Well, although I'd had high hopes to see certain birds that we don't get around here (i.e., Gray Jay, Black-Backed Woodpecker, among others), I did get several lifers.
Day 1: We left New York to vacation in Nova Scotia. It would take more than a day to get there. We didn't do any sightseeing this day, so no birds to report. We stayed in a hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Day 2: Just a fifteen-to-thirty-minute drive from the Canada border, we left the hotel, and entered Canada. Along the way, we stopped at a beachfront attraction near St. Martins, New Brunswick. The sun was just about to start its downward travel, and I photographed several gulls in hopes of increasing my gull list... Achieved my gull... erm, sorry, I meant GOAL.
Herring Gull
We stayed in Sussex, NB overnight.
Day 3: Day 3 was a pretty good day, considering the fact that we were seeing all sorts of awesome beachy views and checking out the wildlife. Of particular interest to me was the Sackville Waterfowl Park in Sackville, NB, where all the family saw several birds, including some that I've been having trouble ID'ing (lifers in red):
a Yellowlegs
Ring-Necked Duck (lifer for Dad and Mom)
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
possibly another yellowlegs or a Solitary Sandpiper, or a Common Snipe.
Well, Mom was tired of walking, so we arranged to get the car and pick her up. Well no sooner had we started when a frantic bird ran from the adjacent property's parking lot as if it stole something... I took one look at it and realized it was a Ring-Necked Pheasant... another lifer for me... Sad to say, I wasn't able to get a shot of this beautiful bird. It had evaded my father by going somewhat deep into the bushes, so we headed back to the car. So we pull up, and my dad gets out to put his camera stuff away. While he's doing this, I'm just sitting there looking at my pictures. I looked up, and saw the pheasant had come back from the woods. So I got out, and ran full speed toward him... big mistake. I never saw him again... We stayed the night in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia.
Day 4:
Day 4 consisted of taking the Cabot Trail and enjoying the scenic views. I don't know how, but we managed to complete the entire trail and still get to Port Hawkesbury in just 12 hours, stopping for pictures at every chance... Before we actually got on the trail, we passed a medium-sized lake. Dad thought he saw a Bald Eagle flying around, so we stopped at the lake. Sure enough, there was. But by the time we found it, it was perched on the opposite shore... And I was busy concentrating my camera on some 1st/2nd winter Herring Gulls. Throughout the rest of Day 4, we would see various other birds. More Bald Eagles were seen, as were gulls and another yellow-legged shorebird. Another lifer was encountered by chance... We pulled into a scenic parking area, and a Common Raven lands on the guardrail in front of us... I couldn't believe how big it was.
Day 5:
Day 5 consisted of Halifax and neighboring areas, including Peggy's Cove, and some other places. While at Peggy's Cove, win the Gift Shop was a Nova Scotia book of the 80 shorebirds found there. I purchased it, since it also had birding hot spot locations. One of the locations interested me, and I asked my parents if we could go there. Yes was the answer, but it was too far away to make it in one trip. So we overnighted in Bridgewater.
Day 6:
Day 6 was good as well. One of the first stops was Cape Sable Island. There was a baseball field filled with a ton of gulls, of all ages. We saw Great Black-Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls. Not sure if there were any Ring-Billed Gulls, but these we saw during much of the trip. We also stopped at The Hawk, which is a beach running along the eastern edge of Cape Sable Island. At the Piping Plover Park, there was a group of birders out there. I saw a gargantuan flock of shorebirds fly towards the north. They landed quite a distance away, so I tried to get as close as possible. It was too far to get decent shots without going digital zoom, so I used the digi-zoom. Even with the poor quality, I could make out a Semipalmated Plover, another lifer; and quite possibly, a few Piping Plovers scattered in the photos. I'll have to check. We had arranged a reservation to take the ferry to Bar Harbor from Yarmouth, so we had little time to waste. The ferry we took is North America's fastest car ferry, traveling from Yarmouth, NS to Bar Harbor, ME (what a coincidence...) in under 3 hours, traveling at a brisk 55 mph (probably around 40 knots or 90 kph). While waiting to depart, we heard reports of seals in the water just outside the ship. Sure enough, there they were. Pictures aren't that great, but most likely were Harbor Seals... (coincidence?) an unrelated animal kingdom lifer for me. During the ferry ride, I was wondering why people were staring out the windows saying things like "Wow!" and etc. Then I spotted a blowhole puff... pretty sure it's a whale... What kind, I don't know. I did take a picture of one of the puffs... We stayed the night in a new hotel in Bar Harbor...
Day 7:
Day 7 consisted of one final sightseeing tour (Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the East Coast, keyword here is coast, not the entire right-hand side of the continent), then a mad dash home.
Well, I have to say, it's been a pretty good trip. Considering that chance casino win while on the ferry... I had already spent 10 dollars in coins in the quarter slots... and I was bored, so I asked my dad for some coins. He gave me two... I thought, "never gonna win with just two coins...". I picked the least used row of machines, and started at the slot machine smack dab in the middle of the row. Put the coin in, pulled the handle. Not a winner. So I moved to the machine on the right. Coin goes in, handle is pulled. The reels spin, then stop... 7 7 double Peppers (long story). winning amount... 160 coins... I was waving to my mom and pointing to the number, but she didn't know what I was trying to say, so I pushed the Cash Out button, and the 160 coins start pinging the tray... now everybody in the immediate area (with the exception of my dad, who was busy gambling on another slot machine) was cheering me and congratulating me... although the highest payout I know of that day was an 800 coin winner (or it could have been a 1600 coin winner). In the end, I had won 40 dollars (then gambled another 5 to lose just 2 bucks total), whereas my dad won a measly 6 dollars... The irony's so thick you could cut it with a knife...
So a good trip, with at least five lifers. I will post pictures during the weekend, and hopefully I can ID some of the other birds that I saw.
W00T!
I have seen maybe 50 of my birds in Canada first. Then I saw half of them here as well. Lone Pine prints good books on Canadian provinces.