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.
