Day 17 - A Rare Bird

The weather we expected in Newfoundland finally caught up with us. It rained lightly overnight, but heavier in the morning and afternoon.

Once the traffic on the Cape Bonavista road died down, we had a quiet and peaceful night boondocking at the cape. We had hoped for a nice sunrise, but it was not to be, but at least the visibility was good. Our first stop was back up at the lighthouse to look at the puffins once more. There were many more visible in the early morning as most roosted outside their burrows overnight. They were taking off in waves while we watched as they headed out for breakfast.

Our target destination for the morning was Spaniard’s Bay. We coudn’t resist seaching for an actual rare bird at the wetlands there. There have been sightings of a Little Egret, an ABA code 4 bird that is at home in Europe and Asia. It looks very similar to Snowy Egret, but has gray lores and a light eye.

While the hotspot was a couple of hundred kilometers from Cape Bonavista, it was more or less on the way to St. John’s which is the direction we are going. It was a fairly leisurely drive due to the relatively slow road back down the peninsula and the rain that returned for most of the drive on the Trans-Canada, but we arrived at the hotspot at the head of Spaniard’s Bay by late morning.

By that time the rain had stopped which made the birding easier. The tide was low and there are a pair of low-lying islands just off the rocky beach. We could walk to within 20 yards of the closest, but there is a channel separating them from the beach. They were both populated by hundreds of gulls, mostly Ring-billed Gulls. Time to scan the gulls looking for a different white bird.

Little Egret

It didn’t take long. We found the Little Egret at the highest point of the island, pretty much by itself. Some of its body and legs were obscured by grasses, but its head was quite visible. We brought out the spotting scope and observed for quite a while. Ellen was able to get photos with her camera and I was able to digiscope some photos as well.. We also saw many Arctic Terns as well as Greater Yellowlegs and Black Ducks. It was time for lunch.

While we eating lunch we saw two other birders arrive. I popped out of Speedy to show them where the Egret was to be seen. They were local birders out of St. John’s who had come up to try to locate it since it had not been reported since July 18th. After we finished lunch we went back out to get a few more looks and they thought they had found Black-bellied Plovers. As we had the scope, we were able to comfirm the two plovers. They also confirmed that the terns were Arctic Terns. With the extra eyes a few more interesting birds were found including a Short-billed Dowitcher (originally thought to be a godwit, but the photos made it a plainly a dowitcher) and an Arctic Term with a still downy chick.

It was a good day of single site birding for us. We decided to continue east to the Butter Pot Provincial Park for the night. We spotted a trio of Ospreys soaring over the highway on the way. Not long after reaching the park and settling into our site, the rain returned, but hasn’t lasted. Hopefully, it won’t come back.

Tomorrow we might try the south part of Conception Bay before making our way to St. John’s.