Quebec year list 2007

April fools

31 March-2 April 2007

The promise of fine weather conditions over the last weekend in March was enough to finally get us out along the south shore of the St-Lawrence in search of King Eider.

Our previous March visit to the area between Rimouski and Matane, back in 2004, had produced four King Eiders, and we were optimistic of success, we just had to do the kilometers. In the end we did the kilometers and some!

After work on the Friday, crossing Montreal was a 1.5 hour trip to start with. We hit Montmagny and our overnight stop around 8.45pm. The next day we whipped along the highway and began birding in earnest just after Rimouski. As usual the shore was littered with Glaucous Gulls and Iceland Gulls of the race kumlieni, always a treat for someone who has spent hours at a gull roost waiting for just one to arrive.

Common Eiders were a bit thin on the ground (or river) but we hit a few just east of Grand-Metis and, sure enough, out in the minch with 50 or so Common Eider was a nice male King Eider. It was a bit distant for a picture but I took a poor record shot anyway.

Mission accomplished we cast around for options. There was plenty of birding still to be had but what year ticks could be found. A freshening breeze cooled our ears and forced our hand a little and so we decided to head off through the Parc de la Gaspesie to try for a few species on the southern side of Gaspe.

The parc is spectacularly beautiful and we constantly saw finches gritting by the roadside. Among them was at least one Hoary Redpoll although we saw several more clean white rumps flush at several spots along the way. It took around two hours to cruise through and we enjoyed a tame Ruffed Grouse, a nervous Bald Eagle and plenty of White-winged Crossbills. The real winner though was the scenery and it pains you to think that our species can produce the dross that thinks it is ok to dump their trash by the roadside in such a place, but it does and they do.

Eventually we arrived at the town of Bonaventure and found a pleasant motel for the night. It was our intention to bird until around 11.00 the next day then drive home, about 800km or so away. As it happened our best laid plan rather floundered and circumstance saw us spending the night of April 2nd at Rivere de Loup, still six hours from Montreal. In the time before arriving at Riviere de Loup we had managed to get along the shore to Perce with Great Cormorant, Black-legged Kittiwake and Razorbill added to the year list, a little later, off Point St-Pierre, a lone Gannet passed by.
The year list ticks on, 115 now (4-4-7) with plenty in store for the rest of April. Our ‘little’ trip recorded 62 species and I managed to take a few photographs to brighten the pages of this blog.