Here in Percé
June 20th, 2009
Well, we're here.
And here's how I feel about it:
Wow.
Wowwow.
Oh. my. god.
*dies* *goes to heaven*
That is all.
Okay, I guess that doesn't have to be all. It's a rainy day--I have time. I'm writing from a public-access computer here at the B&B. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are at feeders outside the window right in front of me.
We arrived in Percé (after a stay at a very charming, homey little B&B called "Le Metayer" in Riviere-du-Loup) early yesterday evening. After dropping our stuff off at the Gite Le Presbytere, we walked five minutes down to the pier to look at some seabirds I had spotted on the way in. From a distance, they just looked like gulls. They were not just gulls.
There were Northern Gannets--magnificent, majestic birds, dwarfing the gulls by comparison, white bodies, black wings, orangeish faces, silver spear-shaped bills--torpedoing into the water for fish. They actually spiral a bit when they dive, and the effect when a whole flock of them dive one after the other is mesmerizing. There were Black-Legged Kittiwakes: small, buoyant, chattery oceanic gulls who dive like terns. There were Great Cormorants and Razorbills. And swimming right next to the pier, a Black Guillemot. His bright red feet kicked up with a splash each time he dove under to look for food.
Five lifers, just like that. A sixth lifer occurred yesterday in Riviere-du-Loup when I enjoyed (and photographed) the sight of Bobolinks in a dandelion field. And a seventh happened barely out of Ottawa, in Rockland, in the form of an Eastern Meadowlark.
The B&B here is very nice. Dinner (at a restaurant recommended by our host) was to die for, breakfast was to die for. Now I just need the sun to come back!
Gaspé
June 15th, 2009
Our vacation to Gaspé Peninsula is just about set.
We're leaving on Thursday, spending the night in Riviere-du-Loup, and arriving in Percé the following day. The B&B in Percé is called "Gîte Le Presbytère." It's set in an old presbytery, specifically a former home for itinerant priests. It has several (all) positive reviews on TripAdvisor. I look forward to it and to the other B&Bs we'll be staying at, particular the breakfast part. French Canadians know how to do breakfast right!
The major attraction in Percé is an offshore island called Bonaventure. It's basically one big bird sanctuary, boasting the following breeding sea birds:
- The biggest colony of Northern Gannets in the world. Over one hundred thousand of them. These are huge (goose-sized) sea birds related to boobies. They do spectacular dives for fish and have intricate courtship rituals which, apparently, they will happily perform in the presence of human spectators.
- Auks, of various species: the north-hemisphere analogue to penguins. Unlike penguins, they can fly, albeit not too well.
- Atlantic Puffins - the "parrots of the sea"
- Leach's Storm-Petrels - these birds, like other tubenoses, have the ability to drink salt water and expel the salt.
- Great Cormorants - relatives to our familiar Double-Crested Cormorants, who are also present.
- Black-Legged Kittiwakes
We plan to do some whale-watching too, and some hiking inland at Forillon National Park, where there may be bear and moose and, if we're lucky, lynx sightings.
I'm bringing five memory cards and intend to fill them. In the meantime, here's a few spring leftovers that I didn't get around to posting before.
Common Grackle
Female Downy Woodpecker
Flowers don't fly away
June 12th, 2009
Spring migration is over. Birds have settled into their breeding territories. They're no longer congregating in easily accessible migratory hotspots. They're singing, nesting and foraging away in their individual habitats of choice. Those who prefer to stay stratospherically high in the canopy, do so. Those who prefer to stay hidden in six layers of foliage, do so.
Bird photography has been absolute unrelenting frustration.
On that note, I bring you these pretty plants.
A baby conifer cone--tamarack, I think. Photographed at Mer Bleue bog.
Devil's Paintbrush
Rock Pigeon courtship
June 7th, 2009
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A male Rock Pigeon courts a prospective mate by poofing out his iridescent throat feathers.
Apparently I'm some kind of nut
June 4th, 2009
I went down to Old Quarry Trail in Kanata early yesterday morning, in search of a warbler that I know breeds there: Common Yellowthroat.
Common Yellowthroats are beautiful little birds with bright yellow throats and black, domino-shaped patches around their eyes. They're bashful skulkers of marshes and wet meadows. It's easy to hear Yellowthroats singing--a loud, cheerful "witchety witchety witchety" that can go on for hours--but hard to get one to actually come out into the open.
I found a male in a wet grassy patch of land, hopping around in trees and bushes and singing. Since he's what I came for, I gamely waded my way into the grass after him...
And spent nearly an hour trying to photograph that damn bird. It went the way it usually does. As soon as I startled him (which didn't take much), he darted away, then about fifteen seconds later, I heard "witchety witchety witchety" emanating from some other thick shrubbery or (if I was lucky) a small tree. Follow, startle, repeat. And so we both went around in circles, me snapping shots anytime he showed his face.
The grass was very tall and very wet. My jeans and sneakers both soaked through to the skin in 8C. And when all was said and done, I had not a single picture that I'm willing to share: nothing that is not of such poor quality that it would be downright libelous to post it. No. Common Yellowthroats deserve better. Even if they do drive me crazy.
I will be trying again.
And your little dog too
May 29th, 2009
Common Grackles continue to amuse me.
Vanity
May 28th, 2009
Afternoon Stroll
May 27th, 2009
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Found this Great Blue Heron at Dominion Arboretum yesterday. Just out of view is a small stream, which is what attracted him. In fact, at various times, I've seen three different types of herons fishing there.
Fletcher Wildlife Garden is the awesomest place
May 26th, 2009
Tree Swallows are some of the most beautiful birds in North America.
You've probably seen them before: flocks of them circle over ponds and rivers in the evening, hawking for insects, moving too fast to pick out any detail. Swallows are so graceful and streamlined that they can stay aloft for hours, never stopping to perch. Usually, the only way to get a good look at them is to catch them nesting.
Which is why Fletcher Wildlife Garden is the awesomest place. It's got a pond surrounded by very successful Tree Swallow nest boxes. They're busily setting up now and will be raising families in the month to come.
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A mating pair:
The Glare
May 24th, 2009
I took several pictures of this grackle, and this one, colorwise, was not the best. But I just love the look he's giving me. "Do you mind, lady?"
( Bird geekage within )
Orioles continue to pose prettily for me. Most of the orioles at Mud Lake are now breeders, not migrants. I can tell because orioles have dialects--differing songs by region--and all the orioles I encountered on my last trip out were singing the Mud Lake dialect.
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Another view of that flicker, calling to attract a mate. That's what he was doing in the other picture too, but it's a little more obvious here.
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