State of the season
Little blue heron makes a rare appearance
Were you one of the many people driving down Higgins Line in St. Johns this past week wondering what all the people decked out in cameras, spotting scopes and binoculars were looking at? Runners, men on racing bikes and walkers stopped to ask.
It was little blue heron. This was a rare bird in Newfoundland with an average of maybe one seen per year in the province. They come from the eastern United States like the egrets that we also sometimes see in the province. Unlike the egrets, the little blue heron’s dark plumage makes it surprisingly hard to see among the vegetation. It was a wonder that Todd Boland spotted it while driving home from work Friday evening.
Likely a recent arrival
Who knows how many days it has been there? Most likely it is a recent arrival coming in on the warm southwest winds that the island has been experiencing for weeks. It should do well feeding on small fish abundant in the shallow waters. It was observed catching at least one frog. It has enough space in which to move around even with the small crowd of admirers watching it from the side lines and the busy traffic of Higgins Line and Allandale Road bordering two sides of the marsh.
The great blue heron is a completely different bird. Besides
being significantly larger it has black and white neck markings and a dark crown strip. The great blue heron is a more northern species and nests in small numbers in the southwestern Newfoundland.
Still with news from the heron and egret clan, the update on the Spaniard’s Bay little egret is good. Present since June it is still being watched almost daily. Out-of-the-province bird watchers in Newfoundland on holidays have been altering their itinerary to include a trip to Spaniard’s Bay to see this rare North American bird.
A bonus bird for the heron watchers on Higgins Line was a solitary sandpiper. This uncommon sandpiper nests in Labrador and are now starting
their southward migration. Unique among sandpipers is their preference for wooded shorelines, especially beaver ponds. The muddy patches among the bushy wetland off Higgins Line is the right habitat for the solitary sandpiper. Part of the reason we see so few of these sandpipers is that we do not check enough locations like this.
As we head into August birders will shift some of their birding effort to the shorebird migration that will swing into full force. Shorebirds are early migrants. It does not mean the end of summer. The shorebirds are globe trotters. As soon as they have finished their nesting duties in the north they begin to travel. This past weekend the first wave of semipalmated
plovers, semipalmated sandpipers, ruddy turnstones, blackbellied plovers and short-billed dowitchers arrived.
There is still some good sea birding to be had. Point La Haye is still going strong. The two Sabine’s gulls entertained birdwatchers for a second week. They fish for caplin over the ocean then rest with the other gulls on the pond behind the beach. A rare Franklin’s gull normally at home in the Prairie Provinces joined the Point La Haye crew of gulls on Saturday. The jaegers have also been putting on an excellent show chasing gulls and stealing their caplin.
News on land birds
Cedar waxwings are becoming conspicuous as they seek out nesting sites in urban areas across the province. They nest late so that by the time the young are out of the nest there will be some ripe berries to feed on. Waxwings also eat insects in the summer time but berries are their preferred food.
Many people have commented on the brilliant yellow male American goldfinches in their gardens. Like the cedar waxwing, American goldfinches are urban backyard lovers. Dandelion seeds are one of their favourite foods. However, they are not just urban birds. There are roadside weeds everywhere that also produce seeds the goldfinches like to eat. All the same I think this is going to be one bumper year for goldfinches. They do seem especially common and widespread this summer.
There is a good outlook for other members of the finch clan as well. There is a half decent crop of cones on the white and black spruce developing. This is good news for the pine grosbeaks, purple finches, pine siskins and crossbills. Pine grosbeaks have been particularly vocal and conspicuous this summer especially on the Avalon Peninsula. It should be a good fall for finches.
Every year cannot be a good year for dogberries. It will not be a complete bust but the berry crop this winter looks rather poor. Guess the robins will have to migrate south this winter. We are sliding over the crest of summer, but the best days of the year are in the two months ahead.