October 1 - 5 sightings

I've just returned from Quebec, and the following sightings may be of interest. More details if you need them, upon request.


1 October - immature Indigo Bunting, 1 km along the Chemin du Moulin-a-Baude from the road junction leading to the OOT. ~4000 each of Bonaparte's Gull (Mouette de Bonaparte) and Black-legged Kittiwakes (Mouette tridactyle) on a morning whale-watching tour.

3 October - on the 1200 ferry from Les Escoumins to Trois-Pistoles: 1 immature Sabine's Gull (Mouette de Sabine) (poor quality photo attached, by Blake Maybank), 1 Dovekie (Mergule nain), 1 Common Murre (Guillemot Marmette), 2 Razorbill (Petit Pingouin), 1 Parasitic Jaeger (Labbe Parasite), 300 Surf Scoter (Macreuse A Front Blanc). At L'Isle-Verte: one Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Bécasseau rousset) and one American Golden-Plover (Pluvier bronzé).

4 October - two basic-plumaged adult Hudsonian Godwits (Barge hudsonienne), seen from the Pointe de Riviere-du-Loup. At L'Isle-Verte: 1 Pectoral Sandpiper (Bécasseau à poitrine cendrée) and 3 American Golden-Plover (Pluvier bronzé).

5 October - an admirable concentration of shorebirds at high tide (1130 - 1300) from various locations along Avenue Leblanc in Kamouraska (observed close to the road in the kelp-covered rocks), including: 28 Red Knot (Bécasseau maubèche), 250 Black-bellied (Plover Pluvier argenté), 5 American Golden-Plover (Pluvier bronze), 350 Dunlin (Bécasseau variable), 1 White-rumped Sandpiper (Bécasseau à croupion blanc), 20 Sanderling (Bécasseau sanderling), 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers (Bécasseau semipalmé), 2 Least Sandpipers (Bécasseau minuscule), 30 Semipalmated Plover (Pluvier semipalmé). Also 2 Surf Scoter (Macreuse à front blanc), 8 White-winged Scoter (Macreuse brune), 1 Black Scoter (Macreuse noire) seen from Pointe-de-Riviere-Ouelle - Bonnes observations - Blake Maybank