Newfoundland (and new-found-birds) (#224-227)

Ruby Wednesday
I'm outside tonight, tending my little garden and hear a little motor above my head. I look up, and it's my good friend Ruby, whom I've been a little out of touch with. He/she hovers for a moment and takes off in a huff, reminding me of the things I have been neglecting: 1) replacing the sugar water in the feeder and 2) keeping up to date on my bird blog. I hang my head in shame at the ants that have collected in the feeder and take it down, set it inside meaning to fill it and start back in the garden. Not long after, he/she (or another friend Ruby) returns and I feel like an ass for not having done it right away. Clearly the stuff is in high demand, and they love my garden as much as I do. So I head in, clean it out, hang it up, and sit and wait. No action until the mosquitoes found their own nectar, and now I'll have to wait until another day to catch up with old friends. If you can't wait that long, you can get your fix now:

In other (sort of) local news, I found myself lawn bowling in the middle of Toronto last week, and looked up, and wouldn't you know, there was a whole whack of chimney swifts above my head! I was distracted enough that I had someone sub in for me, but didn't go to the get the camera. But I have been wanting to see one for a long time! It's too bad I can't share pics here. 

Newfoundland
On a whim Edge and I decided to hop, skip and jump (er...fly) over to Canada's beautiful east coast. We've been interested in visiting Newfoundland for a while now...for one because we loved Ireland so much and heard it was similar (sort of...) and for two because the commercials are so damn convincing!

A lot of the birds in Newfoundland are much like the ones at home--it's not like you are headed into the tropics or anything, but out there you get lots of sea birds that don't come anywhere near landlocked Ottawa, and that was a special treat!

Our first day we drove a good part of the east side of the "Irish Loop," stopping at one point to hike a little section of the Beaches Path, where we got our first views of ATLANTIC PUFFINS (heart is screaming!!) right from the shore. They were still a bit out for good seeing but they are kind of...unmistakeable. In a matter of a few minutes we had our first two lifers of the trip--the puffins, and also BOREAL CHICKADEES. CUTE! I'm sure any Newfoundlander would laugh at how excited I was too see this so-apparently-common bird (not the only "common" bird there that was a lifer). They look just like the black-capped, but something about the colouring just makes them seem oh-so sweet...and soft. It was a little odd to get a few lifers on our trip of birds that we do have in Ontario--I just haven't found them (In the end, I think by the end of the trip there were at least three that would meet that criteria)

#224: Boreal Chickadee; June 30, 2012; Beaches Path, Newfoundland

We also got our first views of the trip of Greater Black-backed and other gulls. This path is close to Witless Bay, where a humpback was hanging around, and which where there are four islands that are ecological reserves and bird colonies. While the birds nest out on the island in high concentrations, the odd few venture closer to the mainland area.

Herring Gull by the sea

 Matt decided the following day that he really wanted to go out to see the whales in the bay, and this meant we'd get to get closer to the ecological reserve islands, so we readily forked over our cash to Ecotours, a company that runs a small zodiac out into the bay and to the islands. The zodiac was great because it was fast and manoeuvrable and we were weren't with a hundred other people on a huge boat. We had to wear these huge full-body orange life suits that were kind of ridiculous--felt like we were preparing for disaster in Antarctic waters or something! It just happened to be Canada Day and I was feeling particularly patriotic being able to take in the stunning richness of this little corner of our country.

nothing short of spectacular

The first 45 minutes were spent admiring a magnificent humpback whale and a few Minkes in Bay Bulls, and the second half we spent cruising around the big island. As we approached we got a good strong whiff that tells you...you know you are approaching a sea bird colony. It's home to the largest North American colony of Atlantic puffins, but there were also Common Murres in abundance, Black-legged kittiwakes, herring and black-backed gulls, and razorbills. The island is also home to a significant number of Leach's storm petrels, which we unfortunately did not see, as we learned that they are nocturnal and hide in burrows all day.

Now of course we saw puffins in Alaska, but not Atlantics! Actually, I think I did see puffins as teeny tiny specks in Ireland in 2009 (?) at the Cliffs of Moher, but it was too windy to take a boat out (I was still in love with puffins back then, even before the birding thing happened). It's worth noting that puffins are called "sea parrots" or "clowns of the sea." I'm more inclined to call them the "cuties of the sea."

#225: Atlantic Puffin; July 1, 2012; Witless Bay Ecological Preserve, Newfoundland

check gull in the back for scale. they're tiny!

Thought we had seen razorbills in Alaska (a lot of the birds were similar to Newfoundland), but nope!

#226: Razorbill; July 1, 2012; Witless Bay Ecological Preserve, Newfoundland

There was also an unbelievable number of common murres (common there, anyway). The murres were one of the more abundant birds we saw there. Not great fliers, they would jump off the rocks and sort of splash and sputter over the water if they didn't get a good take-off. Great swimmers though!

Some of them have a neat white line around their eyes. Those ones are "bridled," and are also adults

murres lined up

Both of the murres and the razorbills look so unreal--their markings are so perfect--that they look like they are painted.

I wanted to add some videos so that you could get the feeling of the scale out there. I'll admit that the camera handling is absolutely horrendous (you try shooting a video with a point and shoot on a zodiac in the ocean!) but you get the idea :)

Murres below, puffins on top

So many murres......

Black-legged kittiwake nesting

Us with our captain

The next day we had plans to hike the Spout Path from Bay Bulls. The Spout Path is a section of the East Coast Trail, a 540-km coastal trail. Having already done the West Coast Trail, this only seemed appropriate. Well we set out at noon for a 9-hour hike with only 2 bottles of water between us in 30 degree C weather--we ran into a trail custodian who urged us to turn around and we refused, with dehydration and darkness imminent, but anyways, what I'm really trying to say is that I finally spotted my first pine grosbeak on that hike, perched silently on some low heather (I always thought they'd be higher up in the trees? Although I suppose we had some altitude on our side) and not particularly concerned about us. One more lifer, and one more lifer to add to the list of birds we have at home but I haven't seen. Thank ye for obliging, Mr. Grosbeak!

#227: Pine Grosbeak; July 2, 2012; Spout Path (Bay Bulls end), Newfoundland

Well I'm feeling a little bit like I did after I did after that hike so I'm calling it quits. I can't promise when the next post will be, but I promise it will be good!

Seward (#163-170)

We arrived in Seward, where we would board our cruise ship, from Whittier at the end of the day. We had realized in Whittier that the most common gulls there were glaucous-winged, but this one posed for me soooo nicely in Seward.

#163: Glaucous-winged gull; Seward, Alaska; August 25, 2011
Glaucous-winged gulls have pink feet, dark eyes, red on the bottom of the bill, no black at the back.

The light was starting to go but we took our rental car for a last-chance ride along the shore where we tried to capture some very sneaky seabirds! Please excuse these rotten pics...I swear it gets much better after these!

#164: Pigeon Guillemot (juvenile); Seward, Alaska; August 25, 2011

*Mystery bird* (Marbled murrelet?)

*Mystery bird*(At a certain point I just got fed up with trying to figure these out!!!!)

I had the next morning in Seward to myself since the boys took a charter boat out to fish in Resurrection Bay. My plan was to hike up Mount Marathon in the morning and hit Exit Glacier in the afternoon. However, I was told upon leaving the hotel not to hike the mountain by myself (not just because it was very berry/beary, but also because the terrain is difficult and if I fell and broke my leg there would be nobody to get help). So I wandered around Seward in the morning, scouting the shore for birds and doing some caching.

The first bird I saw was a juvenile bald eagle in a tree beside the lagoon behind our hotel. Like I said, eagles are everywhere in Alaska, but always pretty special.

A little farther down I spotted a few cormorants drying out their wings. I noticed that people didn't say the word "cormorant" with nearly the amount of disdain as they do here.

Watching them dry their wings was so hilarious that I actually took a video. This is my first video here so I'm trying to figure this out...maybe next time I'll do it in YouTube so I can make it a little bigger. Anyway, they were doing this when I arrived, kept at it while I watched them, and were still going when I left! Too bad I couldn't lend them the blow dryer from the hotel.

I spent forever trying to get a good shot of one these guys. Once I looked closely, I realized that this is a lifer I could see at home!
#165: Orange-crowned warbler;  Seward, Alaska; August 26, 2011
Unfortunately the orange crown is rarely visible in the field. 

I noticed that the song sparrows all look very dark and "sooty" compared to ours at home! I kept seeing them, think they were a new bird (really hoping they were a water ouzel, or American dipper...never did see one).

Back at the harbour/town, there was lots to see.

This playful sea otter got lucky with some scraps of the pier (red snapper). He rolled around and ate to his heart's content as everyone watched and clicked, clicked, clicked. I took so many pictures and knew I had good ones but just couldn't stop myself from taking more! I have a feeling this guy gets pretty spoiled here. He's got a reputation!

The crows in Alaska are actually different, which took me a few days to realize. Once I realized I could easily mistake new birds for birds from home, I got to studying the range maps and knowing what to look out for. The crows on the West Coast are definitely smaller and can sound a little different. Luckily there is no overlap of northwestern/American crow ranges in Alaska, so it's a safe bet to call this 'norwester! It actually took me forever to get a decent shot of crow...most of them were SO mangy looking!

#166: Northwestern Crow; Seward, Alaska; August 26, 2011
The crows in Seward were grabbing little mussels from the water and cracking them on the rocky beach...neat to watch. Don't see crows doing that at home!

I've never seen a dark hare/rabbit like this at home?!

The previous day we had seen kittiwakes at the rookery in Whittier. I saw some up close and posing nicely on the roof of a building (I've also included some pics from the previous day). As you can see, they look a heck of a lots like a gull, but they have  no markings on their bills and their feet are jet black. The younger ones of stripes on the back of their necks and some have black ear patches too.

kind of an awkward pose...

The boys returned from fishing and reported that they saw puffins in the bay and knew that I would be so disappointed if I didn't see them too. We checked into the cruise ship and came back into town after dropping my dad off (he was in desperate need of a nap...poor dad, I always run him ragged) and picking up Matt's mom Mary. The charters were prohibitively expensive so Matt set to trying to get me out into the bay for those puffins. We were getting pretty desperate, but he ends up asking a random guy in the marina. It was the best thing that could have happened...he was a great guy and we all had an amazing time on this little "private tour" of Resurrection Bay. We headed out and it wasn't too long until what I was waiting for popped into view...

AND THIS IS THE PART OF THE TRIP WHEN I JUST ABOUT DIED FROM JOY.

#167: Horned Puffin; Resurrection Bay, Alaska; August 26, 2011

OMG. OMG. OMG........just OMG.

#168: Tufted Puffin; Resurrection Bay, Alaska; August 26, 2011

OMG - I want a haircut just like this!

Horned and tufted puffins together!

Ken, who took us out, works on a research boat. He's currently doing stuff with sea lions (see the one that's branded in the middle?). These were smaller than the ones we saw in Prince William Sound, but still so great to see.

Steller sea lions

I took pictures of these swimming birds everywhere and didn't realize till we got home that they were all different kinds!

#169: Ancient Murrelet; Resurrection Bay, Alaska; August 26, 2011

(You can barely see it, but check out the white tufts of hair on the back of its head. Most similar birds have black bills, but this one's is lighter)

Ken took us out to another rookery, which was mostly kittiwakes...

look closely though and see some other things, like cormorants...

and more lifers!
#170: Common Murre; Resurrection Bay, Alaska; August 26, 2011

Here's one zooming along with a puffin!

this is Alaska?

Stunning scenery everywhere

With our captain, Ken, Mary, Matt, me.

By the end of the day, it was time to say goodbye to spectacular Seward and jump on board the Radiance. A big part of me felt really guilty about trading in pristine, rugged, beautiful Alaska for a packaged vacation on a mega ship.

And I was so flippin high on seeing those puffins that I was pretty sure that
a. I was never going to come down
b. there was no way the rest of the trip was going to compare.

Well, don't you worry...the rest of the trip was just as great, and there's lots more to come!

The town of Seward was dwarfed by our megaship.

Alaska continued...and another whack of lifers (#157-162)

I had planned to include Seward in this post it looks like it's going to need to wait again; after going through the pics I'm realizing just how much we saw! So, I would now like to welcome you to the odd little town of Whittier, Alaska. Odd because in order to access it by road, you must wait to go through a one-lane, 2.5 mile tunnel through a mountain, which alternates between cars and trains in each direction. Also odd because 90% of the population of just under 300 people all live in the same apartment building (there are no houses there). The other building that dominates the landscape is an abandoned military complex.

An Alaska train that runs back and forth in front of the town from the huge container ships at the port to the trains going through the tunnel. The infamous apartments in the background.

We visited to catch a Prince William Sound cruise boat to see some glaciers and wildlife.

The colour of the water in Alaska's rivers and glacier-fed harbours is unreal - a sort of turquoisey-slate

One of the first things that we noticed arriving were the eagles right overhead, sitting on the lamp posts and squeeling at each other. Eagles are EVERYWHERE in Alaska but we were able to get closest to them here. We did also find the nest with 2 juveniles.

We loaded onto the boat but Matt came and pulled me off because he spotted a little bird swimming around near the breakwater, and the crew said we had some time before departing, so we went off in search of it. It was hilarious to watch (wish I had a video), and turns out there were a bunch right outside our hotel room, which opened right out over the water and overlooked the harbour.

 #157: Red-necked phalarope (winter); Whittier, Alaska; August 24, 2011

Our first stop on our day cruise was incredible. It wasn't just a birdwatching tour, but we did tell the crew that we were especially interested in birds, and some of them would come find us when they saw something they thought we would be interested in but that wasn't announced over the loudspeaker. Actually, the crew was amazing, and I would absolutely recommend these cruises, and not just because the served the best, hot, fresh, aromatic, gooey chocolate chip cookies I have ever had in my life (I think in my chocolate-chip cookie induced stupor I actually said "this is the best thing that ever happened to me").

Well, I just got derailed but the first stop was a black-legged kittiwake rookery right across from Whittier. And what do I say? "OMG those weren't just gulls?!??!" Always have to remember to look closely and not assume anything! It was pretty neat that it's close enough to Whittier that some people were out there observing them up really close in sea kayaks. 

Rookery from afar. All those little white specks are kittiwakes! A bald eagle was sitting in the centre at the top, trying to choose lunch.

see 'em?

Guess I'll go ahead and count those now, but I have better pics of them in Seward so I'll include a close-up then. The captain gave a great commentary, explaining how they nest and the different plumages. I was just in heaven!

#158: Black-legged kittiwake; Whittier, Alaska; August 24, 2011.


A little farther into the sound we saw a bunch of sea lions hauled out on some rocks. An amazing thing to see (and to HEAR!).

So yeah that was great, but what was REALLY great was one of the crew members tracking me down on the boat and pointing out the little black oystercatchers also on the rocks! I totally would have missed them otherwise!

#159: Black Oystercatcher; Prince William Sounds, Alaska; August 24, 2011
Look at those bright red bills!

The sea otters were another favourite to watch. They are so sociable, playful and snuggly with each other you can't help but go crazy for them. The captain explained that their fur is so dense so they don't get cold in the water, but they roll around in it to trap air bubbles to help insulate. The only part of their bodies without this fur is their nose and feet pads, which is why they float around on their backs with their feet out--so they don't get hypothermia.

On this cruise we saw 26 glaciers (or so they tell me...I didn't count), lots of wildlife, birds and a salmon hatchery. It was a really positive experience despite the pretty awful weather. Awful weather (and being way too far from these tiny little birds) was what contributed to these terrible shots of these 2 birds, which is terribly annoying since I know they would both be LIFERS!!

marbled murrelet? hmmpppph.

On the way back in, I noticed a bunch of kittiwakes flocking around the fishing boats...they must have been throwing the guts out, or something.

We stayed in Whittier for the night and got going the next day. We stopped at one spot to get a glimpse of the salmon spawning...one of the highlights of Alaska in August.

Bright red, spectacular fish!

At this spot in the drizzling rain we also saw this little guy. In breeding plumage he would have stuck right out, but less so in his drab winter plumage. Luckily I looked closely and determined he's a lifer!

#160: Golden-crowned sparrow; Near Whittier, Alaska; August 25, 2011
I would have assumed savannah, but he has a totally buff breast. Sparrows are all in the details!

Our drive continued south from Whittier to Seward where we were to board our cruise. All along the way? Mountains, valleys, creeks and streams, hiking trails, ocean and pristine, untouched green absolutely everywhere. I've gotta say, I felt pretty much at home in Alaska. Unfortunately, if I actually wanted to live there I would need to channel Sarah Palin and learn to shoot and carry a giant gun because I would live in constant fear of grizzlies. (On most of our hikes, about 5 minutes I begged to turn around because I was being consumed by fear!)

We actually passed by Tern Lake barely noticing it, but about 10km later we decided to turn around because we missed a geocache we really wanted to do. SO GLAD we did, because I got several lifers there!!

The first:
#161: Trumpeter Swan; Tern Lake, Alaska; August 25, 2011

We stopped along the main road to look at these ducks, which I still haven't identified (totally coulda been 162!). Not sure---redheads or ring-necked, or something else? Anyone want to weigh in?

As we're looking at the ducks, I see this other one swimming around in the background, and oh my dear goodness...!!! It's pretty great seeing the Western birds, but it was also pretty great being able to tick off a few that I can't seem to find in my own backyard!
#162: Red-necked grebe; Tern Lake, Alaska; August 25, 2011.

We also saw a chickie!

 

Well, that was just a ton of excitement for a few days, and I was warming up to Alaska quite nicely (even though it was so damn cold). Don't miss my next post covering the following day in Seward, which I spent exploring before boarding the Radiance of the Seas for the next leg of our Alaskan adventure...it will include a few bird sightings that are up there in my favourite all-time sightings of my birding career thus far!!