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Next Story: Day 3 central Newfoundland birding June 23 →
Posted in Atlantic Canada Birding

the ferry ride and a tetanus shot

Posted by admin Posted on June 27, 2015
the ferry ride and a tetanus shot Posted on June 27, 2015

I stayed two nights in a beautiful little town outside of St. John’s named Holyrood.  Gorgeous spot with some really great hiking trails I had dearly hoped to find some time for but I ended up working in the evenings and the morning before the ferry and it was not to be.  My clients are wonderful though, I had managed to grab quite a few good adventures at the beginning of my trip, and the B&B host brought me tea and sweets and a fuzzy robe at the end of a long day.

Ever determined I stopped about 10 minutes from the Argentia Ferry for an hour and got a really cool shot of an Eastern Kingbird and watched some Cormorants doing their calisthenics.

Eastern Kingbird down the road from the Argentia Ferry June 25
Eastern Kingbird down the road from the Argentia Ferry June 25
Cormorants outside of Argentia - why do they do this?
Cormorants outside of Argentia – why do they do this?

I had also hoped to visit the Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve to see the Northern Gannet colony, but again you don’t get to do everything you want in life and just need to make the best of every day that you can.

However, once the ferry was several hours from land Mother Nature sent two Gannets flying by my window.

Northern Gannets flew by my window seat on the Argentia Ferry June 25
Northern Gannets flew by my window seat on the Argentia Ferry June 25

You just never know…

This inspired some conversation with a gal who was sitting next to me and we did some bird nerding.  She is taking a little break before she starts her PHD and had just backpacked and tented across Newfoundland.  What an amazing and brave lady and she is also lucky enough to live close to Point Pelee which gets a huge influx of early migrators.  I was able to offer the tip to visit the Sackville Waterfowl Park on her way to the United States border to hopefully see some Sora chicks.  Hoping this worked out.  You never know maybe I’ll find out someday.

Landed in Nova Scotia on Friday morning and noticed on the Nova Scotia Bird Society Facebook group that a very rare bird (Caracara) was hanging out in East Bay which is very close to my folk’s place in Sydney.  So although I almost never twitch as it always ends in disappointment for me and I’m not one to burn gas to go find birds, I thought a quick stop in East Bay wouldn’t hurt on the way back to Halifax.

Well I should have stuck to my no twitching rule as my reward was to step on a  rusty nail causing a great deal of pain and a trip for a tetanus shot.

Who knew birding was such a dangerous hobby?  LOL

You win some you lose some.  Overall I had one of the best weeks of my life.

No more twitching for me though  😉