On 2 November 2011, after a wait of more than 9 years, I finally managed to visit one of the most remote, historic, dangerous (to shipping), migrant traps in North America -- Sable Island, Nova Scotia. But I was only there for a little more than four hours.
I am aware that Bird Forum prefers to not have its posts used to simply lure readers to web sites elsewhere, and I do apologise for including a couple of links in this message, but with such a short visit the full flavour of my visit was best communicated through a video that I place on YouTube, and an on-going account on my blog.
But neither the video nor the blog (yet) has a list of the species I noted, and given the short duration of my stay, and the late date during the autumn migration, I was surprised at the number of species I saw, and the proportion of rarities. Sable's birding rep is well-deserved. Pity it is so difficult to access.
My video can be viewed here.
Here is the list of birds I encountered (singles unless noted), with rarities in bold and underlined:
American Black Duck - 6
Blue-winged Teal - 2
Black Scoter - 2
Bufflehead - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 2
Northern Gannet ++
Great Blue Heron
Peregrine Falcon
Common Gallinule - 3
American Coot - 3
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Sanderling - 30
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Herring Gull - ++
Great Black-backed Gull - ++
Mourning Dove
American Robin - 15
European Starling - 2
Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler - 10 (one was an intergrade with Audubon's)
Savannah Sparrow - 18
Dark-eyed Junco
Brewer’s Blackbird (much less than annual in Nova Scotia)
Baltimore Oriole
And the more detailed on-going account of my trip, much of which is not bird-related, can be found here.
Given how difficult it was for me to visit Sable Island once I can't imagine how (or if) I will manage a second trip -- unless I win the lottery. Hope springs.
Safe travels to all in 2012.
Cheers,
Blake
Loved the video Blake, beautifully put together. Thank-you