I arrived in St. Anthony yesterday - more or less the Northern tip of Newfoundland.
From a birding perspective, this is where Ivory Gulls and Gyrfalcons are found - but the reality is that they're generally scarce.
My first day of searching the area was a bust. But I have 4 more weeks to go, and a couple tricks up my sleeve.
In the meantime, here are some shots from the road trip North of some classic Northern birds.
Iceland "Kumlien's" Gull:
Pine Grosbeak:
female Barrow's Goldeneye:
The Arches:
Another Willow Ptarmigan:
Frigid...
Reindeer:
Snow Bunting:
Labrador in the background!
Belle Isle:
3 King Eiders... can you find them?
And the highlight of the day....
This ghost of a guillemot easily caught my attention when it swam towards me while I was busy photographing the eiders. I've read about the arctic sub-species and knew that we should be seeing them in Newfoundland - but who bothers looking at their guillemots when they're so abundant!
A quick review of the literature I can find online and this individual is looking good for the arctic sub-species of Black Guillemot: mandtii
More to come on this fellow in the next days...
Female King Eider:
Female Common Eider:
First winter male Common Eider:
fairly certain these eiders are of the borealis sub-species. I don't have much practice with sub-species ID of the immatures.
1st winter male King Eider (with female Common Eider)
A remarkable number of Bald Eagles were cruising the sea ice:
Newfoundland Moai:
Lots of wandering across new territory today
