The last week of May brought us a prolonged spell of west and southwest winds. By the end of it parts of Newfoundland were experiencing near record-breaking high temperatures. The leaves on the trees exploded from their buds as spring transformed into a taste of summer in the manner of one week.
Everything and everyone enjoyed the transformation.
The constant air flow from the west and southwest brought all our migrants birds back on time.
The winds also brought a string of unusual birds the province. The most extraordinary vagrant was a fork-tailed flycatcher found by Vernon Buckle during his three-day birding blitz to Goose Bay from his hometown of Forteau.
This species is from Central and South America. The fork-tailed flycatcher has a long history of straying thousands of kilometres north of its range. No one has figured out why. The island of Newfoundland has seen a half dozen or so of this spectacular looking bird. All of those occurred during fall migration. The May 30 date of the fork-tailed flycatcher at The Docks in Goose Bay was unusual for being in spring. It also set the record of the most northern fork-tailed flycatcher in North America.
Naturally, it was a first sighting for Labrador.
None of the other rare birds discovered approached the rarity magnitude of the fork-tailed flycatcher but there were other significant records.
Yours truly had the thrill of discovering the province’s first spring white-eyed vireo. It was at Powles Head near Trepassey. White-eyed vireo is common in the eastern United States and occurs on occasion during the fall migration period in Newfoundland.
Typically this species stays hidden in the thick foliage but there were no leaves on the alders allowing it to be watched as it worked through the tangles catching an abundance of insects activated by the warm early morning sun.
It felt so comfortable that is even started to sing. A song never dreamed of to be heard in Newfoundland.
In a similar vein a rare wood thrush was detected by song at Kent’s Pond, St. John’s. Alvan Buckley was familiar with its song from Ontario where it is common in the lush deciduous forests. The rich fluty song was a real treat to hear in Newfoundland.
Most St. John’s birders got to hear it during its two-day stay but seeing this secretive bird was much more of challenge.
It was the seventh recorded for Newfoundland but a first in more than 10 years.
A little pool of water in a farm field on the Back Line in Goulds proved its magic once again.
First it was a stilt sandpiper found by Les Sweetapple.
This western shorebird is rare enough during fall migration but had never before seen in spring on the island of Newfoundland. The bonus in spring was that it was in full breeding garb showing a barred body with a deep chestnut cheek patch. It was easily visible during its two day stay, though the parking on the sides of the narrow road was treacherous.
The stilt sandpiper was replaced by another rare shorebird called the ruff.
Frank King was the first to lay eyes on this one and then spread the news. The views were superb as were the photography opportunities if you were there early before the road traffic started up.
Other off-the-wall spring rarities were a northern lapwing photographed by Lee Tremblett at Bonavista and then queried on twitter. It was hard to explain the occurrence of this European shorebird when the winds were not in favour of bringing it across the ocean.
Two sandhill cranes stopped briefly in a farm field near Parson’s Pond and Ethel Dempsey was lucky to be in the right place at right time when one flew over Stick Pond in northeast St. John’s.
Newfoundland received a smattering of rose-breasted grosbeak plus a few Baltimore orioles and indigo buntings on the southward air flow. Most of these were reported from bird feeders.
The crowning glory of backyard bird watchers is a hummingbird.
Not many people put out a hummingbird feeder and for good reason — unless you live in the southwest part of the province, hummingbirds are pretty rare.
However, during the spring and summer there are a few ruby-throated hummingbirds roaming about central and eastern Newfoundland.
Hummingbird feeders can be found in a number of the hardware stores. The proper mixture of sugar and water is easily found on the internet.
Donna Lee Evans of Logy Bay had a visit from a male ruby-throated hummingbird on the first day that she hung out her feeder. Clara Dunne of Renews was elated to have a hummingbird at her feeder for several days.
The next two weeks are the sweet time to be out birding as spring migration finishes off and all of our songbirds are back and singing at their best.
Enjoy it now.
Bruce Mactavish is an environmental consultant and avid birdwatcher. Email: [email protected]
