Who’d be a brass monkey in this weather!

3-4 February 2007, another weekend of rather frustrating birding with strong winds both days, some horizontal snow and interesting roads and the birds were having none of it.

Saturday was clear but bitter and the aforesaid brass monkeys would have been searching deep in the drifting snow for anything that had come adrift. I started by intending to go off east looking for Tufted Titmouse, Wild Turkey and maybe a few other species just bursting to get on my year list. After cruising the lanes of St-Clet, discretion got the better part of valour and I decided to wait until Sandra, who was at home with a heavy cold, was fit to navigate (barely conscious would do, this is a competition!) and the weather had eased. The lanes were ok except for the lack of Snowy Owls, sensibly hiding behind a hummock somewhere. The roads had lots of Lapland Longspurs, certainly more than the routine two or three per winter. Snow Buntings had also arrived in force with around 450 along the Cites des Jeunes alone.

Taking the enforced opportunity to sit and watch the action I managed to snap a couple of Snow Bunts and scared a Rough-legged Hawk by driving within two kilometers of it, why are they so nervous?

Sunday dawned with more of the same but Sandra still had a lively pulse so, wrapped up and comfy we set off. In previous years Tufted Titmice have been regular at the feeders in St-Armand, an area on the US border about 1.5 hours away (Quebec is big). The area also has a few other species and, despite the continued gale and –30 something wind-chill, I was optimistic.

En-route (very French eh!) we passed numerous little flurries of Snow Buntings, as well as more Laps and Horned Larks. As we reached Noyen we could see that the water was not as frozen as we had hoped and so the wildfowl, with possibly Barrow’s Goldeneye amongst them, would be scattered and hard to see. Moving on to Venice en Quebec we found Lake Champlain well frozen and that the cerebrally challenged Ice Fisherpeople were out in force, well at least the Police know where they all are.

In St-Armand we came across a dozen Wild Turkeys moving gracefully through the snow drifts, well actually scrabbling about like panicked cats dropped in a bath (no I’ve never done it) and they quickly scrabbled off. We checked lots of feeders and saw numerous American Tree Sparrows but no Tuftys.

Returning home we saw even more Snow Bunts for about 1700 in total, very spectacular.
After such rambling I only have a couple of shots. My year list is now 76, I reckon about another 47-49 species were available, including the cursed Green-tailed Towhee of east Montreal. Must try harder.















A sprinkling of Longspurs, all Lapland unfortunately.



































A few Snow Bunting shots, taken as they seltered in the gale.





























Cunningly using its cryptic plumage to blend with its habitat, this (roughly family sized) Wild Turkey is virtually invisible to the untrained observer.