38 new Province Birds in Quebec, June 2016

One of my recent listing priorities has been to work on my Quebec province list.  This started with a brief late summer visit to south-central QC north of NH in July 2014 which featured singing Bicknell’s Thrushes and Gray Jays in nice boreal habitat.  My next trip was in September 2015 in southwestern QC north of VT where my focus was on migrants.  On that trip I added several shorebirds (including Long-billed Dowitcher and Stilt Sandpiper as rarities), migrant passerines, and a rare Sandhill Crane.  And my last trip in November 2015 targeted early wintering birds including numerous waterfowl.  After just 6 birding days in QC my province list stood at 152.

The next group of “low-hanging fruit” were nesting species in southwestern QC.  With a lot of eBird research I came up with a list of 49 possible targets.  Although this included a few long shots, quite a number would be very likely with enough time and effort including 31 with rather specific staked out locations.  I started thinking that I might need 4 days in the field to pursue all these possibilities.  But then with some more research I decided I would only need 3 days to try to fill these gaps in my list.  My planned route would start in the southwestern corner of QC (just outside NY and Ontario) mostly in grassland habitat, then I would work north through south-central QC stopping in woodlands and wetlands, then southeast with additional woodland stops before exiting the province into VT.  I watched the weather and picked 3 days in early June with good weather predicted on Days 1 and 2, and passable weather on Day 3.  And with this itinerary I hoped for 31 new birds for my QC list.

Day 1

After the long 4-hour drive I finally neared the border crossing in Rouses Point, NY in mid-afternoon.  As I drove up to the customs and immigration booth I could hear a singing Brown Thrasher in the distance.  This was one of my targets, but was it in NY or QC?  After I finished answering the border guard’s questions I pulled over to the side and determined that the Thrasher was indeed in QC – new province bird #1.  That was easy!

The next stop was on a road called Chemin de Planches just north of Huntingdon where Clay-colored Sparrows had been recently reported on eBird.  Sightings were listed from several spots along this road, either suggesting that there were multiple birds, or the eBirders weren’t too careful about identifying the correct locations.  Unfortunately it turned out to be the latter.  The first spot that was listed turned out to be an electrical substation – no dice there.  However the next spot looked ideal with small conifers scattered in a grassy field.  As I got out of the car I heard the first of many Alder Flycatchers (#2) in the distance.  I listened for a while but heard nothing else in song, until a Field Sparrow started singing right along the road (#3).  But with no luck on the Clay-colored I drove up the road and checked out the next 3 reported locations.  All 3 were thick with aspens – certainly not the right habitat.  So I drove back to what appeared to be the best spot to try again.  And within seconds I heard the buzzy song of a Clay-colored Sparrow (#4) – my hunch was right about the proper habitat.  (Afterwards a local birder I met mentioned the exact location as a specific distance from a given intersection.  Maybe there was a post on the listserve with these details that I needed to translate from French.)  And as I drove away an Eastern Meadowlark sang (#5).  A most successful first stop.

The next stop was just to the west along Montee Smellie where Upland Sandpipers had been reported a couple weeks earlier.  Along the way I thought I heard an Indigo Bunting.  I stopped the car to listen but just heard a Wood Thrush singing from a nearby woodlot (#6) – a nice tradeoff.  When I reached the reported Uppie spot I found a large grassy field on both sides of the road.  Even if the birds were still around, the grass was high enough that they would be difficult to spot so I wasn’t feeling too optimistic.  Just as I started to scan I thought I heard one bird calling.  I listened closer and heard it again.  Then 2 birds rose out of the tall grass and flew overhead giving the full song – an amazing sound.  They then dropped out of sight into another field to the west.  I was very lucky to have been there when they were in view and calling (#7).  A few second later I heard a “che-wink” of a Rufous-sided Towhee (#8) and a Willow Flycatcher calling from the nearby trees (#9).  Another great stop.

The next target was a rare Grasshopper Sparrow that was being seen and heard occasionally in a field near the NY border on Montee Jamieson.  Along the way I spotted 3 Brown-headed Cowbirds on a wire at a cattle pasture (#10).  And then up ahead I noticed a birder pulled over peering up into the trees overhead.  I stopped and he said he had a Yellow-throated Vireo – one of my key targets for the end of the trip at Montgomery Sanctuary.  After just a minute’s wait the Vireo starting singing its buzzy call (#11).  I thanked him and mentioned I was off to try for the Grasshopper.  He said he had just spent 3 hours there unsuccessfully.  On a brighter note he also gave me great advice for finding the winged warblers at a planned later stop. 

Despite the birder’s unsuccessful efforts, I decided to try for the Grasshopper Sparrow anyway.  In route I finally conclusively heard an Indigo Bunting singing (#12).  When I arrived at Montee Jamieson there were several other birders there searching in vain for the sparrow.  But this bird was something of a celebrity, with this sign erected along the road summarizing the farmer’s efforts to manage the site both for the Grasshopper Sparrow (Bruant Sauterelle) and for Savannah Sparrows (Bruant des Pres). 

 

I had several Savannahs and Songs singing in the small field, but no Grasshopper.  The best I could do was add a Scarlet Tanager singing from the adjacent woodlot (#13).  So given that there had been no sightings of the target bird for a while, I decided to not wait any longer here and try my luck at the next stop.  Little did I know that the Grasshopper Sparrow would be the only stakeout target that I would miss on my entire trip.

Next I was off to Montee Biggar where rare Golden-winged Warblers had been joined by a rarer Blue-winged Warbler and even a Brewster’s, along with Black-billed Cuckoo which is another target.  As soon as I arrived along this road I spotted the area the previous birder had recommended – an overgrown grassy field with scattered low trees.  I began to walk through the field, hearing numerous Alder Flycatchers and Towhees along with an occasional Thrasher, but the only warblers were Yellow and Chestnut-sided.  Then maybe 30 minutes later I heard the 4-note buzzy call of the Golden-winged Warbler (#14).  I waited a bit longer and heard it again, but could never get a visual on this bird – which was most disappointing since I think this is one of the most beautiful species of North American birds. 

Then I heard a buzzy call that was somewhere in between Blue-winged and Golden-winged.  I figured this would be the Brewster’s, but with some searching I was able to see this one and it was in fact the Blue-winged (#15).  It continued to give the same odd buzzy call, but looked like a perfect Blue-winged.  I spent another 30 minutes in the field hoping to track down a Golden-winged but with no success.  I did however hear an odd hooting call that I couldn’t place.  The closest I could get was a Long-eared Owl, but I would never check that one off based solely on a call in daylight hours. 

With both winged warblers under my belt I decided to call it quits at this stop and was about to head to the north to the next spot.  But then I remembered that American Bittern had been reported here a few times recently, and the southern part of the road looked like it could provide wetter habitat.  So I headed just a bit to the south and as soon as I reached the wetter area heard a Bittern calling from a tall grassy field (#16).  That was an unexpected bonus for this stop.

Then it was on to 4e Rang at the north end of Montee Biggar where Northern Waterthrush seemed to be regular.  I got to this thickly wooded swamp but found that there was no standing water – not very conducive for finding the Waterthrush though the mosquitoes were still prevalent.  In between swatting mosquitoes I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (#17) calling from the woods – a nice rarity to find in QC.  And then I heard a number of birds squawking back in the woods.  Thinking that maybe they had found an owl I tracked down where the noises were coming from and eventually spotted a small perched raptor deep in the woods.  It took a while, but I eventually got enough glimpses of the bird to identify it as an immature Red-shouldered Hawk (#18). 

I drove a bit farther down the road and eventually found an area of standing water – finally some potential habitat for the Waterthrush.  There were many birds singing here including the first of several Great-crested Flycatchers (#19), Sapsuckers, and a Pileated.  Then I heard mouse-like calls coming from the brush.  Although I thought it could be a Gnatcatcher, that would be quite rare for this area, and thought that maybe it was just a begging cry of a baby bird.  But then the bird came into the open and was in fact a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (#20).  I was even able to get a video of the bird with my iPhone.

As I was watching this bird I realized that a Northern Waterthrush was singing back in the swamp (#21) – I wonder how long it was singing and I hadn’t noticed it.  And then as I was trying to get a visual on this bird a Barred Owl began to call in the distance (#22).  What a nice spot with quite a southern feel for QC!

Next it was off to Chemin Demers in Saint-Antoine-Abbé where numerous Whip-poor-wills and Woodcocks had been reported recently.  After a short 30-minute drive I knew I was in the right area as I began to drive through woodlands of stunted pines and very sparse vegetation on the ground.  I got to the first spot mentioned on eBird and got out of my car to begin to listen for these nocturnal targets.  I had arrived a bit before sunset so I was still listening to a chorus of diurnal birds – Hermit Thrushes seemed to dominate – along with a buzz of black flies and mosquitoes.  Finally about 15 minutes after sunset the Whips started to sing (#23).  I counted at least 4 from this location, but heard no Woodcocks.  So I drove just a mile down the road to the next eBird spot listed for these targets.  When I got out of the car I was shocked by how many Whips were calling – literally in every direction around me.  There were so many birds calling at once that I could not discern individual calls.  I guessed 20 birds – who knows how many there were.  But I could not hear the peents of the Woodcocks.  Finally I heard the higher pitched twittering of one Woodcock overhead (#24).  I wonder if Woodcocks were “peenting” all along but I couldn’t hear them over the din of the Whip-poor-wills.

It was a great ending of a great day – adding 24 new birds to my QC province list among 77 species total.  And I didn’t even arrive in QC until 2 PM!

Just before heading for bed I checked the weather to see if the forecast for the Day 3 had improved.  Amazingly, heavy rains were now predicted starting midday on Day 2 – nice weather had been predicted for Day 2 as recently as this morning.  I now needed to re-think my plan for the next day so that I could try for the most critical landbirds before the rains started.  And I could try for the wetlands birds in the rain if necessary.  That also meant an early wake up call to get in as much birding as possible before the rains arrived.

Day 2

My new plan had me starting the day with a 2-hour drive to Tourbière (bog in French) Sainte-Marie-de-Blandford, and then working my way south to concentrate on waterbirds in the afternoon.  The eBird reports suggested the Troubiere could be a great spot with boreal habitat much closer that the more typical boreal spots in northern QC.  My three key target breeders here were Canada Warbler, Palm Warbler, and Lincoln’s Sparrow, and this spot did not disappoint.  I had my first of 6 Canada Warblers (#25) singing just a short distance along the 2.5 km loop trail.  My only Palm Warbler (#26) was singing at the edge of the bog a short distance away.  And my first of 3 singing Lincoln’s Sparrows (#27) was just another 50 m down the trail.  The woods and bog were full of song, including 8 other species of warblers.  I wanted to stay longer at this really nice spot, but with the impending weather I needed to move on quickly.  I did stop long enough to appreciate this scenery out over the bog.

And took this photo of one of my most favorite flowers – the Lady Slipper.

The next stop was at Parc écologique de l'Anse du Port where a most cooperative Prothonotary Warbler had taken up residence over the last couple weeks.  Numerous Soras, another of my targets, had also been reported here recently.  Luckily I had birded here on an earlier trip so I knew right where to go to try for the Warbler – the main boardwalk through a wooded swamp in the center of the park.  As I started down the boardwalk I noticed a small group of photographers and birders up ahead though they were all talking instead of pointing their optics in any one direction.  It turns out the bird had put on quite a show and had just flown off.  As Maxwell Smart would say – “missed it by that much.”  But then I heard the sweet “churee churee churee” call in the distance.  “Wasn’t that the Prothonotary?”, I asked the birders.  They all agreed but they were just intent on photographing it, so a distant singing bird didn’t get their attention.  Luckily I count heard-only birds (#28).  Then with a short walk down the boardwalk I heard a Sora out in the marsh giving its “churwee” call (#29).  I walked back to the photographers and just then a Black-billed Cuckoo started to give its 3-note calls (#30).  I really wanted to stay longer, but the weather was closing in and I needed to get to one more landbird stop before the rain started.  I hated to bird and run, but there were more new province birds ahead of me.

The planned last stop before the rain started was Route Pepin in Baie du Febvre where Vesper Sparrows had been reported apparently quite reliably.  But just a few minutes before I arrived the skies opened up – sure wouldn’t expect a Vesper Sparrow to be singing in the heavy rain.  So instead I headed to the impoundments in Baie du Febvre, deciding to water birds there in the rain, and then head back to Route Pepin if there was a break in the precipitation.

As I arrived at the wetlands I noticed a pair of Purple Martins flying low overhead (#31).  And before I could get out of the car the first of several Black Terns flew by dancing over the water surface (#32).  I was just about to get out and put on the rainsuit when the rain suddenly stopped.  Time to head back to Route Pepin!  Ten minutes later I was back at the potential Vesper Sparrow spot.  The good news was the rain had mostly stopped; the bad news was that all the fields along the road were planted in corn - certainly not conducive for finding most any type of bird.  But then I remembered hearing Vesper Sparrows in this type of habitat as long as they had at least a little grassy margin around the field edges.  So I drove along until I found a small area of grass and got out of the car to listen.  Almost instantly I heard a Vesper Sparrow singing (#33).  With that one checked off, it was back to the impoundments to try for my marshbird targets. 

It was only raining lightly when I got back to the impoundments and I walked along the trail to get a view of the marshes.  There were numerous dabblers and Gallinules on the marsh, along with perhaps as many as 50 Black Terns.  Eventually I picked out several American Coots (#34) scattered throughout the marsh.  That left me with just one remaining realistic target - Least Bittern - which had been reported several times from the marsh.  I started scanning the cattails hoping to pick one out when I heard an American Bittern calling.  Amazingly I spotted this bird out in the open on one of the dikes.  And then I was able to get a video through my scope as it went through what almost looked like convulsions as it called – I’ve never seen an American Bittern calling before.  Here is a still shot of the bird.

I then went back to scanning the cattails and almost instantly a Least Bittern flew low over the vegetation (#35).  Although I had planned to spend more time here, that was the last of my likely targets from this spot.  So since there was still a lull in the rain, I decided to head to my next couple stops in Drummondville to try for my targets there.

While on the 30-minute drive to Drummondville I started reviewing my remaining list of target birds.  Amazingly I was down to needing just 3 stakeout targets, and all of the stakeout birds had been so cooperative that it was just midday on the second day of what I thought would be a 3-day trip.  If the weather cooperated I could try for all 3 of the remaining targets yet that afternoon.  And although there were still several lower probability non-stakeout targets that I could just run into (like Turkey, Ruffed Grouse, Peregrine, and Rough-winged Swallow), I realized I could cut the trip short and head back home that afternoon without missing out on too many new province birds. 

My first target in the city of Drummondville was Chimney Swifts.  Amazingly this species is quite uncommon in southern QC even though the range maps would suggest they are regular in the area.  In my travels through the area I think I’ve realized why there are so few Swifts – there seem to be few buildings that have chimneys that might be attractive to nesting birds.  But there was one location in downtown Drummondville (Pub le St-George) that was featured in an eBird post from this spring with 50 Swifts, which was accompanied by a comment “first of 2016” .  So I hoped that maybe this building had chimneys attractive to Swifts.  It took me a while to navigate the downtown streets but eventually found the Pub and parked on the street right next to the building.  I got out of the car, inserted a “Looney” in the parking meter, and started to check the skies.  Not a minute later 2 Chimney Swifts flew twittering overhead (#36).  That was easy.

The next Drummondville stop was a location called Site des Neiges where Mockingbirds had been spotted likely nesting the last couple years.  This is apparently a downtown location where snow removed from the city streets was dumped.  The dump site is surrounded by a grassy berm with spruce trees planted at the top.  I walked around 2 sides of the site but didn’t see my targets.  I guess I had gotten spoiled by finding so many of my targets almost the instant I arrived at their stakeout locations, so I was getting a bit antsy when 10 minutes passed and there was no Mockingbird.  Then I noticed some movement and there was a Mockingbird hopping among the spruce trees (#37). 

 

That just left one stakeout target – Cerulean Warbler at George Montgomery Sanctuary in Philipsburg.  When I first started planning this trip the Sanctuary was to be one of my key stops with reliable sightings of up to 10 of my targets.  As a result I had planned to bird there much of the morning on Day 3 starting at dawn.  However, one by one, I was able to find all of these targets on other stops - that is with the exception of Cerulean Warbler.  I really wanted to find a Cerulean, and this was the only known nesting location of this species in QC, so it was here or not at all.  I didn’t want to leave QC not having found this bird, nor did I want to have to spend the night and bird there the next morning just for this 1 species.  So although an early morning stop would greatly improve my odds of finding a singing Cerulean, I crossed my fingers that I could still find the Cerulean with an afternoon stop at the Refuge. 

As I arrived at the refuge the sky was threatening and it was spitting a bit of rain.  So although it was damp underfoot, I hoped the cloudy, cooler conditions might entice the Ceruleans to sing more than they might otherwise in mid-afternoon.  I had been told that they were most likely heard near the junction of the blue and red trails, so I headed right to that location.  Along the way I heard several of my other targets singing, like Great-crested Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, and Indigo Bunting, but I no longer needed these species for my QC list.  After taking a couple wrong turns I finally neared the trail junction and almost instantly heard a distant song that was likely a Cerulean.  I stopped in my tracks and listened intently – there it was again – a Cerulean (#38).  I probably heard a second bird too, but couldn’t be sure.  The birds were in the deciduous woods on the hill in the background of this picture.

Given the rainy conditions I decided to head back to the car rather than trying to get visuals on these birds, which was most unlikely anyway as they typically forage high up in the canopy.  As I walked back to the car I realized that I had just gotten 30 of my 31 stakeout targets – an amazing success rate.  Plus I was able to find almost all of them so quickly that I needed just two partial days of birding instead of the initial plan of 4 days.  

For the trip I compiled a list of 112 species.   Eight of these species were new for my Canada list which is now at 307.  The 38 new province birds puts my QC list at 190 – my largest single province list.  Finally making some progress on my Canada lists.  It's about time for me to start making "province bird maps" like my statebirds maps for the US.