Post by Randy on Jul 13, 2013 11:48:34 GMT -8
My wife had a conference in PEI in mid June so I decided to fly out and join her at the end of her course. We then traveled around for two weeks. It was a much needed holiday for me. Despite my wife not being a birder per se, she is a nature lover and loves to hike and she indulged my need to bird. We managed to get out a fair bit over the two weeks.
I had done some birding previously in Maine but otherwise I had never birded the north Atlantic so I saw a lot of great species including 14 lifers! I was hoping for 5-10 so this far exceeded my expectations. Lifers are definitely tough to come by for me these days it seems and my North American ABA Area total is now 379.
We started out with 5 days in PEI at my wife's second cousin's cottage/farmhouse. It was fantastic. We did day trips to the various corners of the island. We had this guy rooting around the farmhouse in the evening and morning a couple times:
These grey partridge were hanging out around the house one morning as well:
The south area of the island provided Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrows. In PEI national park (between the three separate areas) I found Alder flycatcher, black-throated green warbler, American black duck, and swamp sparrow.
Swamp sparrow:
Also saw this red fox here:
The northeastern most point (conveniently named "East Point") was quite windy, but this was the only place I was able to find great cormorants in the whole trip. The northwestern most point ("North Cape") provided common eiders, which I had seen previously in Maine but they were not in breeding plumage at that time. A couple other highlights throughout the island were chestnut-sided warbler and black guillemot.
We then drove across to New Brunswick and spent an afternoon along the Bay of Fundy before heading towards Halifax/Lunenberg. At Fundy National Park I managed to see more black-throated green warblers:
Very poor pic of a female black-throated green warbler:
I managed to get two more lifers here in Magnolia warbler and Nashville warbler. Lots of American redstarts around as well but wasn't able to get any pics. Here I heard a winter wren as well. This would be a lifer, but for me to count something as a lifer I need to see it. Better luck next time!
Nashville warbler:
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Also found this cute baby eastern red squirrel:
We worked our way to Lunenberg, NS then northwest to the Fundy Coast where we stopped at Kejimkujik National Park. Unfortunately it was raining but we still managed to do a bit of hiking/birding. I got 1 lifer with a blackburnian warbler and would have had a second with black-throated blue warbler, but could only heard it and wasn't able to see it. Other notable species here included eastern wood-pewee, black and white warbler, and blue-headed vireo. No good pics here due to the rain unfortunately.
We then headed back towards Halifax but stopped in Wolfville at my request. Here there's a chimney that was left when a building was demolished some years ago because chimney swifts nest in it. They're apparently a sure thing to see at dawn or dusk but we were there at noon and I managed to see three chimney swifts flying overhead. A hike west of wolfville provided great looks at Blackburnian warblers, northern parulas, and ovenbirds. We then headed to Halifax and flew to St. John's Newfoundland.
From St. John's we drove to Cape St. Mary's, which is the south-eastern most point of the Avalon Peninsula. On the way there we stopped for a hike where I found boreal chickadees and some blackpoll warblers:
Found this photogenic eastern red squirrel as well:
Cape St. Mary's was unbelievable. The world's most accessible seabird breeding colony and the third largest northern gannet colony in North America. I will have a separate post on this. Lifers here included thick-billed murre and razorbill.
Back in St. John's we did a puffin boat tour of course. Got a lifer here with some northern fulmars. A separate post to follow on this as well.
Across the road from our place in Petty Harbour (just south of St. John's) we watched this baby herring gull wander around the roof of a fishing shed - pretty cute:
Overall an amazing trip. More than 80 species seen. Here's the total list with my lifers starred:
American Black Duck**
Common Eider
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Gray Partridge
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Northern Fulmar**
Northern Gannet**
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Cormorant**
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Sora
Willet
Black-legged Kittiwake
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Common Tern
Common Murre
Thick-billed Murre**
Razorbill**
Black Guillemot
Atlantic Puffin
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Chimney Swift**
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Alder Flycatcher**
Least Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren* (would be a lifer if I had been able to see rather than just hear it)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler**
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler**
Blackburnian Warbler**
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler* (would be a lifer if I had been able to see rather than just hear it)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler**
Savannah Sparrow
Nelson's Sparrow**
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow**
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
I had done some birding previously in Maine but otherwise I had never birded the north Atlantic so I saw a lot of great species including 14 lifers! I was hoping for 5-10 so this far exceeded my expectations. Lifers are definitely tough to come by for me these days it seems and my North American ABA Area total is now 379.
We started out with 5 days in PEI at my wife's second cousin's cottage/farmhouse. It was fantastic. We did day trips to the various corners of the island. We had this guy rooting around the farmhouse in the evening and morning a couple times:
These grey partridge were hanging out around the house one morning as well:
The south area of the island provided Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrows. In PEI national park (between the three separate areas) I found Alder flycatcher, black-throated green warbler, American black duck, and swamp sparrow.
Swamp sparrow:
Also saw this red fox here:
The northeastern most point (conveniently named "East Point") was quite windy, but this was the only place I was able to find great cormorants in the whole trip. The northwestern most point ("North Cape") provided common eiders, which I had seen previously in Maine but they were not in breeding plumage at that time. A couple other highlights throughout the island were chestnut-sided warbler and black guillemot.
We then drove across to New Brunswick and spent an afternoon along the Bay of Fundy before heading towards Halifax/Lunenberg. At Fundy National Park I managed to see more black-throated green warblers:
Very poor pic of a female black-throated green warbler:
I managed to get two more lifers here in Magnolia warbler and Nashville warbler. Lots of American redstarts around as well but wasn't able to get any pics. Here I heard a winter wren as well. This would be a lifer, but for me to count something as a lifer I need to see it. Better luck next time!
Nashville warbler:
[/url]Also found this cute baby eastern red squirrel:
We worked our way to Lunenberg, NS then northwest to the Fundy Coast where we stopped at Kejimkujik National Park. Unfortunately it was raining but we still managed to do a bit of hiking/birding. I got 1 lifer with a blackburnian warbler and would have had a second with black-throated blue warbler, but could only heard it and wasn't able to see it. Other notable species here included eastern wood-pewee, black and white warbler, and blue-headed vireo. No good pics here due to the rain unfortunately.
We then headed back towards Halifax but stopped in Wolfville at my request. Here there's a chimney that was left when a building was demolished some years ago because chimney swifts nest in it. They're apparently a sure thing to see at dawn or dusk but we were there at noon and I managed to see three chimney swifts flying overhead. A hike west of wolfville provided great looks at Blackburnian warblers, northern parulas, and ovenbirds. We then headed to Halifax and flew to St. John's Newfoundland.
From St. John's we drove to Cape St. Mary's, which is the south-eastern most point of the Avalon Peninsula. On the way there we stopped for a hike where I found boreal chickadees and some blackpoll warblers:
Found this photogenic eastern red squirrel as well:
Cape St. Mary's was unbelievable. The world's most accessible seabird breeding colony and the third largest northern gannet colony in North America. I will have a separate post on this. Lifers here included thick-billed murre and razorbill.
Back in St. John's we did a puffin boat tour of course. Got a lifer here with some northern fulmars. A separate post to follow on this as well.
Across the road from our place in Petty Harbour (just south of St. John's) we watched this baby herring gull wander around the roof of a fishing shed - pretty cute:
Overall an amazing trip. More than 80 species seen. Here's the total list with my lifers starred:
American Black Duck**
Common Eider
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Gray Partridge
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Northern Fulmar**
Northern Gannet**
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Cormorant**
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Sora
Willet
Black-legged Kittiwake
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Common Tern
Common Murre
Thick-billed Murre**
Razorbill**
Black Guillemot
Atlantic Puffin
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Chimney Swift**
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Alder Flycatcher**
Least Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren* (would be a lifer if I had been able to see rather than just hear it)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler**
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler**
Blackburnian Warbler**
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler* (would be a lifer if I had been able to see rather than just hear it)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler**
Savannah Sparrow
Nelson's Sparrow**
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow**
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
