Work diversions and excursions

As a travelling sales consultant in a very large territory (all 4 Atlantic Canada Provinces, and Maine) I have opportunity to visit a lot of great birding spots just by driving to visit accounts.

Recently I was visiting stores in the Annapolis Valley and stopped at a place near Grand-Pré they call “the guzzle”. It’s just a little spot on the tidal flats at the end of a dirt road near some farms really. There are many other “guzzles” around the area.

I was fortunate enough to be the only one there so the Horned Larks and Snow Buntings didn’t see me coming and there were so many on the road I felt I may drive over them. Many did stick around and I got some decent snaps. Both birds were “lifers” for me.

The reason I started blogging about birds in fact is because I mentioned to a local birder, Maxine Quinton, that I was going to be photographing birds on my travels through the East Coast and she suggested that I journal it. And so I will journal on the web.  Thank you Maxine  🙂

This May I will visit Maine for the first time representing Auburn Leathercrafters. It will be a fairly long trip visiting stores primarily throughout the great Portland area but I will ensure I stay at B&Bs along the coast and do a little birding.

Then in June I drive across Newfoundland visiting accounts from Cornerbrook to St. John’s and everywhere in between. Going to take Port Aux Basques Ferry in and go out on the Argentia. It’s a very long trip to make just to get there so I will take a day to myself St. Anthony and spend the night along the way near Terra Nova National Park. I definitely plan to keep an eye out for the Red Crossbills in Terra Nova. St. Anthony interests me more for native people’s culture and whale watching from the shore (and hopefully no polar bears) but there will be Artic seabirds abound.

It is always a great reminder that being rich in spirit is more valuable than being rich in dollars.  I do love what I do.

The Eurasian Kestrel drew birders from all over North America. I personally met one birder from Wisconsin and one from Nevada who came to see this little hovering falcon girl. I almost feel guilty that I was more interested in looking for the Northern Harrier and the Snow Owls and just looking for a way to break up long winter days with some fresh air. Inevitably each time I took a jaunt around Hartlen Point she was there and easy to capture in photographs with little effort.

Our winter was mild up until March which brought thick freezes and deep snow to Nova Scotia.  Our little visitor almost made it to Spring but a hungry hawk took her out on March 20th.

We got hammered with about 50cm of snow that week and on March 19th I ventured down to Hartlen Point and walked knee deep in the snow, again looking for Snowy Owls and Harriers but the only birds I really got to see or photograph were the Kestrel and the Rough Legged.  They spend a lot of time in fairly close proximity to one another on that day, but having spent a lot of time down there in the course of a month I would have to say that was not unusual.  Little did I know this was her last full day on earth and I had her all to myself simply because it was not an ideal day to spend time outdoors.  Nature is an ever changing, unforgiving, unemotional, and fascinating circle of life.  I feel privileged to have gotten this close to a small piece of it.

The nemesis (Rough Legged Hawk) who reportedly took the Eurasian Kestrel out the next day.  With so many Snow Buntings and Horned Larks in the area my personal feeling is there was some territorial animosity involved in this killing, exacerbated by hunger of course.  Here is the Hawk harassing a flock of Snow Buntings.  The Kestrel and the Hawk vied for this spot daily.  Just my 2 cents as a very new birder.