Having recently been bitten by the province
listing bug, I had made 2 short trips into southern Quebec in the last year to
work on my Quebec province list. Since both
trips had been in summer and fall, I needed to make at least one winter trip
into Quebec to look for those colder weather species. I spent some time on eBird downloading bar
charts for the southern counties of Quebec and noticed that numbers of many of
the “winter” waterfowl actually peak in mid-November, although the northern
finches and owls would be more likely in mid-winter. Of course it can be really cold in Quebec in
mid-winter, so I decided a late fall trip would be a better option even if it
meant missing out on some of those mid-winter specialties.
Now I needed to come up with a plan. I had a realistic list of 52 possible targets,
which was way too long to focus on pursuit of individual species. Instead it would be best to identify the best
birding spots with the potential to find multiple targets. To minimize travel time and maximize birding
time I decided to cover areas directly north of VT – generally south and east
of Montreal and Quebec City. It was
quite a daunting task with so many possible birding spots and such a long list
of targets. But since that was the area
I birded on my last Quebec trip back in September, I was familiar with several
of the good birding spots in the area like Lac Boivin and Parc National de la
Yamaska. Several of my targets had been
reported on eBird at both locations so stops there made sense. I also noticed that eBird posts from the
northern end of Lake Champlain near Philipsburg included many target
waterfowl. And then I found numerous
posts from along the Richelieu River just a short distance to the north, where
the river was seemingly teeming with waterfowl.
A bit farther afield there were many reports from Reservoir Beaudet in
Victoriaville with a number of waterfowl and gull targets, not to mention
50,000 Snow Geese. And then there were
my landbird targets, some of which had been reported at the George Montgomery
Sanctuary in Philipsburg just across the border. More than enough locations to come up with a
multi-day itinerary.
Then there was a rarity to consider. There were numerous posts about a Harlequin
Duck on Riviere des Prairies on the northwest side of Montreal. It was a long way to go for just one species,
and directions weren’t too detailed (and of course in French). So I wasn’t planning to try for it until I
was able to get excellent micro-directions from local birder Joel Coutu. And if I headed into Montreal I could try the
nearby Cimitiere Mont Royal where the only semi-reliable Bohemian Waxwings in
the area were being reported. But the
long side-trip and the urban driving still didn’t excite me much, so I decided
to play it by ear based on how the rest of my day was going.
All told that would be 2 full days of
birding in the province. Day 1 of my
itinerary would start at dawn at Philipsburg, then I would work my way north up
Lake Champlain, then the Richelieu River, and maybe a side-trip to
Montreal. Day 2 would start with
landbirds at Lac Boivin, then over to nearby PN de la Yamaska, then up to
Reservoir Beaudet. Based on that
itinerary I felt like I could add 15-20 new birds to my province list, though
26 would be a nice stretch goal since that would give me an even 150 for the
province. And starting at dawn in Quebec
required a drive through VT the day before, so that would provide an
opportunity for another try for Short-eared Owl in Addison, VT the evening
before arriving in Quebec.
Day 0 – VT
I arrived in northwest VT in the early
afternoon, and given the strong northwesterly winds I decided to head to
Charlotte Town Beach for a lakewatch.
But the only birds moving south were 2 Common Loons and 2 distant Eagle,
sp. in NY. Interestingly I had a
Red-throated Loon and several Horned Grebes on the lake – 2 species I would
miss in Quebec. A couple subsequent
stops on the lake were even slower, so I headed “inland” and spent some time at
the goose viewing area watching thousands of Snows in the distance. Then it was off to Gage Road in Addison, “the”
best place for Short-ears in VT. I arrived
at 3:30, an hour before sunset, and stayed until complete darkness at 5:15, but
had no luck with the Owls. Even though
others had an Owl there on subsequent evenings.
Hopefully my Quebec birding would go better.
Quebec Day 1
I started a bit before dawn at George
MontgomerySanctuary in Philipsburg. Or
more precisely – mistakenly I started on private property just outside the
sanctuary. After about 15 minutes of
hiking I realized my mistake, and made my way back to the car. But on the way I added a calling Redpoll
flying overhead (province bird #1), and a distant calling Carolina Wren
(#2). I eventually figured out how to
access the north end of the sanctuary, and found a nice feeding station that
included a Red-bellied Woodpecker (#3), and a small number of Titmice (#4),
along with the Carolina Wren I heard earlier – that was all 3 of my “southern”
target species in one stop. I continued
hiking a bit in the southern part of the sanctuary and found the first of
several Tree Sparrows for the trip (#5).
Next it was on to the western edge of
Philipsburg overlooking the northern tip of Lake Champlain. The water was as smooth as glass, and there
was almost no heat shimmer, providing excellent viewing conditions. And although there were a lot of birds on the
lake, unfortunately almost all were too distant to identify. Distant Common Mergansers were barely
identifiable only in flight (#6), and luckily a small group of Red-breasted
Mergansers (#7) were a bit closer. And
although a flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls were identifiable in flight (#8), they were
too far away to try to pick out any rarities that might be mixed in. Lastly, 2 large flocks of Scaup numbering at
least 1,000 birds were just too far away to identify, which was frustrating
given that at least a few target Greaters were undoubtedly mixed in.
Far to the north I could see a number of
waterfowl and gulls, so I drove a short distance north of Philipsburg to gain a
different vantage. Here I found the
first of many flocks of Common Goldeneye for the day (#9), including one female
Barrow’s (#10). And a scan a bit farther
to the north yielded the first of many Bufflehead (#11). So although I added 6 new birds on the lake, I
couldn’t find the loons, grebes, and scoters reported there recently.
The next stop was the northwest corner of
Lake Champlain, but a quick scan yielded only a few Canada Geese and
Bonaparte’s. Since I was behind schedule
I didn’t take any more time here, and instead headed for the highway for the
short drive north toward Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu. Highway 35 passed through some nice farming
country which I told myself looked like a good area for raptors. Right on cue I spotted a large buteo near the
road that turned out to be a cooperative Rough-legged Hawk (#12), and a couple
miles later I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a nearby tree (#13). And just before leaving the farmlands and
entering the city a flock of Horned Larks flew over the highway (#14). That was a surprisingly fruitful stretch of
highway!
Next it was on to the Richelieu River,
where there were nearly a dozen eBird Hotspots from Saint Jean to Chambly. I first picked out 2 stops along the Saint
Jean waterfront that had large numbers of waterfowl in recent posts, and they
did not disappoint. First was Auberge
Harris, named for the hotel next to the small roadside parking area. Here I picked up my first Hooded Mergansers
(#15 – at least 35 birds) among the 2,000 Canada Geese, 250 Goldeneye, 20
Common Mergs, 10 Red-breasted Mergs, and 20 Bufflehead. I kept scanning through the birds not finding
any rarities until I picked up a pair of large dark ducks in flight. They eventually landed allowing me to
identify them as a female Black Scoter (#16) and a female Surf Scoter (#17) –
neither had been reported recently from this spot.
I wanted to spend more time here combing
through the Canada’s hoping for something rarer, but was running way behind
time and instead headed a mile north to the next stop – Halte Cayer. This spot featured 2,000 Snow Geese, 1,000
Canadas, at least 100 Goldeneye, and 3 sleeping Scaup sp., but nothing new for
my list, though again I wished I had time to do a more detailed search through
the geese.
As I was making the drive north to my next
stop at Fort Chambly I got a text from local birder Joel Coutu saying the Montreal
Harlequin Duck was being seen most cooperatively. But I was running pretty far behind schedule,
so I wondered if I had time to try for it.
Then a quick scan of the Bassin de Chambly from Fort Chambly revealed
very few waterfowl. So with real-time
updates on the Harlequin from Joel, I decided to skip my last 2 stops at Bassin
de Chambly, and headed to Montreal to try for the Harlequin, and then to the
cemetery to try for the Bohemians if there was enough time.
The Harlequin Duck first showed up at the
Parc Nature de L’Ile de la Visitation in January 2015. Although it was most frequently seen in rapids
downriver of the main section of the park, in the last couple days it was being
seen in a different stretch of rapids in the main part of the park. Joel gave me excellent directions to this
spot, and then suggested I just look for the photographers. I successfully navigated the downtown
Montreal streets, took the short walk to the proper part of the park, and could
see at least a dozen photographers ahead along the river’s edge. There was the male Harlequin swimming and
diving in an area of small rapids among a flock of Canadas (#18). I got these barely passable phonescoped photos
of the bird – I’m sure the photographers with their long lenses got much better
shots.
I hated to “bird and run”, but I wanted to
try for the Bohemians, so I spent just a couple minutes with the Harlequin and
then started to walk back to my car. I
had just climbed up from the river bank when I came upon several photographers
with their lenses pointing up into the trees.
With a quick glimpse up into the bare branches I saw nothing at
all. But then I remembered Joel
mentioning that this park was known for its Screech Owls. So I looked closer and saw that one of the
trees had a knot hole. I set up my scope
and sure enough there was a Screech Owl sleeping inside (#19). Like I always say – “bird the birders”.
Both the Harlequin and the Screech Owl were
bonus birds I wasn’t planning on, so this side-trip was a nice addition to my
itinerary.
Next I was off to the Cimetiere Mont Royal
to try for Bohemian Waxwings. The eBird
reports mentioned they were eating crabapples, so my plan was to look for the
trees and then hope the Waxwings would be cooperative. However, when I arrived at the cemetery I
found crabapples everywhere, and all were full of fruit. I spent the next 90 minutes wandering through
the very nicely landscaped cemetery, finding 3 flocks of Robins numbering at
least 100, but no Waxwings. At one point
I ran into another birder also looking for the Waxwings, but also unsuccessful. Though he did just find a pair of Pileated
Woodpeckers. He pointed me in the
direction where he last saw them, and I was able to refind both birds
(#20). A nice consolation for not
finding the Waxwings.
That gave me 20 new Quebec province birds –
already the high end of my hoped for total and I still had another day of
birding ahead of me.
Quebec Day 2
I started the day pre-dawn at Centre d’Interpretation
de la Nature du Lac Boivin, a very nice park with varied habitats that I
visited back in September. First I took
a walk through wet brushy habitat hoping for targets like sparrows, Rusty
Blackbird, and Siskins. But I could only
find a few Tree Sparrows and Goldfinches. Next I checked out some vantage points on the
lake hoping to find a Cackling Goose reported earlier but with no luck. With slow birding here I moved on to a nearby
park where a flock of Snow Buntings had been reported two days earlier, but I
came up empty once again. It could only
pick up from here, right?
The next stop was Parc National de le
Yamaska – another spot I birded in September.
Recent reports from the lake at the park had included Common and
Red-throated Loons, Red-necked Grebes, Scoters, and Long-tailed Ducks, so I was
optimistic I would pick up a number of targets.
Soon after I started scanning the lake I spotted the first of 4 Common
Loons (#21), but I couldn’t turn any into their slimmer Red-throated
cousins. Then I noticed a pair of
sleeping waterfowl in the distance that I eventually concluded were Red-necked
Grebes (#22) – I would end up finding another pair elsewhere on the lake. Two nice finds, but otherwise the lake just
held a few of the expected Common Mergansers, Goldeneye, and Bufflehead.
Next I took a short walk through the woods
to the secondary dam to the northwest, which on my September trip had good
numbers of gulls, waterfowl, and shorebirds.
And although there were a number of waterfowl and gulls there on this
trip, there was nothing unusual. As I
was packing up my scope to head back I heard what sounded like a bugling call
somewhere overhead. Was it a Sandhill
Crane? I stood still and listened intently
– there was the call again. It was
indeed a Crane! (#23) I ended up hearing it call 5 times, but not
unlike other flyover Cranes, I could never spot it as it undoubtedly flew high
overhead. Nice to find a write-in on
eBird.
With birding picking up, I was off to
Reservoir Beaudet in Victoriaville.
Although I would have preferred not to have to take a long 90-minute
ride to the next stop, eBird posts made this location seem like a must
stop. The reservoir featured a large
flock of Snow Geese, with recent posts including targets such as Ross’ Goose,
Brant, Cackling Goose, Ruddy Duck, and Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. When I pulled up to the lake I was shocked by
what I saw – Snow Geese as far as you could see covering nearly the entire
surface of this small reservoir.
Other birders there that day estimated
80,000 Snow Geese on the lake. Yet
despite these large numbers, no one could pick out a Ross’ Goose that day. Or maybe I should say because of these large
numbers, no one found a Ross’ – picking out a smaller white goose in a sea of
larger white geese is no easy task. But
there were at least 2 Cackling Geese in the flock, including these small
Richardson’s Cackling Geese (#24).
After looking at the latter 2 photos of the Cackling Goose I noticed two small immature white geese in the foreground - both are very small compared to the adult Snow Geese nearby, and quite a bit paler than the immature white goose to the right. Although they are sleeping so you can't see the shape of the head and bill, the small size and paler coloration suggests that they are Ross's (#25).
At the far end of the lake I noticed a
number of gulls flying in, landing briefly to bathe, and then flying out. In between scans of the white geese I would
check out the gulls and picked out an adult and a 1st year Lesser Black-backed
(unfortunately not new for my Quebec list), but could not locate the Iceland
and Glaucous that had been reported here in previous days.
I also spent some time looking for diving
ducks on the lake, hoping to find the Ruddy Ducks reported earlier. The far end of the lake had a number of Common
Mergansers and Goldeneye, but nothing else of interest. And among the white geese I only found a
single female Lesser Scaup. That is
until a kayaker appeared on the lake and flushed the entire flock of geese,
making for this amazing scene.
With all the geese in the air, I looked
back on the lake where the flock had been swimming and noticed several diving
ducks. Amazingly the ducks had not taken
off with the geese. The first bird I
looked at was a female White-winged Scoter (#26) – a bird not reported recently
at the reservoir. And a few seconds
later I spotted a single Ruddy Duck (#27).
And scanning further I found a flock of 4 Scaup – 1 of which was a
female Greater (#28). It was great to
finally be able to tick this one off my list after having seen so many “Scaup,
sp.” earlier in the trip. All these ducks
had undoubtedly been mixed in with the geese the whole time I was there. But despite all my scanning I was only able
to find one Lesser Scaup among the larger geese, even though one would think
the dark ducks would stand out among all those white geese.
It was now mid-afternoon, and with a long
drive home in front of me, I decided to start heading south, very happy with my
results. Although I only had 62 species
on the trip, 28 were new for the province list.
That was way over my expected 15-20, and even over my stretch goal of
26, increasing my Quebec list to 152. My
species list in Canada increased by 6 to 277, while my total ticks in Canada is
now 794. Both are pretty meager totals,
but with 40 new species and 379 new ticks in Canada in 2015, it’s a big improvement.
The next (and perhaps last) opportunity to
add a significant number of birds to my Quebec list would be to a make a late
spring/early summer trip to look for breeding landbirds. With over 30 regular breeders in southern
Quebec as potential targets, a 2 or 3-day trip might be worthwhile in May
2016. Then there are still all those
winter finches and owls that I missed on this November trip…
