Day 18 - Terra Nova to North River

 A Non-Steller Day

The Steller's Sea-Eagle, the largest eagle in the world, was still in Newfoundland after appearing on the East Coast in 2022. We saw it in Maine in February of 2023. It seems to have taken up summer residence in the town of North River, along the north coast of Newfoundland. The eagle is roosting on the hills just across the river from this small town. It had been seen almost daily for the last 40 days.

The online reports were virtually daily and the views were much closer than those we had in Maine, so we decided to drive two and a half hours in the opposite direction than we'd originally planned to look for the bird. Sadly the birding thus far has been slow and unimpressive.

We made an early start, interrupted only by a quick stop at the campground dump station and and a longer stop 30 minutes down the road in Clarenville for cash, food, gasoline and coffee. After that it was an uneventful drive on Trans-Canada 1 for most of the other two hours to the stakeout site at North River. 

When we arrived there were about a half-dozen birders already there. They informed us that the eagle left about 45 minutes earlier but they were sure it would be back eventually. We were shown where its favorite perching spots are and lots of photographs taken over the past few days.

Then we sat and waited and waited and chatted with other birders and waited. Lots of birders came and stopped for a while, but by 6 pm there were only five of us left, Ellen and I, a couple from Texas who had flown from a meeting in Montreal to see the bird, and Sheldon Anthony, a local birder who comes almost every day. We had PB&J on raisin bread for dinner and waited some more and chatted into the evening. We finally left around sunset to find a place to park for the night, expecting to come back and try again the next morning.

Off we went to the Green Point Lighthouse, outside of Port de Grave, about 15 km away. It was getting quite dark as we negotiated the narrow, steep, winding road. The road eventually became gravel out to light. It was at an almost deserted hilltop overlooking Conception Bay with only another truck camper parked but it was too late to enjoy it. We pulled down the shades, turned out the lights and went to bed.