Wildlife in Canada

Churchill has no road link: you fly from Winnipeg or take the two-day VIA Rail train. Polar bear season runs from about mid-October to late November, when tour companies drive large tundra vehicles out to Cape Churchill, where bears spar and rest on the shore while the bay freezes. Tours sell out up to a year ahead and are expensive, so book early. Female bears den inland in Wapusk National Park, which is visited only with licensed operators.

In July and August thousands of belugas move into the Churchill River estuary to feed and calve, and you can watch them from boats, kayaks or even snorkel with them. Summer also brings tundra wildflowers and the chance of a bear along the coast, and the clear winter nights are among the best in Canada for the northern lights.

In Banff and Jasper, spring and early summer bring bears down to the valley roads to eat new grass and dandelions. The Icefields Parkway, the Bow Valley and the road to Maligne Lake are the classic drives for grizzlies, black bears, moose, elk and mountain goats; go early morning or evening. Elk are common around Jasper town and are dangerous during the September rut and the May to June calving season. Bighorn sheep gather around Lake Minnewanka and on the roads near Jasper.

Wolves, cougars and wolverines live here too but are seen rarely. Jasper’s mountain caribou herds have fallen to very low numbers, and some of their winter range is closed to visitors.

Southern Vancouver Island has year-round whale watching from Victoria, mainly for transient (Bigg’s) orcas, humpbacks and porpoises. Northern Vancouver Island, around Telegraph Cove and Johnstone Strait, is the best place for orcas in summer, especially July to September. Grey whales pass Tofino on their migration in March and April, and some stay to feed through the summer.

Grizzlies are the other draw. Boat tours from Prince Rupert visit the Khutzeymateen grizzly sanctuary in late spring and early summer, when bears graze on sedge meadows. From late August to October, bears fish for salmon in the rivers of the Great Bear Rainforest, home to the white Spirit bear, reached by lodges on the central coast. Inland, the Adams River near Kamloops has one of North America’s largest sockeye salmon runs each October; the big runs come every fourth year (2026, then 2030).

The Saguenay and St. Lawrence meet at Tadoussac, where cold, nutrient-rich water brings feeding whales close to shore. The Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park has resident belugas all year and, from June to October, minke, fin and humpback whales, with blue whales most likely in late summer. You can watch from shore at Pointe de l’Islet and Cap de Bon-Désir or take a boat or zodiac trip from Tadoussac or Baie-Sainte-Catherine.

Algonquin Provincial Park is Ontario’s best place for moose, most visible along Highway 60 in May and June. The park also has loons, beavers and wolves, and in some Augusts park staff lead public wolf howls. Point Pelee on Lake Erie is one of the great spring bird migration spots in North America, peaking in May with warblers, and has a monarch butterfly migration in September.

From June to August, humpback whales feed off Newfoundland, often with icebergs in the background in early summer. Boat trips from Bay Bulls near St. John’s visit the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to North America’s largest Atlantic puffin colony. Moose are common across the island, including in Gros Morne, and caribou roam the uplands.

In national parks you must stay at least 100 m from bears, wolves and cougars and 30 m from elk, deer, sheep, goats and moose. Feeding, enticing or disturbing wildlife is illegal, with fines of up to 25,000 dollars. If you see an animal by the road, slow down, stay in your vehicle and move on rather than causing a “bear jam”.