A subtitle for this post could be – Finally
Bitten by the Province Listing Bug
Over my four decades of working on my Total
Ticks, I’ve concentrated on birding in the states, with very limited birding
time in Canada. That is until recently-
with short forays into Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba in the last year I’ve
increased by Total Ticks in Canada to 476.
A pretty small total compared to my 12,873 in the US, but it’s a
start.
While on a 2-day birding vacation in
southern Quebec in early September I started thinking about the possibility of
doing a short birding trip in the Canadian Maritimes. My grand total of Maritime province ticks is
2 – Leach’s and Wilson’s Storm-petrels seen in NS waters when on a pelagic trip
out of Bar Harbor, ME. So with virginal
territory ahead of me, I quickly came up with a planned loop starting in
coastal NB after a long drive through ME, then north to PEI, and back south
through NS, ending with a ride on the ferry from Yarmouth, NS to Portland,
ME. But could I squeeze a trip in
between work and home commitments? The
only open window in my calendar was a 7-day period toward the end of
September. That was getting late for
many landbird and shorebird migrants, but that was my only option.
With only 7 days including travel time, and
lots of area to cover, I had to come up with a very efficient itinerary. Given the time of year my key goals were to
focus on passerine and shorebird migrants, but I would also try to make stops
in as many habitats as possible given the limited time. And since this was basically my first trip to
each province, I wanted to spend most of my time at the very best birding
spots, rather than focusing on specific species. I was able to purchase reasonably recent
birdfinding guides to NB and NS, which did a good job of pointing out those
best hotspots. But I had to rely on less
detailed on-line sources for my PEI research.
Luckily I connected with a birder on PEI who was a big help, but more on
that later.
It wasn’t until the day before I left that I
finally finished up my itinerary– about 2 days in NB, roughly 1 day in PEI, and
2 days plus the ferry ride in NS. Given
the limited amount of time, and the late dates in September, I hoped for 75-100
birds each in NB and NS, and 50-75 in PEI.
And not only will the birds have to cooperate to reach these totals, but
I would have to get lucky with the weather too.
It can get pretty stormy in the Maritimes in Fall. So although I wished I had set up the trip to
be earlier in the year, I was excited to be on my way to start listing in 3 new
provinces – I had been bitten by the province listing bug!
This post summarizes the NB portion of my
trip; the next 2 posts summarize the PEI and NS portions.
Day 1 – Near Saint John, New Brunswick
After a 5-hour drive through MA, NH, and
ME, I was at the Canadian border in St. Stephen, NB by 1 PM. As I drove toward my first stops in Saint
John in some intermittent showers I added my first 8 NB species, including
fittingly Canada Goose. I pulled up to my
first stop at the Lancaster sewage lagoons as the rain was ending (it would turn
out to be the only rain of the entire trip), and I maneuvered the car to a high
spot where I could look down onto all the lagoons. The one lagoon was full of bathing gulls
(just Ring-bills), while the other had many dabbling ducks of 7 species, and the
only Lesser Scaup of the trip.
My next stop was the adjacent Saints Rest
Marsh, which the birdfinding guide described as an excellent spot for
shorebirds at high tide. With a late day
high tide, I had planned to spend most of the rest of the day there. With high tide still 3 hours away, I had time
to make a couple stops along the way.
The first was at a small loop road of Irving Nature Park overlooking the
marsh. In the brush along the loop I
picked up a few migrant passerines including the only Chipping Sparrows of the
trip. From here I had a couple vantage
points into the marsh, and picked up a pair of Great Egrets, but found no
shorebirds in the pools. Hmm… Next stop was along the beach overlooking the
open water to the south, along with these ominous clouds as the front passed
by.
There were no shorebirds on the beach, but
a distant Peregrine was nice, along with a flock of Surf Scoters and a few
passing Common Loons. I then headed back
for views of the marsh but still there were no shorebirds in the nearby
pannes.
Since I was striking out at the marsh, I
decided to head into the Irving Nature Park peninsula where I had planned to
spend the morning of Day 2. This area covered
in conifer forests looked to be excellent for landbirds, and also offered a
couple more opportunities to view Saints Rest Marsh. Unfortunately a stop overlooking the marsh
and a walk onto a boardwalk well out into the marsh still provided no
shorebirds. So I decided to bird the
woodlands of the peninsula, at the very least to give me a handle on what to
expect at dawn the next morning. It was
a bit slow until on one of my stops I heard some faint call notes that I didn’t
recognize initially. Then it dawned on
me – Pine Grosbeak. There were calling
birds in 3 different directions around me.
When I exited the peninsula it was close to
sunset, and I thought I’d give the marsh one more try for shorebirds. I decided to try walking out on the marsh to
see if other viewpoints were feasible. I
was just 15 feet off the road when I flushed a calling Least Sandpiper. A couple minutes later I starting to hear
calling Yellowlegs – both Greater and Lesser.
Finally I realized that they were dropping into a very distant salt
panne which was not visible from this side of the marsh. But this spot was right behind a visitor’s
center on the highway. Since I would be
in that area the next evening at high tide I made a note to check this spot the
next day. The last bird of the day was a
calling Solitary Sand that dropped into a panne nearby, giving me a
disappointing 4 shorebirds species.
I ended the day with 47 species for my NB
list, which I guess wasn’t bad for a late afternoon of birding, though I had to
work hard for most all of those species.
Day 2 – Saint John and Saint Andrews, New
Brunswick
My plan was to spend the morning at Irving
Nature Park, and then take an afternoon whale watch out of Saint Andrews,
before heading to my hotel in Sussex a 2-hour drive to the east. I arrived at Irving Nature Park pre-dawn, and
played some tape for owls and rails with no luck. Though I did hear Semi and Black-bellied
Plovers calling nearby. The road into
the park didn’t open till 8, so I decided to bird near the entrance at the
northern end of the peninsula in the meantime.
As dawn arrived I started to notice small flocks of warblers flying
north coming in from the peninsula, then turning back into the woodlands. I had a feeling that there could be a good
morning flight on this day after the passage of the cold front – and that
turned out to be an understatement! I
positioned myself to be next to the first trees to be lit by the morning sun,
and sure enough warblers and vireos started to appear as soon as they were in
the morning sunlight. Soon there were so
many birds that I couldn’t focus on them fast enough. Over the next 90 minutes I conservatively estimated
150 warblers of 9 species (mostly Black-throated Green and Yellow-rumps), and
another 20 Vireos of 3 species (mostly Red-eyed). And this included nice views of a
Yellow-throated Vireo as a rarity. Plus
who knows how many more that slipped by without stopping long enough to be
identified. What a start to the day.
Later I was able to get views of the
mudflats on a rapidly falling tide in the amazing Bay of Fundy. I was finally able to find a number of
shorebirds, though all were very distant.
While scoping a flock of plovers a White-rumped Sandpiper flew through
my scope field – thanks to that white rump.
And I added Sanderling in the distance, giving me just my 8th shorebird
species for NB. With one last stop
looking out on the water I added Red-throated Loon and a Gannet, and this very
nice scenery shot.
A few more stops in the conifers gave me a
few more migrant warblers but nothing new.
So at 10:30 I decided to leave Irving Nature Park a little early giving
me time to bird near Saint Andrews before the whale watch. That would enable me to spend my only time in
a deciduous forest in the NB part of my trip, where a number of more southern
birds are possible. And speaking of
southern birds, a pair of flyover Turkey Vultures were nice in route to the
area. When I got to the Saint Andrews
area I headed to Chamcook Mountain where its hardwood forests had a definite
southern feel. Although it was a bit
slow at midday, I added Broad-winged Hawk and Hairy Woodpecker. Plus I made a mental note to come back to
this spot at dawn during breeding season for a number of passerine
possibilities. A non-birding highlight
for this spot was seeing a life amphibian – Spotted Salamander.
Then a quick stop at a bay just outside
town yielded a family of Red-necked Grebes, a couple White-winged Scoters, and
a pair of out-of-season Horned Grebes.
Finally, just before the whale watch I had a bit of time to walk through
the town of Saint Andrews as my first opportunity to bird in a suburban setting
and added Starling (though it was tough to get too excited about a
Starling).
The whale watch was most enjoyable even though
we didn’t go very far into open waters.
As a result we spent much of the trip snaking around conifer-covered
islands north of Campobello Island, where large flocks of Bonaparte’s Gulls
were feeding wherever the currents converged.
Although I couldn’t find a Little Gull mixed in there were numerous
Kittiwakes in the area. There were also
many Guillemots, including a vocal flock of 35 at one spot. Plus I spotted a single Great Cormorant,
Common Murre, Common Tern, and Pomarine Jaeger.
But the best bird on the trip was when we stopped at small Spruce Island
just north of Campobello Island to check out several roosting Bald Eagles. When the captain cut the engines I heard the
familiar “peter peter” song of a Tufted Titmouse – it continued to sing the
whole time we floated by.
Back on shore I spent a little more time in
town, this time to try for the elusive House Sparrow. I didn’t find the Sparrow, but did get
Grackle, White-breasted Nuthatch, and a Mourning Dove and a Cardinal at a
feeder. Back on the road I planned to
make a late day stop at the visitor center along the highway outside Saint John
to look for roosting shorebirds in Saints Rest Marsh. But it was closed – odd that it would close
so early in the day. So although I was
unhappy that I wouldn’t have a chance for more shorebirds, I was pleased with
75 species on the day, and now a total of 89 for the province. Well within my target range of 75-100, and
just 11 more to go to reach my highest target.
Day 3 – Morning in Fundy National Park, New
Brunswick
The plan for Day 3 was to spend the morning
and early afternoon in excellent boreal habitat in Fundy National Park, before
heading to Prince Edward Island for my first birding there. I started at dawn for a 2-hour hike on the
Caribou Plain trail in really nice spruce/fir forest and boreal bogs.
Highlights here included several Boreal
Chickadees and a small flock of Hermit Thrushes in the woodlands, and a
Lincoln’s Sparrow and Ring-necked Duck in one of the bogs. Plus a calling Red-shouldered Hawk was near
the edge of its range. Other stops
yielded Bluebirds, Purple Finches, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets to get to 98 for the
province. And although I found Boreal
Chickadees in 4 locations, I wasn’t able to find other boreal targets like Gray
Jay, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Crossbills.
With just a couple stops left, I was worried
that I wouldn’t get to 100. But then I
was able to find a distant migrating Red-tailed Hawk at #99, along with several
Sharp-shins. That left stops near the
headquarters where I hoped to find some new birds at feeders. Although there were no feeders, I did run into
several flocks of migrants. It was more
of the same for the first several flocks, but then I ran into another flock
that included a lone Philadelphia Vireo - #100.
Now I needed to decide if I should continue
with other stops at the National Park in NB or start on my way to PEI. I was sure I could get a few more for my NB
list, but a brand new province was waiting.
Just then I got a call from a PEI birder, Dan McAskill, who had heard
that I was on my way to PEI and offered to meet up with me later that
afternoon. It was an easy decision to
take Dan up on his offer, and at 1 PM I left Fundy National Park on route to
PEI.
I was extremely happy with my first trip to
NB, not only reaching the upper end of my target range of 100 birds, but also
getting a couple rarities in Yellow-throated Vireo and Tufted Titmouse. Plus twelve of my birds were new for my
overall Canada list which is now at 256.
My next blog post will pick up the PEI
portion of my trip.
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