East Coast Trip! Thrills, spills, and 11 lifers!

I haven't updated my blog in awhile, so what better way to get things rolling again with a post about my trip to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

This trip was our honeymoon (or at least that is what people called it) but for Aaron and I it was vacation!....well for me it was "can't wait to get some new birds!"

I researched the hotspots. There were many. Among the top birds on my list were American Oystercatcher, Bicknel's Thrush, and of course Alcids, Gannets, tubenoses, and Black-legged Kittiwake!

Day 1 and 2 was mostly driving. We camped overnight at the Bay of Fundy National Park the second night and stayed for a couple of days. When we got to the shoreline it was low tide and we walked on the ocean floor studying barnacles, mollusks, krill, and crabs. I, of course scanned the ocean. Common Eiders, a Common Loon, and both Herring and Black-backed Gulls were spotted. Fog, a common site, limited my viewing to see way off in the distance. I saw more Common Eiders in that moment (8) then I have seen all my life, which was only one, a female on Lake Erie back in 2003.


Common Eider male. This was the only seaduck we saw during our whole trip. Photo by Marianne Balkwill

Camping in the Bay of Fundy was nice, and so many warblers!! It was like a good day in May all the time! Blackburnian, Yellow, Redstart, Ovenbird, Nashville, Tennessee, Magnolias, Yellow-rumps, Black-throated Blue, Black-and-White, Parula, and I have never heard so many Black-throated Green Warblers in my life in one spot before. Dark-eyed Juncos were also present, singing from the top of trees. Won't see them again until October. In the evening, Swainson's Thrushes would serenade us to sleep.

As for mammals, Red Squirrels, Chimpmunk and Snowshoe Hares...and roadkill porcupines.

We also had a Wood Frog on a 10km hike along the coast.

No lifebirds in the first 2 days....more updates to come though!