Red Crossbills were surprisingly common on the island:
On the 24th, Mira and I ventured to the more unexplored Western coast of the island. We drove over several small streams and during each crossing we wondered if an American Dipper might reside along the stream. We agreed on which stream looked the best and hiked up the stream early the next morning. Amazingly, we found one less than 500 meters up the stream. I'm not sure if they're common in the area or if we were just lucky...
We only got a 5 second look at it before it flew away.
It had a beautiful home:
Sea Anemone's were common on the rocky beaches:
As were sea stars:
Marbled Murrelets were fairly common on the inlets and bays around the island, but not common in exposed areas:
Two species which I thought were going to be common on the island were Harlequin Duck & Black Oystercatcher. Surprisingly, we only saw both species in one location: Queen Charlotte City.
Today (July 30th), I'm in Moosonee, Ontario. Tomorrow I am joining Mike Burrell, Barb Charlton, & Ross Wood on a flight to Hannah Bay, James Bay where we'll be doing shorebird surveys for the next two weeks. After that, I'm headed back home to St. John's for 4 (and probably more) years :-)
