First Trip to Newfoundland - June/July 2018 - 141 Species, Part 3 of 3

This is the third part of the summary of my birding trip to Newfoundland, detailing Days 9 through 11.  The prior two blog posts summarized the first 8 days of the trip.

Day 9 - June 29 – AM Partly Cloudy and up to 70; PM – cloudy and very windy, temps in the 50s

The day started at 4:30 AM with a pre-dawn attempt for Ptarmigans (and Short-ears) along the Cape St. Mary’s access road, but with no luck.  Though I did find a Merlin perched along the road. 

What to do next?  I still had 2 full days and a half day of birding time remaining on my trip, and would be concentrating on the Avalon Peninsula for birding both along the shorelines as well as with a few inland targets.  The weather was to be good on the 29^th, but was to be rainy and windy the next two days.  Given that forecast I decided to try to hit as many spots as possible on this day just in case conditions weren’t conducive for birding the next couple days.  And if the weather was OK, I could also stop at sites on more than one day, especially the coastal/seawatch sites. 

So since it was still early I decided to head to LaManche Provincial Park to try for Gary-cheeked Thrush.  This was my only key remaining passerine target for which early morning song could be helpful, so it was nice to get to the park at 7:45 that morning.  Recent sightings of Gray-cheek had been along the LaManche village access road (though not for more than 2 weeks), and also within the last week along the park entrance road.  I first spent some time along the entrance road without any luck, so I headed to the LaManche access road.  Luckily I ran into a local resident who explained where to go – first a long hike uphill along a steep gravel road, then a left hand turn onto a trail to the suspension bridge.  Once on the trail there was a fair amount of song, dominated by Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (6 singing birds), with a pair of Boreal Chickadees and a Pine Grosbeak.  I had walked at least a mile when I heard a bird giving some sharp chip notes that I didn’t recognize.  I did some pishing and although this bird never showed itself I started to hear a singing Gray-cheeked Thrush not too far off the trail.  (I’m glad I stopped to listen to the chipping bird)  The Thrush continued to sing off and on for the next 15 minutes, moving around a fair amount through the brushy woods, but unfortunately never in view.  In my 2 hour-long hike I only had 17 species, but one was my key target for this spot.

The next stop was at St. Michael’s a short distance to the north along the coast where there was a large nesting colony of Puffins and a smaller colony of Fulmars.  The nesting islands are just off-shore in this photo.

As soon as I pulled up I could see numerous Puffins flying about.  And then within seconds I picked out the first of several Fulmars soaring through the area.  That was easy.  I spent quite a bit of time continuing to watch these birds as they moved around the islands, along with Guillemots on the water below, and a fair number of Kittiwakes as well.  And during this time both an immature and adult Bald Eagle passed by, each escorted out of the area by gulls.

Next I had planned to head south to look for coastal birds.  But I was about 30 minutes south of a stakeout rare Eastern Kingbird, which had stayed at Gould’s Forest Pond for about a week.  It was unusual for a Kingbird to stick around so long, and since it was a rarity, I decided to head north to give it a try first before heading to the coast.  One post mentioned it was flycatching from “the rock where ducks often perch”, so when I pulled up and saw a rock near the western end of the pond with a Pintail perched on it, I thought I had the correct spot.  I got out and waited a few minutes but didn’t see the Kingbird.  Then I realized that maybe I wasn’t at the correct rock.  I looked to the southeast and noticed another rock in the water with more ducks perched on it.  I drove up to that rock and a family of Pintails was perched on that rock too.  Then I noticed several Waxwings flycatching in some nearby trees.  A couple seconds later I spotted the Eastern Kingbird flycatching along with them.  I got this phonescoped photo as it perched cooperatively with several of the Waxwings.

Next I headed south for some seabirding along the southern coastline of the Avalon Peninsula.  I was planning to be in the same areas tomorrow, but rain was forecasted so I thought it would be good to bird some of these same sites today as well.  Though I did make a quick stop in the town of Renews along the way where a feeding station was well-known to attract southern vagrants.  Most recently a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird had been a sporadic visitor.  I stayed at the feeders for about 30 minutes, but with no visits of the Hummer.  Though a pair of juvenile Red Crossbills was nice, along with a diverse collection of sparrows – Fox, Song, White-throated, and Savannah.

It was now mid-afternoon, and I didn’t have time for detailed stops at all my planned coastal spots.  Plus the weather was going downhill with strong winds and rain predicted for late in the day.  I decided to pass on a drive out to Cape Race - that one would have to wait till tomorrow.  Instead I headed to Portugal Cove South where recent reports had included a large flock of gulls including a Laughing Gull, along with several diving ducks.  As I arrived there was a flock of perhaps 150 Kittiwakes wheeling over  Portugal Cove Pond.  The flock then headed south out to the cove and all landed on the water.  Later they flew out to the open water, then returned to once again to fly as a flock over the pond, and then again to the Cove.  Interesting set of activities. 

Then I tried to position myself to look for seaducks in the cove.  The wind was really howling generally out of the south almost right in my face.  I could see a few ducks in the distance, but viewing conditions were pretty bad.  So I headed to the western side of the cove which was somewhat sheltered from the wind, and was able to scan the cove more effectively.  The best I could find was a small flock of Scoters in the distance, 4 of which I could ID as White-wings, but 6 stayed as Scoter, sp. 

Next I headed a short distance to the west to Biscay Bay for another shot at seaducks.  The orientation of this bay was a little different from the last one, and it was a bit more protected from the wind.  With scanning a lot easier, I picked out 6 different flocks of Scoters – with an exact count of 69 White-wings.  Plus one flock had a pair of male Black Scoters which were new for my Newfoundland list.  But the best bird was an all brown duck that really stood out in one of the scoter flocks.  The flock was distant and the birds were disappearing behind waves and diving, so viewing was difficult.  In the 5 minutes I watched this flock I could see that the bird was similar in size to the White-wings, brown bodied instead of black, had a pale chest, dark head, and pale bill.  It was most likely a young male King Eider.  In my native New England we often find a rare King Eider in with Scoter flocks rather than with Common Eiders.  Not sure if that is the experience in Newfoundland.

It was now getting late but I still had time for a stop at Trepassey just to the west of Biscay.  My first stop was in the protected harbor where a female Red Phalarope has been reported each of the last 2 days.  Unfortunately it had moved on – that’s too bad since that would have been an attractive bird to see.  A consolation was this Long-tailed Duck that was perched on a rock with a pair of Common Terns. 

 

Next my attention turned to the seabirds out on the open bay.  Luckily the bay was surprisingly protected from the wind, and the waters were actually quite calm.  Far off to the east I thought I could see a Red-throated Loon, but it was really distant.  So I took a walk along the shoreline to the east at the bottom of Fanny’s Pond.  Now that I was much closer I not only had a good view of the basic plumaged Red-throated I likely saw earlier, but also 2 others in nearly full alternate plumage.  Plus I found a male Common Eider swimming with a pair of Long-tailed Ducks close to shore. 

It was starting to rain a bit, and it was closing in on dinner time, so I decided to call it quits.  Happy with my additions to bring my Newfoundland list up to 137, covering 5.2 miles on foot with 12,400 steps.

Day 10 - June 30 – Dense fog, strong winds, and rain south; cloudy and fog north, highs in the 50s

The forecast was for lots of rain and strong southerly winds for the entire day.  Not the best weather for a day of coastal birding.  But rather than getting depressed about the prospects of birding in the rain, I was instead trying to stay upbeat about the possibilities of the bad weather causing seabird fallouts on the south facing coast.  However, there was one additional factor not in the forecast that I couldn’t prepare for – dense fog.  As I left my B&B in the early morning it was drizzling a bit with a few patches of fog.  But as I got closer to the coast the fog got thicker, and thicker.  On the coast visibility was just a few feet – here are a couple pictures when the fog had actually lifted a bit. 

 

Needless to say not conducive for seawatches.  Stops at Trepassey, Biscay, and Portugal Cove South were basically worthless.  I even tried driving down St. Schott Rd. but hardly saw a single bird in the reduced visibility.

Next I tried Cape Race, but the results were just the same.  I saw one Pipit in the parking lot at the lighthouse, and 2 Least Sandpipers sitting on the road along the way.  So much for hoping to see Short-eared Owls or Ptarmigans.  Around lunchtime I found myself sitting in the lighthouse parking lot in the wind and fog feeling pretty sorry for myself.  Just then a car pulled up and the driver was trying to get my attention.  He said he was Cliff the lighthouse keeper, and was inviting me to his house for lunch.  He said he had just fixed a turkey dinner!  I followed Cliff back to the house and had a very nice dinner – obviously much better than the PB&J I was planning on.  It turned out that Cliff was also a birder, and he could see seabirds flying by right from the house (when it wasn’t foggy that is).  He said he had the province’s first records of Common Swift and Cave Swallow from this spot.  If only the weather conditions were better that day.

The weather wasn’t forecasted to change any time soon, so I thanked Cliff for his hospitality and starting driving north in hopes that I could get out of the fog.  The weather did indeed improve remarkably, and I decided to try yet again at the Renews feeding station.  With lots of extra time on my hands I stayed more than an hour, but again struck out on the Hummingbird. 

During my planning efforts I had noticed a road headed east out of Renews ending at Bear Cove Point.  There were a couple eBird posts from this site, and the weather had improved quite a bit, so I thought I’d give it a try.  Visibility was actually pretty good, though it was raining a bit.  So with the rain suit on I was able to spend a good 90 minutes doing a seawatch from the point.  There was a steady movement of both Puffins and large alcids flying south, though almost all the dark alcids were too far out to ID.  Plus there were Guillemots and a few Razorbills feeding near the coast.  That was all nice, but what I was really hoping for was storm-tossed Storm-Petrels, or Manx Shearwaters – realistically the last seabirds I could hope to add to my list.  I had one Great Shearwater fly north, which was promising.  Then I noticed 4 Shearwaters flying south quite close.  Even before getting them in the scope I could see they were one uniform color above and had rapid wingbeats – Manx Shearwaters.  A nice addition.  By the end of my seawatch I estimated 100 Puffins and 400 large alcids passed by, along with 25 Guillemots, 1 Great Shearwater, and of course the 4 Manx.

Manx was the only new bird for my Newfoundland list that day, now at 138.  And given that most of the day I was in my car trying to cut the fog with a knife, I only walked 2.3 miles.

Day 11 – July 1 – Partly cloudy, highs in the 50s

My flight out of St. John’s was at 2 PM, so I had the morning to bird in the area.  I had very few targets remaining, and all were long shots.  So I thought I’d be lucky to add anything to my province list, but of course wanted to give it a try.  The first was an adult Purple Gallinule that had been seen rather unreliably along a suburban stream in Waterford Valley.  But it hadn’t been seen for 10 days so I wasn’t optimistic.  I gave it about 90 minutes searching several possible locations along the creek with no success.

My next target was Tufted Duck.  A male had been reported in Burton’s Pond 10 days earlier, but within a couple minutes after I arrived at this small pond I could see that the bird was no longer present.  A couple weeks earlier one was reported several times from Kent’s Pond and nearby Kenny’s Pond, so that was my next option.  I pulled up to Kent’s Pond and quickly spotted a group of 5 diving ducks in the distance.  With a quick binocular view the first thing I noticed was the peaked head of a Lesser Scaup – a nice rarity and addition to my list.  Then through the scope I noticed that one of the birds was a male Tufted Duck.  Along with 3 Greaters, I had 3 Aythya species together.  No Ring-necks in site though. 

The last stop was to try for rare Killdeer at Stick Pond.  A pair had been reported there over 3 weeks earlier but only that one time this year on eBird.  I pulled up to a horse pasture just before getting to the pond and did a quick scan – no Killdeer.  But then I heard a Killdeer calling from behind me, followed by a second bird.  They were calling from another pasture that wasn’t visible from Stick Pond Road, so I headed back to Logy Bay Road and pulled up to a horse barn giving me a view of that field.  Within a few seconds I had the pair calling again, and one landed in a field right in front of me.  Here’s a picture of the bird taken by holding my phone up to my binocs.

What a nice way to end my trip – my 141^st species for Newfoundland.  Perhaps fittingly, as I neared the airport the fog rolled in and the temps dropped to the mid 40s.  That’s July in Newfoundland I guess.

The Trip by the Numbers

• 141 total species in Newfoundland, including finding a bunch of rarities, headlined by a Sandwich Tern, plus multiple stakeouts.  To think I only expected about 96 species.
• Found 95 of the 96 species that I thought were “likely” – I only missed Sharp-shinned Hawk – amazing!
• 19 warbler species, with the most common being 58 Yellows, 56 Black-and-whites, 44 Northern Waterthrushes, 40 Magnolias, and 40 Black-throated Greens.
• 96 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers – likely more than I’ve ever seen in all my 51 years of birding combined!
• 0 species on St. Pierre as that part of my trip was canceled
• 7 new Canada species – total now at 376
• 1,488 ATPAT – sum of my total ticks in the Canadian Provinces
• 4 of days with heavy rain, often strong winds, very dense fog, and even one day when it snowed heavily enough that the roads were slushy.  Often requiring me to vary my plans to do landbirding when it wasn’t raining (or at least not raining very hard), and bird from the car when the conditions were the worst.
• 61.2 miles and 144,600 steps walked.
• 4,000 kilometers driven (2,500 miles) – I had to cover a lot of area.  At least my rental car was a hybrid getting 5.7 L/100 km (or 41.5 mpg if I did the math right)
   
  Once again many thanks to Alvan Buckley and Jared Clarke for their help on a most successful trip to Newfoundland!

First Trip to Newfoundland – June/July 2018 - 141 Species – Part 2 of 3

This is the second of 3 posts summarizing my trip to Newfoundland.  Days 5 through 8 are described in this post.  Days 1 through 4 are detailed in the previous post and Days 9 through 11 are in the next post.

Day 5 - June 25 – Codroy Valley – Periods of heavy rain and wind, highs in the 50s

The forecasted heavy rain was supposed to hold off until mid-morning giving me just enough time to do some landbirding.  The first stop was at Broom Point Rd. which is well known for southern warblers.  A 2-hour walk resulted in 10 warbler species, including one singing Blackburnian.  But I couldn’t turn any of the 6 high-pitched Black-and-whites into a Bay-breasted.  Other notable birds were 2 different Olive-sided Flycatchers, 2 Blue-headed Vireos, and 8 Swainson’s Thrushes, along with a nice 9 Black-throated Green Warblers.  A flyover pair of Common Mergansers was a surprise.

I could see rain in the distance to the south, but I hoped I could squeeze in a stop at O’Regans a bit farther east before the rain started.  I parked the car and walked east along the road initially not finding too much.  A flyover Great Blue Heron was a nice addition for this specialty of southwestern Newfoundland.  Up ahead I could see a small cow pasture which seemed out of place compared to the wooded habitat in the area.  When I first got to this area I could hear a buzzy rising song in the distance that sounded like Black-throated Blue - but it was distant and I needed to get closer to the bird to verify the ID of this potential rarity.  As I got closer I could hear what sounded like a BT Blue south of the road.  Then it stopped singing.  A few seconds later I heard a Parula singing about 100 m farther to the east, so I thought that perhaps the Parula was just earlier singing a song that sounded like BT Blue.  But then the BT Blue sang again – there were indeed 2 different birds, both a rare Parula and an even rarer Black-throated Blue.  I continued to hear both sing, south of the road. Then I spotted a small bird flying across the road to the north and I was lucky enough to get it in my binocs – it was the BT Blue.  Within a few seconds a second BT Blue was also singing on the north side of the road.  A minute or two later the Parula flew over the road and I watched it join the BT Blues on the north side of the road as well.  I ended up with visuals and song of the Parula, visual and song of one BT Blue, and song only of the 2nd BT Blue.  An amazing spot for these rarities!  Unfortunately despite more than 15 minutes of waiting while I could hear all 3 birds singing back in the woods, I wasn’t able to get additional views of these rarities.  As I walked back to the car I had a Goshawk in the distance – a nice ending for this stop.

I was now back in the car and driving along with my windows open listening for birds as I drove.  I heard a group of Robins squawking in the distance, as if they had found a predator – maybe an owl.  I made my way to the noise and found a small flock of Robins, along with several other birds, all complaining about something in the trees.  I got very close to the spot, flushing a Ruffed Grouse along the way, but couldn’t spot what the birds were yelling about.  Then there was a quick burst of movement, with the briefest view of a small bird flying off, with the entire flock chasing after it.  Maybe a Boreal or a Saw-whet Owl?  One that got away.

The next stop was the Wetlands Trail and Interpretation Center.  Just as it started to rain I spotted the long-staying Shoveler behind the Interpretation Center.  With umbrella in hand I had another Great Blue, 3 more Red-winged Blackbirds, and another Goshawk on the trail.  All things considered not too bad given the wet conditions.

The rain was really coming down, so it was time to switch to birding from the car.  My first stop was the Codroy Valley Cottage Country where a hummingbird was spotted at their feeder the previous day.  I sat in the car watching the feeder for about 45 minutes with no luck.  So next I was off to Codroy Valley Provincial Park, to look for any waterfowl and shorebirds that might be around.  In the wind-blown rain I could see a distant flock of a remarkable 80 Red-breasted Mergansers either standing on a sand bar, or swimming in the shallows nearby.  And mixed in was my first Greater Scaup of the trip.  I wanted to spend more time looking through the flock for other species but I was looking directly into the rain, so I had to cut it short.  I also wanted to check out the inner beach area especially to see if I could find the pair of Piping Plovers that were likely breeding there.  But again I was looking into the wind-blown rain so luckily I spotted the Plovers quickly, and could close the car window right away.

It was still just early afternoon, and I had hoped to do more birding in the area.  But the strong wind and rain continued.  Time for a seawatch!  I headed a short distance to the north to the lighthouse at Cape Anguille to see what might be passing by.  Luckily I could position the car to allow me to look out over water and stay reasonably dry, and visibility was pretty good.  Within a few minutes I had a Sooty Shearwater fly north, followed by another Sooty.  Soon thereafter it was followed by a Great Shearwater – although it was distant I could see if was generally dark gray above, with darker tail and head, and pale below.  Then a minute later another shearwater passed by which was uniformly brown above, and pale below.  It was too far away to tell bill color.  If I were back home on the New England coast I would have just nonchalantly concluded this was a Cory’s Shearwater.  But that would be quite a rarity for Newfoundland, so given the distance and lack of photo, I ended up entering it as a “Shearwater, sp.” in eBird.  I stayed for about another hour and only had a few Gannets pass by, with a few Eiders and Guillemots feeding near-shore.  So given the general lack of birds, I decided I should move on.

But where to go next, especially given the weather conditions?  I checked my weather app and saw that the rain wasn’t as heavy to the north.  And tomorrow’s forecast was for a cold heavy rain, or maybe even snow.  My planned stops the next morning were in Stephenville Crossing, about a 90-minute ride to the north.  So maybe I should try to hit some of those stops yet this afternoon to avoid the heavier precipitation tomorrow. 

But first I would make one more quick stop at Codroy Valley PP to see if I could get any better (and drier!) views of the inner and outer beaches.  I crossed the bridge and successfully positioned my car to look downwind to the outer beach where a small flock of gulls were roosting in the distance.  A quick scan revealed just the normal species.  Then I looked beyond the gull flock and spotted a single tern standing on the beach.  It had a black bill!  Couldn’t be – that would mean it would be quite a rarity.  I looked closer and sure enough its bill was black, along with a full black cap making it an adult in alternate plumage.  The most likely black-billed tern would be Roseate, but my bird wasn’t pale enough, and the tail would need to be a lot longer.  Then I realized it also had black legs.  As I continued to look at it through the scope I just kept saying “Wow”, because I knew that a tern in breeding plumage with black legs and black bill would have to be really rare.  It was too pale mantled for Bridled or Sooty, making it either a Sandwich or Gull-billed.  Then as the bird turned its head I thought I saw a yellow tip to the bill, and the bill was relatively thin and long.  Eventually several more views showed the yellow tip to the black bill – it was a Sandwich Tern!  I took many phonescoped photos of limited quality given the distance and heavy rain, but the best photos show enough details to confirm the ID.  In a word – Wow!  Here are a couple of the “best” phonescoped photos taken through the wind and rain.  

And to get an idea of the distance to the bird, here is a shot of the distant sand bar without any magnification.

Next I was off to Stephenville Crossing where the key targets were Willet and Black-headed Gull – was this indeed the only nesting location for Black-headed in North America?  As I went further north the rain did indeed slow to a drizzle as expected, though a heavy drizzle, so it looked like I made the correct decision to leave the heavy rain in the Codroy Valley.  As I neared the estuary the first of 3 Osprey flew overhead, so I could finally check that one off.  But the pond to the south of the Gut was devoid of birds.  I then headed east on Mattis Point Road to give me a different angle on the estuary to avoid looking into the wind and rain.  I found one Greater Yellowlegs, and a few distant Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, but little else.  I next thought about birding from the old railroad bridge, but that would mean looking into the east over the estuary right into the wind and rain.

What to do?  I headed north across the bridge (the new one that is), and was able to find an old paved road that was east of the present road.  I found a couple spots where the road abutted the wetlands, and luckily ran into 3 different Willets foraging in the grasses.  Are these regular summering birds breeding here?  But still no Black-headed Gulls – I had now scanned most of the estuary and the exposed flats and had come up empty.  I thought they would be reasonably common here.  I remembered an eBird hotspot in the northwest portion of the estuary which was north of the areas I had searched.  After a quick drive I was at this spot, and looked to the south and was able to pick out two adult Black-headed Gulls in with a number of Ring-bills walking on the flats. 

That was a nice way to end the day, with 71 species for the day and now 117 species on my Newfoundland list.  Plus many of my birds were eBird rarities – 22 of the 36 sightings on the daily eBird Rarity report were my sightings!  And after 17,800 steps and 7.9 miles, I had walked 38.8 miles in my first 4 days of birding in the province.

Day 6 - June 26 –  Wind, heavy rain and snow (!), highs in the 30’s

Although I started the day in Stephenville near the southwestern corner of Newfoundland, I had to make my way toward Fortune in south-central Newfoundland from which my ferry to St. Pierre would depart the next morning.  My hotel that night was in Marystown –a long 8-hour drive from Stephenville.  It was pouring down rain in Stephenville, and the forecast was for more of the same all day long, so I guess this would be a good day to drive rather than bird.  But I did make a couple quick stops in Stephenville Crossing first – finding a nice flock of 35 Scaup sp. (likely Greaters) in the distance from Mattis Point, and another Black-headed Gull in the northwestern estuary.

As I started my drive north I noticed the rain was mixed with snow, and then it turned to all snow.  The temperature on the car thermometer kept dropping, until it actually reached 0 degrees C.  The grass and trees were covered in a layer of snow, and the road was slushy in places.  Ugh. 

I was thinking of making another quick stop at the Deer Lake sewage impoundments which were right along the way, but not in the rain and snow.  But amazingly, the precipitation stopped as I got into Deer Lake, so I made a quick stop at the impoundments, adding 3 Green-winged Teal (3 males) to my province list.  Interesting that I made 3 stops over 4 days at these impoundments and the mix of waterfowl was different each time.

The next potential stop was in Glovertown at the Ken Diamond Memorial Park to try for Palm Warblers – 4 had been reported there a couple weeks earlier.  Again the birding gods were looking kindly on me since it was just drizzling heavily when I reached the area, so I decided to make a quick stop.  When I got out of the car to get my rain suit on I quickly noticed a bigger problem – the wind was howling!  I spent about an hour walking the trails in the park through nice boggy habitat that would be great for Palm Warblers, but undoubtedly due to the strong winds and heavy drizzle I was only able to find several sparrows and a couple Yellowthroats.  I had driven right by this area on the 22^nd when the weather was much better – if I had stopped that day I would have likely found the Palms.

The long drive and miserable weather meant I only walked 7,700 steps and 3.3 miles that day, and added just 2 species to my province list – now at 119.

While eating dinner that night I received an e-mail saying my ferry to St. Pierre the next morning had been canceled due to the bad weather.  If I had known that earlier I wouldn’t have made the long drive down the peninsula.  Although I guess I could take the 7:30 PM ferry that same day (though that was not mentioned as an option in the e-mail), the weather forecast for the day I was to return was just as bad.  Would that ferry end up being canceled as well?  Who knows when I would be able to get back to Newfoundland.  After quite a bit of deliberations I decided to cancel my trip to St. Pierre altogether, and take advantage of the 2 extra days of time in Newfoundland to make stops at a couple areas not on my original itinerary – Terra Nova National Park, and the Cape St. Mary’s seabird colony.  Plus the extra time could make for some more leisurely birding.  

Day 7 - June 27 –  AM – cloudy and windy.  PM - Sunny, highs in the 60s

With my ferry canceled, and a bit more time on my hands, I slept in a bit and even ate breakfast.  At 9 AM just as I was leaving my hotel to begin my birding day I got an e-mail that the 9 AM ferry was back on, but delayed to 11 AM.  But I had already moved on mentally, and made hotel reservations for the extra nights in Newfoundland.  For better or worse, St. Pierre was in my rear-view mirror.

Since I was already far south down the peninsula, Alvan suggested I make a couple stops nearby.  My first stop was at Frenchman’s Cove.  I hoped the rough weather might result in some wind-blown coastal birds but a short seawatch did not yield any.  Though in a quick woodland stop I found a most cooperative pair of Pine Grosbeaks (aren’t male PIGR’s amazing?), and several Boreal Chickadees.  Then I headed to L’Anse au Loup T and found a nice collection of 3 Least Sandpipers and 10 Greater Yellowlegs feeding in seaweed-covered rocks.  Two more Caspian Terns were nice here as well.

Next I was off to Terra Nova NP, with my first stop being Sandy Pond where a recent post included 2 Palm Warblers – a second chance to try for this species now that I wasn’t going to St. Pierre.  I arrived in the late afternoon hopeful that bird song will have picked up for the day.  There was a really nice trail around the large beaver pond, with a portion in spruce bog habitat that looked ideal for Palms.  The first part was through woodlands which were unfortunately pretty quiet.  When I got to the bog song picked up quite a bit with Swamp, Savannah, and Lincoln’s Sparrows and Yellowthroats dominating.  But no Palms yet.  I got to another portion of the bog and heard some sharp chipping, and with a bit of spishing attracted a Palm Warbler carrying a dragonfly.  As I continued around the trail an Olive-sided Flycatcher called in the distance, as did a Gray Jay.  A very nice walk.

The last 2 remaining realistic possibilities for new boreal species for my province list were Black-backed Woodpecker and White-winged Crossbill.  Both were possible in Terra Nova, though without specific locations for either species my strategy was to just spend as much time as possible in appropriate habitat and cross my fingers.  To that end, after dinner I tried to do a walk on the Louil Hills trail, but mosquitoes were intense.  The best I could do was to find a cooperative pair of Pine Grosbeaks.

My day ended with 2 new species for my province list (now at 121), and a reasonable 13,900 steps and 5.8 miles walked.

Day 8 - June 28 – Partly cloudy, highs in the 60s

My initial plan was to take a dawn hike on a woodland trail, but at the last minute I shifted my attention to an area to the north called Anchor Brook where two recent eBird posts included all 3 Scoter species and a number of alcids.  With the extra time I decided to give this spot a try in the early morning.  The first thing I did when I arrived was to do a quick scan of the coast with my binoculars but didn’t find any Scoters.  Photos on at least 1 eBird post showed that the Scoter flocks were quite close, so I was a bit worried.  But then with a scope scan I picked out a very distant tight flock of all dark ducks – now the challenge was to ID them at this distance.  I was really struggling with IDs until a portion of the group took off and flew to the west out of sight showing white wing patches.  And then a bit later a small flock of Scoters flew into the flock – these had no white wing patches and a few had white hind-necks indicating that at least some of these were Surf Scoters.  Later another small group took off which also had no white in the wings but I couldn’t see any head colorations.  After about 45 minutes of trying to ID this distant flock I decided I had 45 White-wings, 11 Surf, 5 Surf/Blacks, and 20 Scoter, sp.  That was a bit frustrating since others recently had Black Scoters in the area, and some I couldn’t ID might well have been Blacks.

Now I turned my attention to scanning the ocean in general and soon began to pick out fly-bys of large alcids, but the vast majority (an estimate of 30) were just too far to ID.  One group of 4 were close enough that I could ID as Common Murres, and there was 1 Razorbill quite close on the water.  So again a bit frustrating since I still needed Thick-billed Murre for my province list.

But perhaps the best sighting for this location was of a large iceberg in the distance.  It’s visible (but just barely) on the horizon in this picture. 

 

After a short drive I was back at Terra Nova and took a 2-hour hike on the Newman Campground Trail.  Unfortunately no luck with my boreal Woodpecker and Crossbill targets, but had some nice birds like yet another “rare” Olive-sided Flycatcher, a Goshawk, and a family of 4 Gray Jays.  The most common species was White-throated Sparrow (10), and the most common warbler was Black-and-white (6).

I really enjoyed my hikes in these boreal habitats, but it was time to shift gears and head to the coast of the Avalon Peninsula to look for seabirds.  My next stop would be Cape St. Mary’s and the seabird nesting colony there with large numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Thick-billed and Common Murres, and Razorbills.  This spot was not on my original itinerary since it is a bit far to get to, and each species would be feasible elsewhere, but with my extra time I would be able to spend much of the afternoon there.  My targets here were Horned Lark and American Pipit nesting in the grasses/tundra in the area, Thick-billed Murres, and Great Cormorants all reported in recent eBird reports.  The first bird I saw when I got out of the car when I arrived was a Horned Lark – a nice start.  I went inside the visitor center and spoke to a very helpful naturalist inside who gave me great tips to find all of my remaining targets. 

I started my short walk to the nesting colony and had at least 5 more Horned Larks along the trail.  Then I heard the two-note “pip – it” call of a Pipit as it rose up a grass-covered portion of the cliff, just as the park naturalist described.  Next target was to look for the mixed flock of roosting Cormorants, and found “the” rock they like to roost on, again just as the naturalist said.  The only challenge I had was to get a view of the rock down by the water line without getting too close to the edge of the cliff.  Eventually I safely got this distant photo showing 2 Greats with several Double-cresteds.

  

The next target was Thick-billed Murre.  Interestingly each species had specific portions of the cliffs where they preferred to nest, and the naturalist showed me the preferred location for the Thick-bills.  And sure enough that’s where they were, as shown in this picture.

 

I quickly had all my targets, so now I could just enjoy my time watching the birds in the nesting colony.  I took a number of phonescoped photos of various portions of the colonies, including these shots of the Gannets.

 

 

Then there were close Common Murres, including this “Bridled” Common Murre.

And there were nearby Kittiwakes including this one with a chick.

 And this lone Razorbill in an area that was dominated by Common Murres.

 

What a great stop, and glad that I was able to add it to my itinerary.

On my way back I stopped in the visitor center to thank the naturalist.  While I was there I asked about Short-eared Owl and Willow Ptarmigan.  The naturalist suggested a couple key areas for each one, with the Short-eared most likely at dusk and the Ptarmigan most likely to be calling pre-dawn.  Ordinarily it would have been impossible to be there both at dusk and the next dawn, but my hotel was just 5 minutes from the park.  So after dinner I was back to try for the Owls after sunset, but without success.


I ended Thursday with 128 species in Newfoundland and 13,800 steps/5.8 miles walked.

First Trip to Newfoundland – June/July 2018 - 141 Species – Part 1 of 3

Each year I take an extended birding trip in Spring or Summer to work on my state or province lists.  This year I planned my first ever trip to Newfoundland, with a short side-trip to the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon.  As with all my trips, I spent many hours to plan for the best itinerary to maximize my species total.  Unfortunately there aren’t any recent birding guides to Newfoundland, though a somewhat dated “A Bird-Finding Guide to Canada” by J.C. Finlay had a chapter on birding in the province which was helpful at least in a general way.  And then of course there were lots of eBird data to pore over, plus a Newfoundland listserve to watch.  But by far the best information came when I reached out to local birders Alvan Buckley and Jared Clarke.  They provided a lot of general information, as well as tips to bird a number of my key sites.  Many thanks Alvan and Jared!

As I was putting my plans together I made two key observations that were somewhat surprising -

• Many of the birds that are regular here in New England, and even some that breed north of New England, don't typically make it as far north as Newfoundland.  For instance my common yard birds like Chipping Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Pewee, and Red-eyed Vireo, are not seen at all, or just as rarities, in the province.  And even birds I think of as northern species like Bay-breasted and Blackburnian Warblers are rarities in Newfoundland. 
• There are few species in general in the area.  A "Big Day", or even just a full day of birding in New England, will often far exceed 100 species.  By comparison, breaking 100 in Newfoundland in a day is quite unlikely.   

The next key observation was that I could need to cover a large area to maximize my Newfoundland list.  If I was going to see those “southern” rarities I would need to head to the southwestern corner of Newfoundland.  And the best part of Newfoundland for seabirds was the Avalon Peninsula which is the easternmost portion of the province.  That meant two of the most important areas to bird were a good 10-hour drive apart.  When I realized the amount of driving I would have to do, I added an extra day to my itinerary.

Armed with all this information, and after several months of preparations, I planned an 8-day itinerary in Newfoundland.  And despite all this birding, I expected perhaps just 96 species in Newfoundland.

Then there is St. Pierre et Miquelon.  The good news is that the schedule for the ferry from Fortune would allow me 2 ½ days on the islands, including a short side trip to the island of Langlade.  The bad news is that there is precious little information about birding there, few eBird posts (none recently), and I was unable to connect with any birders there even to just suggest the best locations to bird while on the island.  Undaunted, I guessed I might get 50 species there, just wandering around St. Pierre on my own looking for nice habitat.  I have to admit I wasn’t exactly expecting the best birding there, but it would likely be my only ever opportunity to get any “ticks” in this tiny ABA jurisdiction.

So I was finally ready for my 11-day trip to Newfoundland and St. Pierre!

This is the first of 3 parts summarizing my trip.  See my next 2 blog posts for the rest of my trip.

Day 1 - June 21 – Fly to St. John’s – Drive to Central Newfoundland

I didn’t arrive into the St. John’s airport until 4 PM local time, so that didn’t give me any real time for birding.  Instead the plan was to head west as far as Bishop’s Falls as I made my way to bird Gros Morne National Park the next day.

Before my trip I started to guess what my first bird might be for Newfoundland.  (In New Brunswick it was most fittingly a Canada Goose!).  Here given the coastal and suburban setting of the airport I guessed it might be a Ring-billed Gull.  Actually it turned out to be a Herring Gull – pretty close.  I had 8 species in route – including a flyover Bald Eagle – a species I didn’t see again until a week later.  It was dusk as I arrived at my hotel room, and I poked my head outside just long enough to hear Junco, Wilson’s Warbler, and Snipe just to wet my appetite.  A rainbow over my hotel was a nice site as well.

Day 2 - June 22 –  Partly Cloudy, low in the mid 40’s, high in the upper 60’s

My original plan was to make an early morning stop at Corduroy Brook Nature Trails in Grand Falls-Windsor, with Summer 2017 eBird posts including Ovenbirds and Red-eyed Vireos which could difficult to find elsewhere during my trip.  But there had been no recent eBird reports from this site so I wondered if this spot could be the best for an early morning walk.  And then just before my trip an eBird post came along from nearby at Jumper’s Brook Resource Road in Bishop’s Fall with Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos, so I decided to change my plans to hit this location instead.  And it turned out to be a good choice.  I slowly traveled up this road, making numerous stops along with way in nice varied woodland habitat.   Key highlights among the 30 species I had here in 2 hours and 15 minutes were 2 Philly Vireos, a Red-eyed Vireo, and an Ovenbird – all the key targets I was hoping for at Corduroy and then some.  Plus I heard a Ruffed Grouse – I do a lot of birding by ear and can hear the higher pitched calls really well.  However, the low tones of a Ruffed Grouse are really difficult for me to hear, so I was glad to get this one out of the way.  Also of note were 4 Tennessee Warblers which turned out to be my only ones for the trip.

I also realized that with the smaller number of species in the area, it would be easy to keep an exact count of all species seen/heard – I did that for all my stops in Newfoundland, entering eBird lists of exact counts of the birds I saw or heard.  At Jumper’s Brook this included 15 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers!  And among the 11 warblers I had here, I had 12 Yellows, 10 Black-and-whites, 10 Northern Waterthrushes, 8 Redstarts, 8 Mournings, and 8 BT Greens – most of which were flagged as high totals in eBird.

Next I was off to Gros Morne National Park, but in route to Gros Morne I made a short stop at the Deer Lake sewage impoundments.  Multiple eBird reports from this spot included Shovelers as a rarity, plus quite a diversity of other ducks.  Even though I was standing outside the perimeter fence to the impoundments, I quickly found 3 Shovelers, and regular Ring-necks, Blacks, and Wigeon, plus one Pintail, but missed several others recently reported like Mallard and Green-winged Teal.  Since it only took a few minutes to bird the impoundments, I decided to walk the trail down below the impoundments to see what might be in the marsh below.  Along the way I passed 2 small swampy areas, one of which contained 3 Wood Ducks as a rarity.  Down at the marsh I spotted an American Bittern, and my first Swamp Sparrow singing from the vegetation.  All in all a very nice (and efficient!) stop.

Since it was now midday, my plan was to make multiple stops along the coast in Gros Morne to look for seabirds, and then end the day with a walk through landbird habitat.  Along the way, I took these nice scenery shots at an overlook.

My first stop was Green Point, which had a nice collection of terns - 4 Caspians, and 40 Commons.  I thought Caspians would be tough on the trip, but I ended up seeing them in multiple locations over the next several days.

The next stop was the small community of Sally’s Cove where a flock of gulls included my only Iceland Gull of the trip, and in fact my only rare gull of the trip.  The next quick stop was at Broom Point where I had my first Common Eiders, including a crèche of 11 young with 3 hens.  Surprisingly I only had Eiders at a few locations throughout my trip; they are a common summer nester along much of the New England rocky coast.  I also had my first Arctic Tern of the trip here.  Then I was off to the town of St. Paul’s, but first a quick stop at the marsh just outside town yielded my first of only a few Canada Geese that I would have on the trip– again a bit of a surprise.  My next stop was in town to scan the inlet, and was surprised to find a breeding plumage Razorbill.  In St. Paul’s Bay I spotted a group of 8 Goldeneyes in the distance – only ones of the trip.  And in town there was a flock of 7 Common Grackles, which eBird called a rarity.

It was now late afternoon and time to turn back to landbirding, specifically on the Western Brook Trail.  The first part of this trail went through nice boggy wetlands with numerous Yellowthroats, Swamp and Savannah Sparrows, and Yellow Warblers.  Then I reached patches of woodlands, featuring my only Cape May Warbler of the trip.  And later I found an Olive-sided Flycatcher which was an eBird rarity – surprising that this species was a write-in since I had 7 of them at 5 locations on the trip.  Same goes with Winter Wren – nice singing bird, but a write-in in most places though I had 7 of them during my trek.  Plus I had my first Boreal Chickadee – I love this species.  White-throated Sparrow was most common species with 12, followed by 11 Yellow Warblers.  And a final note of interest - in the woodlands I tried to attract woodpeckers by tapping sticks together as I walked.  Although I never attracted any woodpeckers, I did attract Black-and-white Warblers several times.  I guess a tapping woodpecker could signal a potential source of food for a Black-and-white which similarly gleans insects from tree bark.

Here a couple nice scenery shots from the end of the Western Brook trail.

My last stop of the day was in Rocky Harbour where bird feeders in town were well-known for attracting some nice birds, including difficult-to-find Mourning Doves.  As I pulled up to the area there was a MoDo perched right above me on the wires.  I decided to get out to give it a closer look and quickly heard a bird giving a 3-part buzzy trill – each trill was the same length and same pitch.  A Clay-colored Sparrow, right?  I never saw the bird, but went with my gut of CCSP.  But later in the trip I heard a Junco giving a very similar song with 3 evenly spaces buzzy trills very similar to a CCSP.  Plus I heard 2 other Juncos giving a single long trill that was quite buzzy.  In all my years of birding I don’t think I’ve ever heard Juncos with buzzy trills, not to mention the 3-trill song.  In any case, I ended up calling the Rocky Harbour bird a much more likely Junco instead of a CCSP.

I ended the day with 77 species, and a province list of 78, walking 9.1 miles and 21,700 steps (per my FitBit).  A productive yet tiring day.

Day 3 - June 23 –  AM overcast lows in the low 40’s, PM partly cloudy highs in the mid 70’s

My dawn hike this day was on the James Callaghan Trail leading up to Gros Morne Mountain.  Before I could even start the walk I heard a Philly Vireo calling from the trees surrounding the parking lot.  And as I watched this bird, I spotted 5 Common Mergansers down in the river below.  That was a good start.  The trail had great habitat for Spruce Grouse, and I was the first person on the trail that day, so I was hopeful that I would happen on one.  I spent a lot of time peering into the spruces both on the ground and in the trees for my target grouse, all the while tallying the singing passerines along the way.  Eventually I would end up with one Spruce Grouse well up the trail on my return trip down the mountain.  Another highlight was 3 Pine Grosbeaks – 1 seen and 2 heard singing; this is another of my favorite boreal birds that I don’t see very often.  The species with the most individuals in my 3 hour hike was the ever-present Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at 13; Northern Waterthrush at 7 was the most common warbler.  Here is a picture of the trail, including the very nice spruce habitat, and the valley below way in the distance. 

My next hike was on the Baker’s Brook Falls trail, which thankfully was on more-level ground.  This trail had highly varied habitats including spruce bogs and drier spruce woodlands.  The key addition on this 2 ½ hour hike was a rare singing Nashville Warbler – the only one for the trip.  Other highlights were a family of 6 Gray Jays which were most inquisitive.  And I had 2 more Olive-sided Fly’s and 2 more Winter Wrens (still eBird write-ins).  The “winner” for the most common birds here were 20 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, 14 White-throated Sparrows, and 11 Black-and-white Warblers.

My original plan was to stay in Gros Morne longer doing more landbirding, but the forecast for the next day was for heavy rain.  So I decided to head out of Gros Morne in the early afternoon to squeeze in a stop at a key landbird spot planned for the next day, the Starlite Trail.  On the way I made another stop at the Deer Lake sewage impoundments.  Interestingly most of yesterday’s ducks were gone – for instance only 2 Ring-necks were there when there were 24 the day before.  But I did add Rock Pigeon to my province list – one of the few times you can get excited about seeing a Rock Pigeon!

Along the way to Starlite I passed a small swampy wetlands and a pair of Rusty Blackbirds flew out – my only ones of the trip.  A lucky observation!

The southwest portion of the island is well-known for “southern” species not often seen in other parts of the province.  Many of these are overshoot migrants, often seen in early June but as I found out, not too likely to stick around.  Others are regular nesters, but only reliably found in this portion of the province.  For instance as I tracked sightings in the weeks leading up to my trip there were reports of quite a number of southern landbird species like Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Pewee, Catbird, Veery, Parula, Nashville, Bay-breasted and Blackburnian Warblers, Chipping Sparrow, and Bobolink.  And wetlands birds included Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Soras.

Many of these species are seen in an area called the Codroy Valley, with many potential hotspots to visit.  One of the most important is the Starlite Trail where key targets are Least Flycatcher and Veery – this could be their only reliable breeding location in Newfoundland.  Plus this is one of the best spots for Ovenbird.  I arrived at 4:45 PM and was hoping that birdsong would pick up in late afternoon.  But it was still the warmest part of the day – and the black flies were horrendous.  As I made my way up the side of the mountain there were lots of Swainson’s Thrushes singing, so I was hopeful Veery’s would be cooperative as well.  I also heard 2 singing Ovenbirds.  But there was only 1 Yellow-bellied Fly – would that mean the Leasts would be quiet as well?

I was in a very nice mature birch forest habitat which was reported to be the right habitat for the Veery’s, so I made a stop at an overlook to listen.  Within in a few seconds I heard a portion of a song in the distance that could have been a Veery but I didn’t focus on it soon enough.  So I listened intently in the direction of the first song and then heard a full song of a Veery.  Success!  Here’s a picture of the valley below from the “Veery overlook” - that's my car in the parking lot far below.

Now I needed to find the Least Flycatchers.  The recent sightings seemed to suggest they could be farther up the mountain but still in birches, so I continued to climb the trail listening for my target bird.  A short distance farther up the mountain I began to hear chipping that sounded like a Least, though still no song.  I climbed a bit further and heard some more chipping coming from multiple birds.  I played a bit of tape and one responded in song.  Though despite hearing 4 calling birds I could get no visuals.  Although I wanted to stay to see the birds, the black flies were eating me alive, so I decided to head down to the car, happy to have gotten both of my targets.

My hotel was in Port aux Basques a short distance away, and I began the drive west down the Trans Canada Highway.  I had only driven a few miles when I was shocked to see a Cuckoo fly low across the road, flying into the brush next at the edge of the road right in front of me.  Though I saw the bird while I was driving and of course without using binoculars, I could clearly see the Cuckoo’s long-tailed shape and size, and only the slightest hint of any reddish hue in the wings making it a really rare Black-billed Cuckoo.  I wasn’t aware that there had actually been a couple other BB Cuckoo sightings in the general area in the prior couple days, all likely overshooting birds of this late migrant species.

I ended the day with 88 species in Newfoundland.  And although I had just 49 species for the day, many were rarities as far as eBird was concerned - of the 40 Newfoundland rarities listed in eBird that day I had 19 of them.  And with 26,200 Steps, and 10.9 miles walked including 2 treks up and down mountain trails, I was happy to reach my hotel and call it a day.

Day 4 - June 24 – Periods of moderate to heavy rain, strong winds, highs in the low 50s

The forecast was for heavy rain starting mid-morning, which just gave me enough time to bird a couple landbirding spots in the early morning.  My first stop at dawn was Red Rocks Rd. where many southern species were reported earlier in the month as overshooting migrants.  But as it turns out, most of those “southern” vagrants were long gone by the time I got to the area.  I walked the length of the road and back in a little over 2 hours finding lots of birds but adding only 2 to my province list.  The best was an Eastern Pewee which I first heard in song, then got a brief visual along the road, then heard it sing again back in the woods.  I actually might have had a second bird at the far end of the road – I only heard it sing once.  I also added 2 Red Crossbills mixed in with a flock of Siskins.  Other highlights were 4 singing Winter Wrens and a Red-eyed Vireo.  The most abundant bird was Siskin with 42 birds (including a flyover flock of 30).  The most common warblers were Yellow at 12 and Waterthrush at 8.

It wasn’t raining yet when I got back to my car so I still had time to do some more landbirding.  I rearranged my schedule to head to Cheeseman Provincial Park where several “overshoot” landbirds had been reported earlier in the month.  Plus a Wood Thrush had been reported singing there the previous 2 days.  Not to mention there were nesting Piping Plovers on the beach so lots to look forward to.

I arrived at the entrance to pay my park fee, and just as I opened my car window I heard a Northern Parula singing – nice!  I ended up with 2 in the park.  I then headed right to the spot where the Wood Thrush had been singing for the last 2 days, but despite several stops there I was not able to re-find it.  I had single Red-breasted Nuthatches in 2 spots – surprisingly my only Red Nuts for the trip.  61 Siskins again were the most abundant bird (due to a flyover flock of 50), with 5 Blackpolls and 5 Yellow-rumps as the most common warblers.

Then I was off to the coast to try for the Piping Plovers – 9 had been reported a couple days earlier so I was feeling pretty good about my chances.  I arrived at the coast at the middle of the beach – do I walk east or west to try for the plovers?  I decided to walk east but didn’t see any Plovers.  So I turned around and walked west and finally spotted 2 adult Piping Plovers ahead of me as I neared the far end of the beach.  Not wanting to bother these endangered species, I didn’t go any further to try to get a count.  It wasn’t raining yet, though it was very windy, so I decided to do a seawatch to see what wind-blown birds might be passing by.  I got to a spot in the dunes protected from the wind a bit, and added a flyby Red-breasted Merganser, and 3 distant Sooty Shearwaters.  A distant flock of 30 Common Eiders was nice too. 

But now it started to rain, so I headed back to my car and then off to Cape Ray to do another seawatch.  Along the way I made a few quick stops in the town of Cape Ray seeing birds that I mostly only found around the towns like Rock Pigeon, Blue Jay, Starling, and Grackle.  Plus in a small wetlands at the edge of town I found 3 rare Red-winged Blackbirds.

Then it was on to Cape Ray for a seawatch.  It was very windy and rainy, so I needed to bird from the car trying to look downwind as best as possible.  There was not much flying by, but I had my first of many Guillemots, and then spotted an adult Jaeger flying by quite closely.  I quickly got the bird in the scope and watched it for at least 30 seconds – it seemed thin-bodied enough to be a Parasitic, and tail shape seemed right as well.

I had planned to spend additional time landbirding in the area but it was raining heavily, so I decided to call it quits early and head north a short distance to the Codroy Valley.  I thought I might take a quick look at a number of my possible stops I had planned for the next day to get a feel for how I might bird there tomorrow.  But along the way the rain slowed to a drizzle, and since tomorrow’s forecast was for more heavy rain, I thought it would be worthwhile to try to hit at least a couple of tomorrow’s spots yet today if it wasn’t raining too hard.

First I headed to Loch Lomond where I could bird from the road and hopefully not get too wet.  I parked at the east end of the lake and quickly spotted another 3 Wood Ducks – I thought these were supposed to be rarities.  A family of Wigeons and another two families of Black Ducks were also swimming through the vegetation.  With no more waterfowl to look at, I turned my attention to the swallows flying low over the lake.  Interestingly almost all were Bank Swallows, and then I spotted a single Barn Swallow – 2 nice additions to my list.  A singing Red-winged Blackbird was an expected bird in this location.

Then I drove to nearby Shoal Pond where so many rarities had been spotted recently including Pied-billed Grebe, Coot, and Sora, plus a number of waterfowl.  This location would likely require a pretty long walk around the perimeter, so I wasn’t planning to bird there in the rain.  But as I got closer the rain got lighter, and was just a light drizzle when I arrived.  So I got my rain suit on, and decided to head to the lake yet this afternoon.

But then as I started walking east along the southern edge of the pond the fog rolled in and I couldn’t see 50 feet.  Plus the wind was a good 15-20 mph, and now with heavy drizzle it meant I was getting pelted with tiny rain droplets.  Not very conducive for looking for birds on the lake.  The best I could do was listen to a distant calling Bittern.  I kept heading east and finally the fog started to lift.  The first bird I saw on the lake was a rare Shoveler, followed by a family of Wigeon.  Now the fog had pretty much lifted, and I could scan most of the lake.  I looked back to the southwest corner and briefly saw a bird on the water, which then disappeared beneath the surface.  My initial thought was it could be a Grebe, and a few seconds later it reappeared – it was indeed a Pied-billed Grebe, last reported at the lake more than 2 weeks earlier.  A bit later I heard it call, and it was answered by a second bird calling toward the east side of the lake.  Nice!  Not a minute later I spotted another bird out on the water and with the scope verified I had the Coot, also last reported a couple weeks ago. 

I was now at the southeast corner of the lake with a nice cattail marsh in front of me.  I started to hear a staccato “kek kek kek” that initially I was unfamiliar with.  Then I realized it was like a slow version of the “grunt” of a Virginia Rail, and without the call tailing off at the end.  I went to my iBird Pro app and softly played through the various calls – what I was hearing was a perfect match for call #7 “Calls Between a Pair”.  The bird continued to call off and on while I was in ear-shot of it over the next 10-15 minutes.

I was now walking north up the eastern side of the pond, and still hadn’t heard Sora, which was getting to be concerning since this was the Shoal Pond rarity that was the most often reported so far this year.  Up ahead I could see a nice marsh in the northeast corner of the lake which seemed like great habitat for a Sora.  And sure enough as I neared this spot a Sora called, followed soon thereafter by another one nearby, and then a third bird called a bit farther south.  I guess I shouldn’t have been worried.  As I was giving myself a high five, I heard a “bink” of a Bobolink.  A few seconds later I spotted a male Bobolink, followed by at least 2 other males and a female.  All were in the somewhat drier portion of the marsh– don’t think I’ve ever seen Bobolinks in a marsh outside of fall migration.  And I can’t forget the Red-winged Blackbirds out in the marsh – expected at this site though still a rarity for the province.

I had seen or heard just about everything I could reasonably expect at Shoal Pond (and then some), so I headed back to my car.  Along the way the Virginia Rail kept calling, and my first Harrier passed by.  A nice ending of the day – my 80th species that day, and my 107th species in the province.  My FitBit said I had logged 26,100 Steps and 10.9 miles – another long but successful day.