Monday 15 June 2015

Port-aux-Basques - Days 1 - 10

I arrived in this town on the SW corner of the island on Saturday June 6 for a 2-week rural placement as part of my degree at MUN.

Thankfully the weekends have had great weather and I've been able to squeeze in a few hours of birding during the evenings on weekdays.

So far I've seen about 104+ species in this bird rich area, including several new ones for my Newfoundland list.

Olive-sided Flycatcher - a very rare species on the Avalon peninsula, but uncommon in this area:

Gray Catbirds are regularly seen in the Codroy Valley in the Spring:

Tri-colored Bumble Bee - a new one for me in Newfoundland. They're also common around this part of the island:

Blackburnian Warblers breed in the valley in small numbers:

Capelin Cove:

This Boreal Carrion Beetle has a few mites on its back:

Diapensia lapponica.... Pincushion Plant on top of the Table Mountains:

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher:

A breeding plumaged White-rumped Sandpiper - an unusual species for the island in June:

Yellow Birch trees - perhaps the largest stand of this species on the island?

Trientalis borealis - Northern Starflower also on top of the Table Mountains:

American Toad:

The town of Port-aux-Basques - with the local Anglican Church prominently situated:

One of several Piping Plovers in the area - this male was banded just 5 days before I saw him:

The aftermath of what must have been a dramatic event:

A Short-tailed Stoat with a vole - both motionless. Presumably the stoat was intent on killing the vole, but they must have both simultaneously delivered a fatal blow.

Sanderling in breeding colours - a plumage not often seen in Newfoundland: