85 Species on Prince Edward Island, Canadian Maritimes Vacation – Part 2 of 3 – September 2015

This post summarizes the 2-day Prince Edward Island portion of my Canadian Maritimes birding trip.  The previous post summarized the background for the trip along with my first 2+ days of birding in New Brunswick.  The next post will discuss the Nova Scotia portion along with a summary of the entire trip.

Day 3 – Afternoon in Borden-Carleton

Local PEI birder Dan McAskill called me just as I was finishing my NB birding and offered to bird with me later that afternoon on PEI.  It’s always great to bird with the local experts who know the best places to bird, not only helping me find birds I might not get otherwise, but also getting to places quickly and efficiently.  This was especially important given my limited time on PEI.  Dan suggested we start at an area just across the Confederation Bridge in Borden-Carleton principally for shorebirds and marshbirds.  I wasn’t familiar with this site, but it sure sounded like a very good spot. 

I met Dan at 3:30 and our first stop was at a pair of sewage ponds full of ducks (dabbling ducks of 5 species and a few Ring-necks), and Bonaparte’s Gulls.  We then made our way down to the shoreline where we picked out distant Sanderlings, Black-bellied and Semi Plovers, and Dunlin.  A large gull flock was sleeping on the beach and Dan mentioned we should look through them for Lesser Black-backed.  Just a couple minutes later I found a 2nd/3rd cycle Lesser.  On our way back to the car we flushed several sparrows from Spartina grasses along the beach edge.  All were Savannahs until a different one popped up and sat very cooperatively in grasses right in front of us – a Nelson’s Sparrow.  Quite a start.

Next we drove to an adjacent wetlands where the mosquitoes outnumbered the birds.  But between swatting the flies, we were able to find a small number of shorebirds with good diversity – both Yellowlegs and Dowitcher on the flats and flyover Leasts and Pectorals.  A perched Merlin and flyby Harriers were nice additions, along with Red-winged Blackbirds perched in the marsh.

As we walked back to the car we reached a small treeline with a few migrant passerines.  Several passed by eluding identification, but we were able to ID individuals of 4 warbler species and a Red-eyed Vireo.  Little did I know that that would be my best warbler spot for the whole PEI portion of the trip.  As we drove out Dan spotted a perched Wood Duck making up for the one I missed earlier.  On our last stop together Dan took me to an Eagle nest with a cooperative adult perched nearby.  As we parted ways Dan agreed to bird with me the next day as well – which was most appreciated given his excellent knowledge of the island.

As a final stop for the day Dan suggested I visit Hydes Park in Cornwall.  This suburban park included a wooded trail, small pond, and a couple small sewage lagoons.  Here I added a flock of vocal Grackles, Wigeon in the lagoons, a flyover flock of Geese, and Robins in the woods.  That gave me a very respectable 48 species for a partial day of birding.

Day 4 – Eastern PEI and Ferry to NS

Dan’s plan was to start at East Point at dawn, then work our way west and south through eastern PEI, eventually making my way to a 4:30 PM ferry from Wood Islands, PEI to Caribou, NS.  East Point is well-known as the best birding spot on PEI.  Aptly named as the easternmost point of land on the island, you bird from the top of cliffs affording great views of the open ocean to watch for seabirds and landfalling landbirds.  As we arrived the first thing we saw were numerous Gannets passing right overhead.  Even when the birding was slow it was great fun watching these birds fly so close by. 

View from East Point, with Gannet just left of the sign

We soon picked out Common Eiders and Red-breasted Mergansers swimming below, along with a few Razorbills.  A couple flyby Great Cormorants and Guillemots were nice, along with small numbers of all 3 Scoters.  But despite our initial success, Dan said it was actually very slow, with few seabirds migrating by. 

We walked around the point to the south to get a different vantage point where we spotted a flock of Bonaparte’s feeding in the surf.  Then I noticed one bird that lacked the white primaries and dark wing tips – it was an adult Little Gull.  I’ve never picked out a Little Gull before based on the color of the upperwings.  Other flybys here included a couple Common Loons, a few Common Terns, and several Kittiwakes.  Another highlight here was a lone Longspur calling overhead.

Next we walked to the north to see what migrant landbirds we might find in scrubby conifers just back from the cliff.  But it was extremely quiet, picking up just a lone Winter Wren, and some Swamp and White-throated Sparrows.  So we decided to walk back a short distance from the point along a field edge to see if we had any better luck with landbirds there.  The first birds we came upon were 2 calling Gnatcatchers – great birds that far north.  But it was still very slow, with Siskin being the only other addition to the list. 

We came back to the point for one more short seawatch, and quickly picked up 2 adult Parasitic Jaegers harassing a nearby flock of feeding Terns.  But with little else moving on the water, he decided to leave East Point and made our way a short distance inland.  We picked up a few odds and ends like Red Nuthatch, both Kinglets, Purple Finch, and Flicker, and we were lucky enough to run into a small group of Boreal Chickadees which can be a challenge on PEI.  When we picked up a flyover flock of Waxwings that gave me #75 for my PEI list – which was excellent given how slow it was both for seabirds and landbirds. 

Dan then took me to a number of spots along the northern and southern coasts of the island, as well as to several inland wetlands.  We picked up a lone (of course) Solitary Sandpiper, a female Pintail, and a rare Vesper Sparrow in with a flock of Savannahs.  Later we found Blue-winged Teal and a Hooded Merganser on a lake, and Semi and White-rumped Sandpipers on a nice mudflat.  And along the way we made a stop at the ferry terminal in Souris picking up the “elusive” Rock Pigeon. 

Dan and I parted ways mid-afternoon, and I headed to Wood Islands for the late afternoon ferry.  My only addition along the way was a pair of Golden Plovers I saw from the ship just before it left the dock.  From the ferry I had a number of Gannets and all the regular gulls but nothing else, though there were more birds waiting for me as I crossed the line into NS. 

I ended my second PEI day with 71 species, and a total of 85 for the entire PEI portion of my trip.  That was much higher than my hoped-for range of 50-75, which was tremendous given the limited time available and the slow the birding in most locations.  I can’t thank Dan McAskill enough for all his excellent help; I could have never found so many birds on my own.  Dan offered to bird with me again in the spring some day – maybe even doing a big day together.  Needless to say that could really boost my PEI province list.