BSI-Cornell Project: Great Flight

This is a guest post from our friend Matt Medler, who used to work for BSI and now currently works with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a wonderful research and outreach team whom I used to work for as well. He recently went up to the Boreal Forest of Northern Ontario - and documents here the first leg of his trip. You can view two previous posts mentioning his trip here and here.

From Matt:

Moose Lake, Lake Superior Provincial Park
Credit: Matt Medler

Now that I've returned home from my trip to Ontario, I thought I would share some more details about my trip to Wilderness North's Striker's Point Lodge. After driving from Ithaca, New York to Grayling, Michigan my first day, I crossed back into Ontario at Sault Ste. Marie. From there, I headed north and west along the shore of Lake Superior on the Trans-Canada Highway. The stretch of highway that passes through Lake Superior Provincial Park between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa is home to some of the most striking scenery I have ever seen from an automobile. On one side of the road is Boreal beautyâ€”small lakes and ponds surrounded by conifersâ€”while on the other side, the world's largest lake dramatically emerges at times, revealing cliffs, sandy beaches, and numerous islands. Although I did not have time to get out and explore the park at all, I am eager to return and spend some time in this gorgeous area.

On my third day of driving, I reached the outskirts of Thunder Bay, which is a sizable city of more than 100,000 people. Rather than entering the city, I instead drove north towards my final destinationâ€”the Wilderness North base camp on Lake Waweig, just south of Armstrong, where the local road network ends. The small road leading to base camp definitely gave a sense of driving towards the end of the Earth, and it also had a decidedly Boreal feel to it, with singing Tennessee Warblers audible as I drove by them, and a moose suddenly emerging from roadside shrubs. Fortunately, I spotted the moose from a considerable distance (my Honda Civic would be no match for a moose), allowing me to enjoy it staring at me, and then trotting down the road at a leisurely pace before eventually deciding to disappear back into the dense roadside alders. I'm always amazed at how quickly such a large animal can completely vanish into seemingly the vegetation!

At long last, I arrived at base camp, just in time to check in, learn about our flight plans for the next morning, and enjoy a nice homestyle dinner. With our flight scheduled to leave at 6:30 a.m., I quickly settled into my comfortable rustic cabin after dinner, did some repacking, and then called it a night at 9:30 despite the bright light still present in the evening sky. (The area's latitude of ~50°N, combined with its location near the western edge of the Eastern time zone, meant that it was light out at night until around 10:30.) The next morning, after a hearty breakfast I headed down to the dock, where I met the four guests who would be joining me on the flight to Striker's Point Lodge and Whitewater Lake. They were two retired couples from Iowa who had been to Striker's before, and had returned for more excellent fishing.

Cabin at Wilderness North's Base Camp
Credit: Matt Medler

The Seaplane
Credit: Matt Medler

Together with Fred our friendly pilot, we all climbed aboard the small seaplane that would carry various supplies and us 40 miles north to our lodge. After a brief period of rushing across the calm waters of Lake Waweig, the plane quickly took flight and we were on our way! Soon we were flying over pristine Boreal wilderness, with vast swaths of coniferous forest, the occasional light green hues of deciduous trees, and countless lakes and ponds. As we continued our flight, I was struck by the sheer size of the area that we were viewing from above, while at the same time realizing that what we saw was just a mere fraction of the entire Boreal Forest region. And while in flight, I couldn't help but think of the billions of birds that breed in the Boreal each year, wondering what their flight (often in darkness) over the Boreal must be like, and how they possibly find their way to their exact breeding sites each spring. And then, before I knew it, we were suddenly descending to Whitewater Lake, where we enjoyed a smooth landing and were greeted by the Striker's Point Lodge staff.

Inside the seaplane
Credit: Matt Medler