Summer Shearwatering

Summer is a good time to be a birder on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. The capelin arrive in enormous volumes to spawn on the beaches and near shore. Great Shearwaters and Sooty Shearwaters from the Southern Hemisphere depend on the summer capelin crop in Newfoundland waters to gorge on while going through a quick moult. 

Getting out in a boat among the shearwaters is a photographer's dream.  It not as easy as ABC. Ian Jones has been a source in recent years. He owns a high tech watercraft, perhaps meant more for freshwater ponds than the open Atlantic, but still is quite functional on the ocean in relatively civil conditions.  I was fortunate to get out with Ian and Jeannine Winkel on 4 July 2020 off St. Vincent's Beach and St Shotts.

Shearwaters numbers had dropped over night and those we found were more in resting mode than feeding.  The most action was in choppy waters off St Shotts. Overall the nearly 2,000 shearwaters, mainly Sooty with <10% Greats made for an OK trip.  Below are some photos from the trip. Most of the Sootys were in heavy moult. The few in pristine condition were birds hatched in the most recent nesting season, during our winter.

The neat and complete feathering in the wings shows this is a Sooty Shearwater fledged this past winter in the Southern Hemisphere nesting area.

Most of the Sooty Shearwaters showed heavy wing moult. These would be the adults.

The Great Shearwaters were much tamer than the Sootys allowing close approach with the boat.

 Common Murres and Atlantic Puffins were flying by regularly.

A rare Laughing Gull was cruising 3 km south of St Shotts. A handful show up on the Avalon Peninsula each summer.

Humpback, minke and fin whales were present but the photo of the expedition was this harbour porpoise. Not rare but not easy to get close to and difficult to photograph in Newfoundland. A small group investigated the boat.

Rufous Hummingbird - 4th for Newfoundland

Newfoundland's 4th RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was present at Renews, Avalon Peninsula for 36 hours 27-29 June 2020.  Clara Dunne saw it around her feeder late on the 27 June.  She suspected it was different than the female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that she had seen at her feeder over the last five years.  It was not until the following morning that she was able to secure some half decent photos.  The photos confirmed her suspicion that it was a different looking hummingbird.  She tentatively identified it as a Rufous Hummingbird. She texted me photographs for confirmation.  The rest is history. 

The bird visited the feeder regularly on the 28 June and up to 9 am on 29 June and then suddenly no more.  A number of people got to see the and photograph the bird.  The June date is early for this rare vagrant in the east.

 The previous records of Rufous Hummingbird for Newfoundland are:

 1) 1985 4-15 August. One adult male at MUN Botanical Park feeding on flowers (photos)

 2) 1988 13-15 August. One adult male visiting flowers at St. Anthony (photos)

 3) 2011 18-20 August.  One adult female at bird feeder, Middle Pond, near Goulds (photos)

In addition there was a female Rufous type hummingbird was observed over several days at in a residential garden in St. John's in early September 1983.  

All except the last picture were taken on 28 June 2020 at Renews. The last picture was taken on 29 June.  The dark triangle in throat indicates adult female.

Codroy Trip 13-16 June - Royal Success

The Codroy Valley at the southwest corner of Newfoundland is our Point Pelee, our High Island  our .... well it is not really like any of those places except that nothing beats it in Newfoundland for lush birding and numerous specialties that are common just across the way in Nova Scotia but have gained a toe hold in Newfoundland here.  It is a different world for the Avalon Peninsula birders that are used to looking eye level at tree top warblers. The Codroy Valley has proper forest and it is saturated with breeding birds.

This year where everyone's spring vacations to a birding destination were cancelled due to C-19, the obvious consolation vacation was the Codroy Valley.  A full 900 km drive one way from St. John's, the travel time makes it a journey.

The majority of birders were present sometime in the period of late May to 12 June.  Being tied up with a car problem  my departure was well delayed. Alison Mews also with a car situation was delayed.  The pain of hearing about the good birding that our friends were having caused Alison's car to be freed up and on short notice we were both streaming down the TCH toward Codroy Valley.

We had four full days 13-16 June. The weather was pretty good every day. Most importantly the winds were near calm each morning making for good dawn choruses. It turned out to be one of the best four day trips ever by anyone over the last 20+ years. We got all the regular Codroy specialties such as 5 Blackburnian Warblers, 9 Bay-breasted Warblers, 3 Cape May Warblers, 8 Northern Parulas, 18 Blue-headed Vireos,1 Philadelphia Vireo, 9 Red-eyed Vireos, 2 Eastern Wood Pewees, 4 Eastern Kingbirds, 2 Sora and 2 Pied-billed Grebes. 

Rarities are actually rarely found on Codroy trips but we had three. The first was the best. A NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW at Loch Lomond on 13 June. This near mythical bird has been reported nearly a handful of times in the province. This includes an individual accidentally caught in a mist net set up for snipe by the Great Legend himself - Dr. Les Tuck sometime in the 1960s and during June in the Codroy Valley.  I held the study skin in my hand. It gave me faith that the species could really occur in NF. It did happen and we photos to prove it.

A singing Scarlet Tanager on Brooms Brook would have been a bigger surprise if an earlier Codroy team hadn't already had one. Ours was quite far away from the first sighting so was likely a different bird. Still a major rarity to hear the species singing in Newfoundland. We get a few in the autumn. No photos. Good sounds recordings.

The biggest surprise of the trip was a singing YELLOW-THROATED VIREO at Red Rocks Road on 15 June. Occurring once every two or three years during fall vagrant hunting season there were no spring records for the province. Alison and I spent two hours with the bird. I never saw it. Alison glimpsed it and got a just barely acceptable record shot. It was well sound recorded. Tried just about everything legal to see the bird. I walked across the brook to get into the thick woods where it was. I was under it singing. In desperation I pished quietly and the bird came down to me calling with its irritated call. It was clearly angry with me. So close I should have been able to touch it. But I could not see it.  The record is documented with recordings of the song and one record shot photo. Sure would have been nice to have seen that bird.

The Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Loch Lomond, Codroy Valley, Newfoundland on 13 June 2020.

The Yellow-throated Vireo 15 June 2020, Red Rocks Road. The only photo.  Taken by Alison Mews. There are good sound recordings.

The male and female Blackburnian warbler - one those Nova Scotia specialties.  

 The male and female Bay-breasted Warbler - another of those Nova Scotia specialties.

Philadelphia Vireo. Always a crowd-pleaser when you can see it. 

The only Northern Parula of eight seen that I managed to get a photo of was this female.

For an Avalon birder where Hermit Thrush is the main thrush, it was a pleasure to endure the abundance of Swainson's Thrush in the Codroy Valley both by sight and by sound.

Eastern wood-Pewee is a regular spring overshoot from Nova Scotia without any suggestion of nesting in Newfoundland.

Bobolink used to be far more regular in Newfoundland. Now there are only a few in spring in the Codroy Valley. We don't know if they are still actually nesting anywhere in the province.

The scenic lush Codroy Valley is a Newfoundland birders heaven in late spring.

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