Like most college kids do on spring break, I went to Newfoundland. The sheer cliffs dropping off into the the frigid North Atlantic were just too inviting.
In reality I went to visit my good friends, Mark and Shanti, whom I had spent time with in British Columbia and Alaska and to see the incredible number of vagrant birds that end up in and around St. John's.
The trip started off a little rough; both flights were delayed, my luggage was somehow tagged with Antonia's name and destination, I missed my friends at the airport trying to take care of my luggage, and then found out there are several Morris Avenues in St. John's while exploring the city with a taxi cab driver. We did eventually find my friends' house, which I should mention has a beautiful ocean view and ponies, and luckily was able to borrow enough clothes to keep from getting too chilled while out and about.
I found some good birds right away on my first day in town, not that it was hard. There were tufted ducks, Eurasian wigeon and black-headed gulls all over the place. I also drove out to Cape Spear, the furthest east point in North America in hopes of finding some good sea birds. The point is very exposed and the wind was gusting off the ocean around 50 mph and hour. It was pretty awe inspiring but unfortunately not the best for birding. I didn't pick up any lifers there but did see some common eider and guillemots.
The days have kind of all run together now so I guess I will just give a general overview of the rest of the trip. We ended up birding mostly around St. John's but did make a trip out to Cape Race in the Southern Avalon Peninsula where we had sunshine while St. John's was experiencing a bit of a blizzard. Cape Race produced lots of purple sandpipers and what I thought was a dovekie but was really just me wanting to see things. The remaining days of my trip we hung around home and managed to find the black-tailed gull, yellow-legged gull, slaty-backed gull, and common teal (European subspecies of our green-winged teal). Mark and I also got to watch a northern goshawk attempt to take out a whole flock of Eurasian wigeon.
Overall it was a great trip, saw some sweet birds and got a couple of photos I am happy with. I should thank Mark and Shanti for letting me stay with them, use their car, and wear there clothes and thank Dave Brown for pointing out the slaty-backed gull for me while I was dinking around watching ducks. Dave keeps up a great blog (he's a much better writer) on his birding adventures and guides for birders, you can check him out a bit more here: Birding Newfoundland with Dave Brown
In reality I went to visit my good friends, Mark and Shanti, whom I had spent time with in British Columbia and Alaska and to see the incredible number of vagrant birds that end up in and around St. John's.
The trip started off a little rough; both flights were delayed, my luggage was somehow tagged with Antonia's name and destination, I missed my friends at the airport trying to take care of my luggage, and then found out there are several Morris Avenues in St. John's while exploring the city with a taxi cab driver. We did eventually find my friends' house, which I should mention has a beautiful ocean view and ponies, and luckily was able to borrow enough clothes to keep from getting too chilled while out and about.
I found some good birds right away on my first day in town, not that it was hard. There were tufted ducks, Eurasian wigeon and black-headed gulls all over the place. I also drove out to Cape Spear, the furthest east point in North America in hopes of finding some good sea birds. The point is very exposed and the wind was gusting off the ocean around 50 mph and hour. It was pretty awe inspiring but unfortunately not the best for birding. I didn't pick up any lifers there but did see some common eider and guillemots.
The days have kind of all run together now so I guess I will just give a general overview of the rest of the trip. We ended up birding mostly around St. John's but did make a trip out to Cape Race in the Southern Avalon Peninsula where we had sunshine while St. John's was experiencing a bit of a blizzard. Cape Race produced lots of purple sandpipers and what I thought was a dovekie but was really just me wanting to see things. The remaining days of my trip we hung around home and managed to find the black-tailed gull, yellow-legged gull, slaty-backed gull, and common teal (European subspecies of our green-winged teal). Mark and I also got to watch a northern goshawk attempt to take out a whole flock of Eurasian wigeon.
Overall it was a great trip, saw some sweet birds and got a couple of photos I am happy with. I should thank Mark and Shanti for letting me stay with them, use their car, and wear there clothes and thank Dave Brown for pointing out the slaty-backed gull for me while I was dinking around watching ducks. Dave keeps up a great blog (he's a much better writer) on his birding adventures and guides for birders, you can check him out a bit more here: Birding Newfoundland with Dave Brown
I'll be putting up more photos on my site and facebook page!
Beautiful shots, Ryan -- especially the ducks!
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