Monday, May 26, 2008

Phalaropes - what great birds they are

In need of a migrant fix we decided to go off to Cap Tourmente, east of Quebec City. Its a great reserve to visit although get this, this migration hub actually has a falconry display, how stupid is that! Anyway, more of Cap Tourmente later.

On the way we dropped in at Baie du Febvre, which I'm sure I always spell wrong. Usually its blowing a gale there, this time it was refreshingly calm and pretty birdy. The highlight was two phalarope, both females so the pretty ones, a Wilson's and a Red-necked.

In the bad old days taking over 900 photos would have meant re-mortgaging the house, digital has changed that and so below you see my humble efforts. Being phalaropes they were constantly on the go picking insects from the surface of their favourite pool. Just standing, without bins, watching them go about their business was a great birding experience.

The demi weekend yielded 110 species including a few migrants and we still managed to miss a Sandhill Crane and Northern Mockingbirds, it hardly mattered.

Click on the images for the full phalarope experience.









































































































1 comment:

Seb said...

Nice shots Mark!

2 rare birds in the same shot that's nice!