Back from Gaspé with a stop at the Biodome
June 30th, 2009
I've begun wading through my photos, and will start posting them, probably later today.
Our final stop was at the Biodome in Montreal, which made a fitting coup de grace to the vacation. I don't normally like zoos--I don't like seeing animals in cages--but this was different. Entire ecosystems had been recreated indoors. Lots of vegetation, most of which was real, except that the giant trunks in the rainforest area were, I think, stone. In these constructed habitats creatures flew, clambered and swam about in relative freedom. The areas were large and, in many cases, there was no barrier between us and the fauna! (For the lynx pair, however, there was a barrier...) If you've ever played the adventure game Syberia--the train station that had been made into a giant aviary?--that's what it reminded me of.
Lots of exotic birds in the tropical area, along with some small monkeys, a capybara, and some reptiles. There were several Northern Jacanas--pretty chestnut-colored shorebirds with very long toes for walking on lily pads--wading in a stream. A Roseate Spoonbill was perched in a tree. A very tame crested black bird (whose species name I forget, anyone?) was walking underfoot, near a sign that said "I know I'm friendly, but please don't touch me!" And numerous small, colorful songbirds flitted about in the canopy. Challenges were similar to those of real-life in-the-wild bird watching, since they had plenty of foliage to hide in and a wide area to range. Binoculars proved handy.
Much of what I saw I couldn't identify (except with the help of the descriptive plaques, where provided). But a few of the birds--e.g. the jacana and spoonbill--I recognized from my North America field guide, probably because their range just tipped into south Florida, or perhaps in some cases because the North American bird I thought I was seeing had a tropical close relative. Of course, for the purpose of my lifelist, it didn't really matter whether I could identify any of them or not. Birds in captivity are not countable, no matter how well-gilded the cage is!
The birds in the "Laurentian forest" were all species I'd seen, most of them many times, so I didn't linger there (although it was neat to see a Black-Crowned Night Heron so close up!) The "St. Lawrence marine" ecosystem, however, was my favorite part of the Biodome. Here I got to see, up close and personal, many of the seabirds that I had enjoyed on our trip to Gaspé, along with a wonderful assortment of diving ducks (possibly my favorite class of birds). There were Black Guillemots swimming and diving, two Razorbills standing on the rocks, Black-Legged Kittiwakes flying around. There were terns, probably Common Terns; there was a beautiful shorebird I recognized as a Ruddy Turnstone perched on a rock, as well as other shorebirds that I couldn't ID without my field guide.
Of diving ducks, there were: Common Eiders (my god the males are beautiful!), Barrow's Goldeneyes, Long-Tailed Ducks, Harlequin Ducks, Black Scoters, and Buffleheads. I've seen all but two of those (Harlequin, Scoter) before, but only from a distance. No barriers (I wonder if anyone ever gets blitzed by the terns?), and this whole area had a sunroof instead of artificial light. I would have brought my camera if I'd known.
Some of the male ducks appeared to be in or entering into eclipse already. Seemed a bit early to me, but being in captivity may alter the timetable.
The other part of this exhibit allowed us to see the same area underwater, where we were treated to the fascinating sight of underwater Black Guillemots. They dove straight to the bottom and swam around with their wings--a sort of "aquatic flying"--looking for food. But the really neat part was when they came back up. I don't know how they did it, but they actually zoomed up out of the water, like pudgy little torpedos. It happened so fast it was a blur. (Unfortunately, none of the diving ducks went under while I watched, so I didn't get a chance to compare their styles to the guillemots'.)
Finally, we came to fairly small arctic and antarctic sections, where there were Common Murres and King Eiders (arctic) and penguins (antarctic). Not sure why Common Murres were deemed arctic, mind you. There are tens of thousands of them on Bonaventure Island.
In sum: I can't recommend this place highly enough. And don't worry, the line-up is not as bad as it looks. I said a string of "oh my god"s as we tried to find our way to the end of the line, and braced myself for a two-hour wait, but the actual wait was little more than a half hour.
June 30th, 2009
I've begun wading through my photos, and will start posting them, probably later today.
Our final stop was at the Biodome in Montreal, which made a fitting coup de grace to the vacation. I don't normally like zoos--I don't like seeing animals in cages--but this was different. Entire ecosystems had been recreated indoors. Lots of vegetation, most of which was real, except that the giant trunks in the rainforest area were, I think, stone. In these constructed habitats creatures flew, clambered and swam about in relative freedom. The areas were large and, in many cases, there was no barrier between us and the fauna! (For the lynx pair, however, there was a barrier...) If you've ever played the adventure game Syberia--the train station that had been made into a giant aviary?--that's what it reminded me of.
Lots of exotic birds in the tropical area, along with some small monkeys, a capybara, and some reptiles. There were several Northern Jacanas--pretty chestnut-colored shorebirds with very long toes for walking on lily pads--wading in a stream. A Roseate Spoonbill was perched in a tree. A very tame crested black bird (whose species name I forget, anyone?) was walking underfoot, near a sign that said "I know I'm friendly, but please don't touch me!" And numerous small, colorful songbirds flitted about in the canopy. Challenges were similar to those of real-life in-the-wild bird watching, since they had plenty of foliage to hide in and a wide area to range. Binoculars proved handy.
Much of what I saw I couldn't identify (except with the help of the descriptive plaques, where provided). But a few of the birds--e.g. the jacana and spoonbill--I recognized from my North America field guide, probably because their range just tipped into south Florida, or perhaps in some cases because the North American bird I thought I was seeing had a tropical close relative. Of course, for the purpose of my lifelist, it didn't really matter whether I could identify any of them or not. Birds in captivity are not countable, no matter how well-gilded the cage is!
The birds in the "Laurentian forest" were all species I'd seen, most of them many times, so I didn't linger there (although it was neat to see a Black-Crowned Night Heron so close up!) The "St. Lawrence marine" ecosystem, however, was my favorite part of the Biodome. Here I got to see, up close and personal, many of the seabirds that I had enjoyed on our trip to Gaspé, along with a wonderful assortment of diving ducks (possibly my favorite class of birds). There were Black Guillemots swimming and diving, two Razorbills standing on the rocks, Black-Legged Kittiwakes flying around. There were terns, probably Common Terns; there was a beautiful shorebird I recognized as a Ruddy Turnstone perched on a rock, as well as other shorebirds that I couldn't ID without my field guide.
Of diving ducks, there were: Common Eiders (my god the males are beautiful!), Barrow's Goldeneyes, Long-Tailed Ducks, Harlequin Ducks, Black Scoters, and Buffleheads. I've seen all but two of those (Harlequin, Scoter) before, but only from a distance. No barriers (I wonder if anyone ever gets blitzed by the terns?), and this whole area had a sunroof instead of artificial light. I would have brought my camera if I'd known.
Some of the male ducks appeared to be in or entering into eclipse already. Seemed a bit early to me, but being in captivity may alter the timetable.
The other part of this exhibit allowed us to see the same area underwater, where we were treated to the fascinating sight of underwater Black Guillemots. They dove straight to the bottom and swam around with their wings--a sort of "aquatic flying"--looking for food. But the really neat part was when they came back up. I don't know how they did it, but they actually zoomed up out of the water, like pudgy little torpedos. It happened so fast it was a blur. (Unfortunately, none of the diving ducks went under while I watched, so I didn't get a chance to compare their styles to the guillemots'.)
Finally, we came to fairly small arctic and antarctic sections, where there were Common Murres and King Eiders (arctic) and penguins (antarctic). Not sure why Common Murres were deemed arctic, mind you. There are tens of thousands of them on Bonaventure Island.
In sum: I can't recommend this place highly enough. And don't worry, the line-up is not as bad as it looks. I said a string of "oh my god"s as we tried to find our way to the end of the line, and braced myself for a two-hour wait, but the actual wait was little more than a half hour.
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