and meeting the group. This letter will be mailed well in advance of the tour.

DATES: Thursday, July 10 to Saturday, July 19, 2008 (The tour begins and ends in Calgary.)

PRICE: $3150 per person, double occupancy, single supplement (payable if you request single occupancy or if we cannot find you a suitable roommate) is $500

PRICE INCLUDES:
Motel accommodations for nine (9) nights, expert leadership, land transportation from Calgary, Alberta and all entry fees; does not include airfare or meals.

SEND DEPOSITS AND OTHER PAYMENTS TO:

NJAS Eco-travel
9 Hardscrabble Rd
Bernardsville, New Jersey 07924
(908) 204-8998
Make checks payable to the New Jersey Audubon Society

TOUR LEADERS:

Pete Bacinski is Director of the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Sandy Hook Bird Observatory with over 25 years of tour and workshop experience. He grew up in Lyndhurst, NJ with an interest in natural history since early childhood. He attended Pace University in New York City receiving a B.S. in biology followed by M.S. in biology, specializing in entomology, and an MBA in marketing both from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Pete began volunteering for New Jersey Audubon in 1971, leading his first field trip for the organization in 1973. He has participated in every World Series of Birding competition since the event’s inception in 1984 including three winning teams in 1984, 1988 and 1990. Pete was a member of the New Jersey Bird Records Committee for eleven years and was a regional field notes editor for Records of New Jersey birds for eight years. He established and directs the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory for NJAS and is co-compiler and voice of the Voice of New Jersey Audubon rare bird alert for the state of New Jersey. Pete has also been a steering committee member and regional coordinator for the Birds of New Jersey atlas project and currently writes a weekly column in the Newark Star Ledger entitled Seen in New Jersey. Pete’s favorite natural history interests are birds, butterflies, wildflowers, ferns, insects, “herps”, and mammals. Other interests include classical music, American History, audio-books, weather, public speaking and photography. Pete currently resides in Atlantic Highlands.

Karla Risdon is Director of New Jersey Audubon Society’s Weis Ecology Center in Ringwood and Lorrimer Sanctuary in Franklin Lakes.  She began at Weis in 1991 after working for the State Park Service conducting interpretive programs and working at two residential facilities conducting environmental education programs.  Karla received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science Minor in German and her M.S. in Environmental Education.  Growing up in rural Sussex County, from childhood on Karla was always interested in the natural world, but she didn't began birding
seriously until after becoming involved with and birding with NJAS staff.  Over the years Karla has traveled to and birded in Alabama, Florida, the Outer Banks, Maine, Montana, Wisconsin, Washington state and Belize where she continues to add to her natural history and birding background.  From 1991 to 2004 Karla wrote and recorded Nature Notes (aired weekly at a local radio station), and more recently she co-authored NJ Waters:  A watershed
Approach to Teaching the Ecology of Regional Systems with Dale Rosselet, Brian Vernachio, Mike Anderson, and Scott Barnes.
 

For tour itineraries, to register, or for more information contact:

NJAS Eco-Travel at: (908)-204-8998
9 Hardscrabble Road
Bernardsville, NJ 07924
or email travel@njaudubon.org

If you are not a member and would like to become one, consider Joining New Jersey Audubon Society.