More from the maritimes

My next post will detail my first day back in Ontario, which I spent at Van Wagner's Beach in Hamilton. But until now, here is the full account of the rest of my birding adventures in "Canada's Ocean Playground".

As I mentioned, the day in Brier Island was a success. All said and done, I finished with 4 life birds as well as great looks at other seabirds.

Laura and I drove from our bed and breakfast in Digby down to Brier Island, arriving at around 9:00 AM. Since our whale-watching trip wasn't scheduled to depart for another 3 hours, we drove to the north end of the island to check out a good spot for 2 species of seals.

Laura checking out the seals - Brier Island, Nova Scotia

Common Eiders - Brier Island, Nova Scotia

We did see both species but my photos are kind of crappy so I'll spare you.... I did however photograph some Common Eiders and I saw a Great Cormorant, some Black Guillemots, and a few common shorebirds. The entire time, chip notes from Wilson's Warblers and the calls of Eastern Phoebes could be heard in the shrubby area behind us.

I stopped briefly to photograph this fritillary (ID forthcoming once I check my resources)

Laura and I made our way onto the ferry and actually ran into the couple from B.C. that we had met earlier in the week with Blake Maybank in Cow Bay. Small world!
The pelagic trip started somewhat slow, but before long we were swimming in phalaropes. Red was the most numerous by far, and by the end of the trip we estimated that we had seen well over 10,000! What a way to get a life bird.

Red Phalaropes - Bay of Fundy

Despite their abundance, it was hard to get passable photos due to their small size and our continuous rocking on the water. An extra 100mm on my lens would certainly help!

Not long after, we were buzzed by the first of many Great Shearwaters. My only previous sighting was a poor look at a single bird 2 years prior near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It was great to study the intricacies of their plumages.

Great Shearwater - Bay of Fundy

Somewhat spotted some whales off in the distance, and I quickly fired off a couple photos of what would turn out to be our only Fin Whales for the day.

Fin Whale - Bay of Fundy

As the day wore on, a few more pelagic species showed up, as well as some that aren't pelagic. I saw a single adult Pomarine Jaeger, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, and many Wilson's Storm-petrels. In addition, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Pectoral Sandpiper made brief visits to the boat.

Wilson's Storm-petrel - Bay of Fundy

Not long after, we came across a mother and calf Humpback Whale that had been known to be in the area for some time. We were all treated to a great show, as the calf swam up to the boat and lifted its head out of the water. I was limited photographically because I only had my 300 mm lens, so I tried a couple close-ups of the barnacles. The whales stayed with the boat for the better part of an hour.

Humpback Whale barnacles - Bay of Fundy

My highlight came as we were watching the whales. One of the birders on the trip (Elizabeth Doull) alerted me to a Northern Fulmar whizzing past. This was a target species for me, though I didn't expect to get such good looks at one! It also hung around the boat, hoping for a handout, for quite some time.

Northern Fulmar - Bay of Fundy

Northern Fulmar - Bay of Fundy

Our last new seabird for the trip were a few small groups of Atlantic Puffins. Despite missing Manx Shearwater, South Polar Skua (seen a few days prior), and Leach's Storm-petrel, we did quite well with pelagic birds.

Atlantic Puffins - Bay of Fundy

Day one in Nova Scotia - now with photos

I'll add the photos to this post once I get back home (September 6 or so)

I had about 6 hours today to take the car and go birding by myself as Laura had to work at the rehab from 10 till 4:30 today. My route was from Lawrencetown beach west to the Eastern passage near Dartmouth, and back to Lawrencetown via some of the back roads along the coast near Cole Harbour. The Lawrencetown area was very productive and I found a Nelson's sparrow which was vocolizing. Tough to get a good view though! Also seen here were Short-billed Dowitchers, Eastern Willets, Semi-palmated Sandpipers and Plovers, Least Sandpipers, both Yellowlegs, and a Belted Kingfisher.

shorebirds

The rest of the day was spent touring the Eastern Passage area, though I didn't see much. I did get my first Nova Scotia Vesper Sparrow, great views of Osprey diving and catching flounder not 20 meters away, and multiple Northern Gannets. Of course a nice variety of shorebirds were present as well.

Osprey - Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia

crab - Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia

juvenile Semipalmated Plover - Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia

juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper - Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia

In Cow Bay I unexpectedly ran into a gentleman who introduced himself as Blake Maybank, one of Nova Scotia's top birders. It was really good chatting with him and he put me on a spot where he and his group had a Black-headed Gull earlier. While I was here I photographed a Common Eider that hauled itself onto a nearby rock. Common Eiders molt many of their flight feathers at one time, rendering them flightless for a time. Check out the crazy feather wear on this guy...

Common Eider - Cow Bay, Nova Scotia

I was running out of time so I checked out the Black-headed Gull spot at Rainbow Haven Provincial Park. I was surprised to find not one but two BHGUs! I had only previously seen this species once - a long distance view of one at Niagara Falls, so it was a nice opportunity to finally study this species up close. According to Blake, later in the fall at this location there are about equal numbers of Bonaparte's and Black-headed Gulls. On these birds, note the pale mantle, bright red bill, and large amount of black on the underside of the primaries to seperate it from the similar Bonaparte's Gull.

Black-headed Gull #1 - Rainbow Haven Provincial Park

Black-headed Gull #2 - Rainbow Haven Provincial Park

That's all for now. It looks like we will be going to Brier Island for some whale-watching. Apparently this is a really good place to do some sea-birding as well, with decent numbers of Great and Sooty Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm-petrels, both oceanic phalaropes, and the chance at Manx Shearwater, Northern Fulmar, Leach's Storm-petrel, etc. Should be fun!

Nova Scotia bound!

In about 24 hours I will be leaving Windsor (for good, this time) and driving back to Cambridge. Friday evening I have a flight booked to Halifax, where I will be spending the next 10 days or so with Laura. Nova Scotia is a beautiful place and I'm looking forward to breathing in clean ocean air, hiking up mountains, walking down beaches, sailing, and all sorts of other things, BUT this blog is about birds so I'll talk about that.

This will be my 5th visit to the place, with the other four visits split between August and December/January. While I haven't really done too much birding, the few times I have been out Nova Scotia has been really good to me.

On my first visit, Laura and I did a bit of shorebirding along the coast. We saw some decent stuff including what was at the time my lifer White-rumped Sandpipers. An afternoon of whale-watching also produced some seabirds (but no whales!) including Greater Shearwater, Black-legged Kittiwakes, a Razorbill, some Arctic Terns, etc. We were surprised to see some American Golden-Plovers on an offshore island.

On December 31, 2009, I spent a day along the coast west of Halifax with Laura and our friend and former Guelphite Dom Cormier, as well as local birder Fulton Lavender. We had quite a bit of luck, finding both species of Murre, a young male King Eider with all the Commons, a Double-crested Cormorants with all the Greats (they are rare in winter), and a flock of Purple Sandpipers. We also took a look at a long-staying male Barrow's Goldeneye. The highlight though was when some pishing along a lonely road caused a House Wren to pop up for a bit! They are rare birds in Nova Scotia, and even rarer in the winter.

Finally, this past January while checking out the wildlife rehab centre where Laura works, I came across a female Eurasian Wigeon in the pond! They are a little more common out there than in Ontario.

I'll be returning on September 5, just when the jaeger season really heats up in Hamilton (oh yeah, and classes).