dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca (David Graham) (10/09/90)
Well, I think I must have been the first person in North America to see the sun rise on Saturday morning (or would have been if it hadn't been cloudy). My wife Pamela kindly insisted I should take the day off and go birding, so before dawn I was at Cape Spear (most easterly point of land in N. America) to see what was about. It was a glorious morning, despite some very light drizzle at first: I was astonished to discover a temperature of 14 degrees Celsius at 6 a.m. outside our kitchen window, and once the early cloud burned off at about 7:30 it was sunny almost all day, and got up to nearly 20 degrees, extraordinary for Newfoundland at this time of year. First birds of the day were 2 Snow Buntings, seen flitting over the ground at Cape Spear even before it was really light, looking like albino bats with their pale wings flashing in the semi-dark. No Longspurs or other rarities were present, but I quickly picked up Herring, Ring-billed, Greater Black-backed and Iceland Gulls together with 2 Northern Gannets, American Crow and Northern Raven. I then headed back towards St. John's, stopping for Purple Finch, Boreal Chickadee, American Robin, Northern Flicker (a group of 1/2 dozen), Fox Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow. Behind Petty Harbour, a tiny fishing community south of St. John's, I found 3 Common Loons still in fine plumage on a large pond. I drove south, stopping at various places en route, until I reached Cape Race, the extreme south-easterly tip of the island of Newfoundland. Birding was generally slow, and I didn't see anything really unusual, but I had a beautifully plumaged immature Northern Harrier near Cape Race, and a few ducks off the community of Portugal Cove South, including Common Eider, Black Scoter and White-winged Scoter. Shorebirds included Greater Yellowlegs, Semipalmated and Black-bellied (i.e. Grey) Plover, Semipalmated and White-rumped Sandpiper, and Sanderling. Other birds included Double-crested Cormorant, Lincoln's Sparrow, Mourning Dove, and large flocks of American Water Pipit. My only warbler was Yellow-rumped. I saw no mammals, unfortunately, but this wasn't really surprising because it's moose season here, and the roads were lined with pickups and cars, and the roadsides were dotted with large guys in fluorescent orange vests carrying large rifles. Any sensible moose were probably far away on the barrens. This probably is why I didn't see any Willow Ptarmigan, either. On the south coast, between Portugal Cove South and Cape Race, there was a very large southwesterly swell rolling in, which probably explains why I didn't see any Harbour Seals, usually fairly common along there. I kept a lookout for Snowy Owls near Cape Race, but didn't see any; last year's lemming population crash will probably still be having an effect on owl populations here this winter. It's still a little early, of course... A glorious day despite slow birding, no doubt the last summery birding day for this year! *************************************************************************** David Graham dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca ***************************************************************************