Malbaie on a whim!

26-27 May 2007

Having firmly decided not to go east looking for Purple Sandpipers again until late autumn we were in Malbaie by late afternoon Saturday! The river east of Quebec City is a real enigma. Acres of shorebird habitat but barely a shorebird, still there were gulls to enjoy so enjoy we did (I may be putting words in Sandra’s mouth here).

On the way we popped into a cracking little marsh at Neauville, a really nice site and well worth a visit if passing. Neuville, or more correctly called the Marais de Leon Provencher, had a nice selection of duck all at fairly close range, some of which were trailing ducklings

Our first birding stop en-route was at St-Barthelemy, located a short distance before Trois Riviere its always worth a spring visit. A few Snow Geese loafed on a drying field but closed inspection revealed 200+ Semipalmated Plovers and a couple Dunlin. Further down the track an area with more water had Black-crowned Night-heron and a couple of Black Terns.

Once past Quebec City and its exciting interpretation of highway etiquette, we pressed onto our first stop, St-Irenee. Hopeful of finding some of the scarcer species seen in the area, we struggled rather although it was fun sifting through the gulls and watching a close male Surf Scoter.

We went on to Point-au-Pic and then Malbaie but the tide was dropping and many of the birds were out on sand bars. A brief and distant jaeger never reappeared, it was probably a parasitic but not really seen well enough to clinch.

The next day I was out around 4.45 and scanning. It was a fine day and the next three hours produced a single White-winged Scoter, more Surf Scoters, lots of Black Guillemots and small numbers of Razorbills and even some shorebirds, two Short-billed Dowitchers.

When repeated scans failed to produce anything but the commoner gulls we decided to go to Cap Toumente via St-Irenee. It proved to be a good choice with 9+ Red-throated Loons out in the bay where there had been none previously. I also located two Lesser Black-backed Gulls, one adult and a 3CY bird., the adult appeared to be of the race intermedius, towards the darker end of the scale.

We moved on to Cap Tourmente and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours watching Wilson’s Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers and a few Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, not to mention more Snow Geese getting all muddy on the river bank Also worth watching was the two American Bitterns doing aerial display flights for ten minutes, don’t they know the meaning of skulking.

Cap Tourmente is a premier birding site in Quebec so it is a little puzzling why it does not open until 08.30, I wonder what time the hunters are allowed in during the season! Slight irritations are the thoughtless non-birders who lack volume switches and march past between you and the Wilson’s Warbler you have been waiting for a clear shot at for twenty minutes.

Below a few pictures, the year list is 224, I’m optimistic for a few more in the next three weeks.




































Eastern Kingbird, best photographed in dull light.



















Female Bay-breasted Warbler
























Not a bird! I disturbed this digging Skunk and, not knowing their squirting capabilities, took a photo and left.



















The Black Guillemots look great in their summer suits.





















































Some shots of Cap Tourmente's
Wilson's Warblers.






































Blackpoll Warblers are very smart in spring.




















































Fun with hummingbirds. Cap Tourmente's birds hurtle in and out to the feeders regardless of your presence.