Port Ménier, île de Anticosti, Quebec. September 25 2022. We went ashore from our small ship today, our first steps on land following two days of flirting with Monster-Hurricane Fiona. Cruise ship itineraries include plenty of shore excursions including shopping opportunities and local colour, but going ashore from our working supply ship, Bella Desgagnés, means moving carefully on strictly functional concrete wharves whilst watching for shipping containers swinging overhead Hikes, when possible, lead up quiet roads to the associated village or settlement. So it was today, that we disembarked on the working end of Port Ménier’s very long, straight, open and windswept jetty. Windswept by a buffeting northerly wind that was okay on the long walk to land but hard going on the return. Still, the birding was interesting.
At the start I could see an expanse of large white birds gathered on a faraway sheltered shoreline. From a distance I wondered if they were Snow Geese, but no, instead they were almost all Great Black-backed Gulls. They are the world’s largest gull, thuggish by nature but quite handsome and spectacular whether in ones and twos (the way we see them on Lake Ontario), or loafing in hundreds as they were in front of us. Every bit as interesting was a single Red-throated Loon paddling around not far from shore. It was interesting to watch and to appreciate its lighter, more streamlined build than that of a Common Loon. I managed to get a few photos of it despite the threat of a rapidly fading camera battery. I muddled through and am pleased to see that my photos show a little of an emerging wine-red throat patch, suggesting that this is a one-and-a-bit year old bird, hatched in 2021.
That there-and-back walk also produced several Greater Yellowlegs, an American Pipit, and finally a single Semi-palmated Plover in the company of two mystery shorebirds. The mysteries’ mirrored posture, size and companionship suggest they are the same species, yet there are differences: one has a more richly patterned back, the suggestion of a rufous collar and a clear white breast, while the other is generally darker and has fine spots on its breast. I suspect they are young birds, hatched this summer, and in slightly different stages of moult. So far they are mystery birds to me and I welcome help in identifying them.
Hi Peter- The Snow Geese are stunning, thank you. Those two mystery birds are tough- immature Dunlin? Too white according to field guide, but immatures often surprise me. This is what makes birding fun!