DAY 2 & 3 of Winter List Season

So far have managed to bird for the first three days of the Winter List season but that will end Tuesday with a return to office.

 

 

Sunday (DAY 2) was a trip to Cape Race with my personal Winter List Bird Dawgs Ken Knowles and John Wells. The first trip of the winter season to Cape Race adds plenty of common birds to the list such as seaducks and alcids. Bonus bird was a Short-eared Owl (nice views). It was good to get a White-rumped Sandpiper at Long Beach and a Dunlin returning to winter at a odd little patch of miner's lettuce. Also a relief to see some small flocks of robins since there are absolutely no berries for them this winter. Horned Grebes and Red-throated Loons were in place at Biscay Bay, the only reliable location in winter. It was late when we got to Trepassey so any hopes of lingering warblers were dashed but it was a relief to get a Gray Jay which can be a real pain to winter list since we don't go in the woods much in winter. At St Shotts I chose to scan the sea for last chance at a gannet or a late shearwater while my bird dawgs went to check out Ken's Kabbages, a little garden 75 m from the lighthouse where over the years an interesting list of vagrants have been found. They came back screaming out WOODCOCK!!! I died on the spot. There hasn't been a woodcock on the Avalon Peninsula in over 30 years. This was a serious rarity missed. Once flushed the odds of finding it again were nil. I learned the hard way to never leave your dawgs. Yes it was American not Eurasian because of twittering sounds of the wings and warm buffy coloured body. It hurts. A very small consolation prize was lucking into a Great Horned Owl hunting by the roadside just north of Portugal Cove South in the twilight. Winter List =  (BM 79) (Tingley 63).

Didn't take many bird pictures on Sunday. This group of four moose out on the open barrens was an unusual sight.

This Great Horned Owl was hunting by the roadside. It was well after sunset. This photo was taken using ISO 8000.  Through binoculars the owl was no more than a dark silhouette but with digital magic the owl came to life.

Monday (DAY 3) I birded without any bird dawgs in the area Ferryland to Renews. Maybe I needed them because I couldn't find anything rare. Started in Ferryland in nice conditions. Lots of junco etc to look through. Just four additions to the Winter List, Dickcissel at a feeder in Ferryland, a high total of six Lincoln's Sparrows, a Ruffed Grouse and a regular overwintering Black-bellied Plover. The high count of Lincoln's Sparrow and 23 Song Sparrows were probably both all-time high one day counts for the Avalon Peninsula.  Winter List = (BM 83), (Tingley 75).

One of six Lincoln's Sparrows found during the day.  A very high one day count but late fall/early winter is the best time of the year to see this bird on the Avalon Peninsula. It doesn't breed on the Avalon even though it is a common breeder in the rest of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This Ruffed Grouse walked into view from the car while pishing sparrows in a wet patch of willows in Tors Cove.

 

No More Mister Nice Guy

For the next three months (1 Dec -28 Feb) my sole goal in life is to see more species of birds in Newfoundland then my rival Stuart Tingley sees in New Brunswick. This ongoing competition inspires us to look harder for birds during the coldest season of the year. The first day of the winter list season is particularly important. Summer birds lingering far too late for their own good have limited life expectancy. It is important to cash in on as many of these as possible in the first few days of December.

Kelly's Brook in St. John's has turned into a magic oasis in December. The lush willows and warm water from an underground pipeline produce a micro-habitat that insect starved warblers stay with during the cold days of early winter. This year there was a nice collection of such suicidal summer birds = Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. All the birds were puffed up fending off the cold but seemingly collecting lots to eat on the trees bordering the brook. If the birds can get through the next 24 hours they will have a week of above normal temperatures to make life easier.

While late warblers live at Kelly's Brook, Green-winged Teal have discovered something eatable in the rufous mud. This is certainly the best place in eastern North America to see Common Teal (Eurasian Green-winged Teal) at point blank range. Today there were two drakes in near perfect plumage and 2 or 3 others on the way to becoming good looking Common Teal. Over the last few years with warbler hunters walking through the willows the teal have become very tolerant of people.

John Wells was my lone bird dog for Dec 1st start up. We tallied 51 species with St. John's which is not bad. Most importantly were a host of lingering rare winter birds.  Other warblers we saw were Anne Hughes' Yellow-throated Warbler on the suet block and by pure chance locked onto a Yellow-breasted Chat in a shrub in front of a house in a residential area while driving at 50 km/hr. 

December 1st birding in St. John's netted us 51 species including a nice list of rare winter list birds. Tomorrow it Cape Race to St. Shotts to clean up on the seaducks and hopefully find another warbler or two. White-rumped Sandpipers afraid to make the jump from Newfoundland to South America is another important species to nab tomorrow in the quest to Kill Tingley!!!!

This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was cold today after experiencing temperatures getting no higher than -3C for 48 hours but should do well when it warms up considerably Monday to Friday. 

Every year during late autumn there are a few lingering Black-and-white-Warblers. 



Nashville Warbler is a very localized breeding species in the province with a few showing up during fall on the Avalon.  The bird was much brighter yellow in life than this photo shows taken in the deep early morning shade. 

 

Yellow Warbler is surprisingly regular in late fall, especially at Kelly's Brook where one survived to mid January two winters ago.

 

The Yellow-breastd Chat as first seen from the road driving at 50 kh/hr.  The bright yellow ball shone through the branches.

 

 

 The chat did not appear to be going to a feeder but was moving around the houses in a rather exposed way for a chat.



Pink-footed Goose - the only Goose in town

I swear it was pure coincidence that I had a semi-free day away from a prolonged stretch of environmental monitoring of lichen deep in the Hell Woods of the Avalon Peninsula. It coincided with Lisa de Leon finding Newfoundland's 2nd autumn record of Pink-footed Goose in the Goulds on 19 Nov. It was feeding among crows in a short grass agricultural field. Others had looked for it without success on 19 Nov.  I lucked into it right away near noon on 20 Nov.  My car had not come to a complete stop at the top of Cox's Lane when through the open window I heard a goose and soon located it flying high over a field.  It went down out by highway 10.  I drove back to the highway and found it feeding in a field among crows, rock doves and a few ducks.

 

It fed among a close knit group of crows and a busy flock of Rock Dove. With no other geese to associate with it found a way to blend in with the crows.  It was surprisingly inconspicuous as it fed on something in the field that was also of interest to crows, rock doves, starlings and a few Black Ducks.

From afar the Pink-footed Goose was anything but conspicuous among the crow roaming the same  field.



Using 700 mm of camera power plus cropping and you get to see what the Pink-footed Goose looked like close up.

According to memory this was the 9th Pink-footed Goose known to have occured in Newfoundland but only the second in fall.

Clarenville Ducks

My work location (Long Harbour) combined with heavy rain cancelling the work resulted in me getting some free birding time on the Isthmus of Avalon and Clarenville. It was good to check out these poorly covered areas but there were no surprises this time. Clarenville is definitely too good to be left unbirded. The concentration of ducks in the area of Clarenville, Shoal Harbour and Georges Brook is too important to be ignored. Today I kept a total count. I know the geese were missing and birds like Common Merganser and Common Goldeneye which become numerous later in winter also avoided my view.

Total Counts

Canada Goose - 7

American Black Duck - 330
Mallard - none
Northern Pintail - none
American Wigeon - 1
Greater Scaup - 310
Lesser Scaup - 14
Tufted Duck - 5
Red-breasted Merganser - 25

The lack of Mallards and pintails, both common among the ponds in St. John's, shows a more true picture of the relative abundance of these ducks throughout the island of Newfoundland and pretty much Labrador as well. There were domestic Mallard-like ducks present at one place where people throw bread to the ducks, but nothing I thought was a wild Mallard.

The unmarked bright yellow bill identifies the sex of this American Black Duck as a male.

 

The mottled dark olive bill means this Black Duck at Shoal Harbour (Clarenville area) a female.

There are three Tufted Ducks among this group of Greater and Lesser Scaup by a  favoured sewer outflow in Clarenville.  The flat topped squared off head and more solidly dark back are distinctive Tufted Duck traits.  The immature Tufted Ducks in fall may or may not show a trace of a tuft on the back of the head.  Can you find the three?



 

The November Empidonax Challenge

Sometimes you almost don't want to see a late empidonax flycatcher. In Newfoundland where only the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is common we lack extensive field experience with the other species. On Monday Paul Linegar and I were birding the Southern Shore when Paul found a empidonax flycatcher at Renews. It was in the most unlikely of places for a vagrant bird - in the black spruce and larch trees backing on the main shorebird beach. We spent nearly two hours trying to get views of the bird in the thick tangled stand of 'trees'. Getting views was tough and a photo seemed an impossibility but I got lucky and managed 15 shots in a matter of five seconds shooting through a myriad of branches with the bird back lit. Pure miracle the bird is in some kind of focus.

 

 

We think it is a Least Flycatcher because of the squat little size of the bird, bold eye ring, bold white edges to the tertials, short bill with mostly yellow lower mandible and short primary projection. The back was grayish with a slight greenish tinge. The breast was white-ish with a pale gray 'vest'. It wagged or flipped its tail constantly. It didn't call much but Paul heard it give a few 'whit whit' notes.

Is it possible to know from these photos the bird is not a Dusky Flycatcher? Does anyone reading this blog have an idea on identification?

 

 

Other birding during the day turned up a late Blue Grosbeak at Bear Cove.  We concentrated on the Renews to Cappahayden area during the morning and early afternoon.  Lots of junco activity. one Tree Sparrow and a Lincoln's. A movement of White-winged Crossbills plus one Common Redpoll.  No warblers or other vagrants until lucking into the Yellow-throated Warbler near Anne Hughes' house just before dropping PL at home thanks to seeing Mark Maftei standing on the side of the road with binoculars.

Happiness is not a Redstart in November

November is warbler month in St. John's. A lot of rare warblers have been found in the city during the month. The Rennies River and Waterford River - streams/creeks flowing through the city are the two proven areas. Living in the Waterford Valley it is partly my duty to put in an effort to check for warblers. There are fewer warblers these years and fewer people looking so the end result is maybe 1/4 as many finds as we had during the start of St. John's November Warblering some 30 (!) years ago. This morning I started in the lower most Waterford Valley where the river is partially tidal. I walked up the trail nearly to Bowring Park and then back down the other side of the valley. Three hours and 15 minutes of hunting warblers produced just one warbler. The high west winds roaring down the valley reduced the radius in which birds could be heard. However, I encountered some nice feeding flocks of juncos and chickadees where a warbler would have been comfortable.

 

The immature male American Redstart was by the Waterford Lane Bridge in the backyard of Waterford Manor feeding among a large flock of juncos and a couple of Black-capped Chickadees. While a very attractive bird to see in November there was sadness attached knowing this bird is probably not going to ever leave the Waterford Valley.

 

This American Redstart puts on a brave face ignoring its inevitable fate if it doesn't change its mind and migrates out of here.

 

This typical warbler habitat in November, bare branches, dead leaves and a chain link fence.

 

Brant in Flatrock

Yesterday Lisa de Leon found a Brant at Flatrock. Newfoundland is well east of the narrow route of Brant migration from the Arctic to the US east coast. The western end of Bay of Fundy (Grand Manan Is, NB and Cape Sable Is, NS) are on the edge of the travel corridor. Another population of Brant migrate from the Canadian high Arctic to Ireland. One of these birds banded was shot in Newfoundland a few years back. So it is difficult to know where a Newfoundland Brant comes from.

 

Today I saw the Brant feeding on a green coloured algae growing on the flat rocks sloping into the sea. There is no guarantee it will survive the hunting season in this area especially if it gets flushed away from the beach which may be too close to houses for people to hunt.

 The Brant was grazing on a green coloured algae growing in the tidal zone.

 Oh-oh, the sea is receding, does this mean a tsumani? .

I hate it when this happens.  Yet twice the Brant took a tumble being caught in a wave.

 That was nothing, lets do it again.

And on the very next wave it did happen again.  There were fairly big seas today. The algae it was feeding on is available only a low tide but was still being immersed by the bigger waves when I was there.