A Quebec tick - finally

It has been something of a barren year for me and new species for my Quebec list. This, in part, has been because I consciously decided to bird locally more, but it is also because any Quebec rarities have been three days travel on a good horse away. When a White-eyed Vireo showed up in Mont Royal (Montreal, get it) Cemetery, it looked like my luck had turned but would it stay to the weekend?

With typical consideration for the dramatic, Saturday was lousy. Heavy rain, zilch visibilty. Sunday was better so, after a check around St-Lazare sand pits (Ross's Goose still there) we went off into deepest Montreal to navigate the Ray Charles (or Helen Keller) memorial trafic system. Eventually we pitched up at the right place and found the bird's location by listening to the high volume drone of the photographers. Despite this, the bird showed within five minutes, perched up, stole a berry and then left. We hung around aother 45 minutes but the photographers had now formed a chorus so we left the smart little vireo to its wanderings.

Below a couple of photos to prove we had a successful twitch in Quebec and there is a bonus photo of a distant White-winged Crossbill in our garden.