Still Not Steller
We rose early to a cloudy hazy view over the bay and a stiff, but we hardly took note of it as we wanted to get back to the Steller's Sea-eagle site. We didn't even stop to make our own coffee and breakfast, opting for a quick stop at the local Tim Horton's for coffee and scones. The single-lane road back from the lighthouse was even steeper than it seemed last night. It was all downhill to Port de Grave. Some of the hills seemed as steep as the 35% slope of our Waiheke driveway. We did this in dark, after a long day? Maybe not our smartest move.
We were back to the North River stakeout before 7 am, shortly followed by the couple from Texas. They gave us the bad news that the eagle returned shortly after we left, almost in the darkness. They had a bit of a view, but could mostly only see the large yellow beak in fading light. Karen didn't feel that it was a "life list" look. Sheldon returned not much later. The thought that it was still here but we could'nt see it was frustrating to all of us. Sheldon, one of the local group of eagle supporters, was very upset ... not a good look for "Stella", as the locals have named the bird. (Of course, no one knows the bird's gender as the local newspaper pointed out.)
Again we waited. There was quite a bit of action with Bald Eagles today. There is a nest right across the river from the birding site with a young eagle just out of the nest on a nearby branch. It sat there and waited to be fed most of the morning. Eventually an adult came in and was followed by a second adult. At first it was thought that it was the eagle pair, but there was a tussle and one flew off, then the other moved to a brach nearby, but the chick was never seen again.
We searched for the Steller's for about four hours. There were only a few other birders that came by. Eventually the others left leaving only Ellen and I. We also decided to leave around 11:30 as the day was heating up again and even the Bald Eagles had disappeared into the trees. Sadly we never saw Stella but the stakeout was so different than any we'd ever seen it was a joy to experience. We heard lots about local birding and will share it all with you soon.
Rather than drive five hours up to Twillingate and Fogo, our next destinations, we decided to go back to Terra Nova NP for a single night. It was only half the distance and we were beat from the night before.
As we approached the park along TCH 1, we encountered wildfire smoke. It was quite heavy in places but eased as we got closer the Newman Sound Campground. We found out later that it was not in the park, but on the other side of Newman Sound near Chance Harbour. It is about 3,000 acres and is currently still out of control. We were able to get a great campsite (site 25) for the night, which overlooks the sound. It was a little smoky when we arrived. It is a bit cooler than yesterday and we were able to have dinner outside for a change. It was still smoky in the morning and both of us had raspy coughs and headaches ... time to go.
Tomorrow we are off towards Fogo Island. We will probably stay on the peninsula tomorrow, hopefully at Dildo Run Provincial Park, and on to Fogo for the weekend. Being the weekend we have reservations at another Lions Club RV Park.
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