miller.rob
Member
I am just back from a whirlwind trip to Quebec City and its environs. A buddy from Atlanta, GA (Malcolm Hodges) is presently enrolled in a two week French Immersion Program in Quebec City, so I used some air miles and flew down for a long weekend.
Malcolm met me at the airport Friday afternoon, and we headed east along the coast to Baie-Saint-Catherine, first stopping at Cap Tourmente. Cap Tourmente is usually one of the top birding spots in the province. Unfortunately, due to the lateness of the day, the high temperatures, and the-not-quite-migration, things were pretty quiet. During spring and fall migration, tens of thousands of Snow Geese can be seen flying in and out. So, we continued eastward to our final destination of Baie-Saint-Catherine.
Saturday morning we were up for some early sight-seeing (including a very unique statue of Jesus with a halo made up of 20 household light bulbs! Yes I took a picture!), and birding of the mudflats across the street. After breakfast, we boarded the catamaran Katmar for a morning of whale watching. While still docked, we were very lucky to spot 3 COMMON EIDERS (a Lifer for me!!) swimming towards our boat. Over the next three hours, we had incredible (and numerous) views of 3 species of whale (MINKE, FIN, and BELUGA), some GRAY SEALS, and lots of gulls and black-legged kittiwakes. After a quick waterside lunch, we headed out towards our next birding destination, Parc National des Grands-Jardins. We arrived at the park around supper-time, and scoped out a number of locations for the next day. Saturday night was spent writing postcards and recording our sightings.
Sunday was promising to be rainy, so we started birding the park very early. We were immediately rewarded with views of 3 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS (a Lifer for Mal!). We hoped our luck was going to hold, but we were unable to locate my targeted (and slowly becoming my nemesis bird - grrrr) American Three-toed Woodpecker. By noon, the heavens had opened up, and the long awaited downpour began. So, we decided to cut short our birding for some lunch at a local bistro and a relaxing drive back to Quebec City. While leaving the park we were treated to some great photographic moments with a young RED FOX.
Monday morning I was dropped me off at the airport for my 7am flight home, while Malcolm returned for Week Two of his French program.
All-in-all, it was a great weekend! We saw 66 species of birds and 5 species of mammals. The birding hi-lites were:
COMMON EIDER (a Lifer for me)
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (a Lifer for Mal)
White-winged Scoter (5 juveniles)
Ring-necked Duck
Merlin
Spruce Grouse (male displaying)
Black-legged Kittiwake (about a million!!)
Gray Jay (a family of four that kept landing on our bins, scopes and heads!)
Boreal Chickadee
Philadelphia Vireo
Nashville Warbler
Rusty Blackbird
Pine Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Rob Miller - miller.rob @ juno.com
(Toronto, Ontario CANADA)
Malcolm met me at the airport Friday afternoon, and we headed east along the coast to Baie-Saint-Catherine, first stopping at Cap Tourmente. Cap Tourmente is usually one of the top birding spots in the province. Unfortunately, due to the lateness of the day, the high temperatures, and the-not-quite-migration, things were pretty quiet. During spring and fall migration, tens of thousands of Snow Geese can be seen flying in and out. So, we continued eastward to our final destination of Baie-Saint-Catherine.
Saturday morning we were up for some early sight-seeing (including a very unique statue of Jesus with a halo made up of 20 household light bulbs! Yes I took a picture!), and birding of the mudflats across the street. After breakfast, we boarded the catamaran Katmar for a morning of whale watching. While still docked, we were very lucky to spot 3 COMMON EIDERS (a Lifer for me!!) swimming towards our boat. Over the next three hours, we had incredible (and numerous) views of 3 species of whale (MINKE, FIN, and BELUGA), some GRAY SEALS, and lots of gulls and black-legged kittiwakes. After a quick waterside lunch, we headed out towards our next birding destination, Parc National des Grands-Jardins. We arrived at the park around supper-time, and scoped out a number of locations for the next day. Saturday night was spent writing postcards and recording our sightings.
Sunday was promising to be rainy, so we started birding the park very early. We were immediately rewarded with views of 3 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS (a Lifer for Mal!). We hoped our luck was going to hold, but we were unable to locate my targeted (and slowly becoming my nemesis bird - grrrr) American Three-toed Woodpecker. By noon, the heavens had opened up, and the long awaited downpour began. So, we decided to cut short our birding for some lunch at a local bistro and a relaxing drive back to Quebec City. While leaving the park we were treated to some great photographic moments with a young RED FOX.
Monday morning I was dropped me off at the airport for my 7am flight home, while Malcolm returned for Week Two of his French program.
All-in-all, it was a great weekend! We saw 66 species of birds and 5 species of mammals. The birding hi-lites were:
COMMON EIDER (a Lifer for me)
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (a Lifer for Mal)
White-winged Scoter (5 juveniles)
Ring-necked Duck
Merlin
Spruce Grouse (male displaying)
Black-legged Kittiwake (about a million!!)
Gray Jay (a family of four that kept landing on our bins, scopes and heads!)
Boreal Chickadee
Philadelphia Vireo
Nashville Warbler
Rusty Blackbird
Pine Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Rob Miller - miller.rob @ juno.com
(Toronto, Ontario CANADA)
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