Birding in new Brunswick...Also by Roger Burrows Birds of the Great Plains, 2005 Birds of Pennsylvania, 2005 Birds of New England, 2004 Birds of Oregon, 2002 Birds of Atlantic Canada,

Birding in new Brunswick

Also by Roger Burrows

Birds of the Great Plains, 2005

Birds of Pennsylvania, 2005

Birds of New England, 2004

Birds of Oregon, 2002

Birds of Atlantic Canada, 2002

Birding in Atlantic Canada: Acadia, 1992

Birding in Atlantic Canada: Newfoundland, 1989

Birding in Atlantic Canada: Nova Scotia, 1988

A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Atlantic Canada, 1981

Birdingin new Brunswick

ROGER BURROWS with photographs by

MERV J. CORMIER

Text copyright © 2010 by roger Burrows

Photographs copyright © 2010 by Merv J. cormier

All rights reserved. no part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any retrieval system, without the prior

written permission of the publisher or a licence from the canadian copyright Licensing Agency

(Access copyright). To contact Access copyright, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call 1-800-893-5777.

edited by rebecca Leaman.

cover photographs of birds by Merv J. cormier,

all others by www.sxc.hu and www.istock.com.

cover and page design by Jaye Haworth.

Art direction by Julie scriver.

Printed in canada.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library and Archives canada cataloguing in Publication

Burrows, roger, 1942-

Birding in new Brunswick / roger Burrows; with photographs by Merv J. cormier.

includes index.

isBn 978-0-86492-618-0

1. Bird watching — New Brunswick — Guidebooks. 2. Birds—New Brunswick — Identification.

i. cormier, Merv J. ii. Title.

QL685.5.n48B87 2010 598.072’347151 c2009-907516-4

goose Lane editions acknowledges the financial support of the canada council for the Arts,

the government of canada through the Book Publishing industry development Program (BPidP),

and the new Brunswick department of wellness, culture, and sport for its publishing activities.

goose Lane editions

suite 330, 500 Beaverbrook court

Fredericton, new Brunswick

cAnAdA e3B 5X4

www.gooselane.com

Sincere thanks to Liz Crompton and Jim Leslie for making the Marathon Inn on Grand Manan

my “home away from home” during the Elderhostel season for the last three years, thus enabling me to rediscover the birding delights

of the Jewel of the Bay of Fundy and to finally make

a permanent home on the island.

contents

Preface 9

Introduction 13

Passamaquoddy Bay 21

grand Manan 49

East Charlotte Shore 91

saint John county 105

Albert county 139

Petitcodiac 167

Baie Verte 187

kent shore 209

The Miramichi 227

Acadian Peninsula 245

Baie des chaleurs 261

Appalachian range 281

Madawaska 289

upper saint John river Valley 299

Middle saint John river Valley 313

The Lake district 327

kings county 339

Acknowledgements 349

Local contacts and websites 351

List of Illustrations 355

9

Preface

Atlantic Canada is a wonderful place in which to bird. It has everything any birder could want in the form of weather systems that defy analysis, miles and miles of largely un-

spoilt shorelines, woods and waters of every description, and a unique personality that varies from province to province and even county to county.

When I first arrived in Nova Scotia in the early fall of 1973, I had no idea I would be calling Atlantic Canada my home (or, more accurately, the place for many homes) for two decades. I lived and worked in Prince Edward Island for less than a year and spent even less time visiting Quebec, but I treasured those times as much as the four, fifteen, and six years I resided in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick, respectively. I can thus understand why Maritimers don’t want to leave, but I also learned the harsh lessons of lim-ited work opportunities as my employment alternated between full and empty. Now I am back to stay in New Brunswick and ready to endure the summer mists and winter storms after a balmy, some might say “barmy,” existence in British Columbia . . . and I’m enjoying the challenge! I’ve also bought my first home, at Ingalls Head on Grand Manan, which will limit my ability to wander too far afield.

I am starting the update of my previous books with New Brunswick for several reasons. First and foremost, I am now a resident of the only truly integrated bilingual province in Canada. Although ethnicity and cultural heritage have divided it into two distinct regions, New Brunswick’s birdlife has united it; the Acadian Peninsula in the northeast has proved to be every bit as interesting to birders as Grand Manan in the southwest. All parts of the province now have resident birders, which made this update a whole lot easier, especially since there are still some sites I have yet to visit. New Brunswick’s British and Acadian traditions are reflected in its place names and music, and tourism is well established in many parts of the province and growing elsewhere. The increasing number of visits by cruise ships will serve to solidify this tourism base. The province operates tourist information centres throughout New Brunswick and has produced a useful birdwatching brochure/map. A road improvement program initiated in the 1990s has largely rectified the only major impediment to birding and made it possible to link visits to all corners of the province.

New Brunswick is accessible by road with several border crossings from Maine and con-nections to Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Bay of Fundy car ferry presently connects Saint John to Digby, NS, and provides an excellent pelagic birding inter-lude at times. I hope that the service will not be discontinued after years of running at a loss. A shorter pelagic ferry service, to Grand Manan, has proved even more productive over

10 Birding in new Brunswick

the years, and there are also local services to Deer, Campobello, and White Head islands. While rail connections have been drastically reduced over the years, Acad-ian Lines’ intercity bus services connect all regions of New Brunswick and pro-vide a link to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. International f lights make a few scheduled stops at Moncton, Fredericton, and Saint John International Airports, and there are connecting flights to other parts of Atlantic Canada and to international f lights from Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. Local transportation services also connect small communities both within the province and to Maine and Quebec.

Anyone planning to visit New Bruns-wick is well-advised to purchase the New Brunswick Atlas/Nouveau Brunswick Atlas co-published by Nimbus Publishing and Service New Brunswick. The second re-vised edition (2002) is a complete guide to the province and invaluable for planning a trip that includes the best birding sites and natural phenomena. Not only does the NB Atlas show all roads and most

trails, it also shows all topographical details and the names of many suburbs and small villages not included in most highway maps. I have provided the NB Atlas page numbers below the introduc-tory map for each regional section of this book.

Birding in New Brunswick divides the province into seventeen regions, and these are further divided into birding sites, each with its own Access Routes and Birding Focus. A list of local con-tacts and local websites is provided in the appendix. Every effort has been made to provide the current addresses, but these are subject to change and may not be current long past the time of publication. Some websites have detailed bird or trail information, while others have commun-ity or local information that may help in planning a visit.

Atlantic Puffin

Black-legged Kittiwake

11PREFACE

Birders are served by a number of local publi-cations, notably the New Brunswick Naturalist and Birds of New Brunswick: An Annotated List, and the NatureNB website provides current natural history information. A variety of local clubs hold regular meetings and some have websites, but it should be noted that not all of the province’s bird observers send in their sightings and that less than a third of New Brunswick’s Christmas Bird Counts are regularly published in the National Audubon Society’s winter issue of Amer-ican Birds. This tends to give a somewhat misleading picture of the wealth of bird-life found in the province and leads to gaps in knowledge not always covered in published sources. The Atlas of Breed-ing Birds in the Maritime Provinces did, however, add many new breeding species to the provincial list and increased the chance of joining the growing “300 Club,” a distinction that I have now reached. A five-year Atlas update started in 2006 will undoubtedly further expand the provin-cial list and reveal a few more choice sites.

This book is intended to direct resident and visiting birders to some of the best birding sites in New Brunswick, but I must stress that it is not intended to com-pletely replace existing field guides and site guides. Anyone requiring information on breeding birds should check out the species pages in the Atlas of Breeding Birds in the Maritime Provinces, while the pages of Lone Pine’s Birds of Atlantic Canada, which I wrote in 2001, give fairly recent

information on year-round distribution and local details. Those wanting more specific information on colonial seabirds, waterfowl, and migrant shorebirds should consult the many publications and reports put out by the Canadian Wildlife Service, which has its Atlantic headquarters in Sackville. Above all, anyone interested in birds should join or contact local natural history and bird societies. New Brunswick birders and those in adjoining provinces and states should consider signing onto the NatureNB listserv site, which is a good source of current information on distribu-tion and rarities.

This book uses Eurasian and North American names for species that are in the process of being separated by the British and American Ornithological Unions in the next revision of their species lists. Ex-amples are Common (Eurasian) Teal and Green-winged Teal; Common Gull and Mew Gull. Other splits may occur in the future but are not anticipated in this book.

The names of the birds follow the American spelling (as stipulated by the American Ornithologists’ Union at http://aou.org/), but the text proper follows Can-adian spelling conventions.

Bay-breasted warbler


Prince edwArd isLAnd

n e w B r u n s w i c k

uniTed sTATesMAine

nOVA scOTiA

QueBec

1

2

3 4

5

6 7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

1516

17

1. Passamaquoddy Bay

2. grand Manan

3. East Charlotte Shore

4. saint John county

5. Albert county

6. Petitcodiac

7. Baie Verte

8. kent shore

9. The Miramichi

10. Acadian Peninsula

11. Baie des chaleurs

12. Appalachian range

13. Madawaska

14. upper saint John river Valley

15. Middle saint John river Valley

16. The Lake district

17. kings county

13

introduction

detailed information in the regional chapters of this book draws on published and anec-dotal information available to early December 2009. In part, this book updates the

third volume of my Birding in Atlantic Canada series published 1988-1992 by Jesperson Press. A different format has been used this time, and I have chosen to combine some areas and present them in a different order. The direction chosen — starting with Passamaquoddy Bay in the southwest, following the Fundy coast, then heading east and north along the Northumberland Strait shore, west along Baie des Chaleurs to the Quebec border, then southeast along the Saint John River Valley to end in the interior of Kings County — is a logical progression for anyone visiting New Brunswick, especially from Nova Scotia and the United States.

The earliest European settlers, arriving in the 1500s, did not winter in any great numbers, and their greatest effect on the region’s breeding birds was to decimate the coastal colonies of Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, and Common Murre. Small colonies of Northern Gannet were also lost in the early decades of settlement, but colonies of Common, Arctic, and Roseate Terns may have benefited from the reduction of Common Eider and Herring Gull numbers caused by raids to gather eggs. The more recent increase in gull numbers, especially close to larger communities with inefficient waste disposal methods, has reversed this trend. Both Great and Double-crested Cormorants were killed by fisher-men who saw them as unwanted competition for an important resource, and waterfowl numbers fell as hunters moved inland from the coasts. Some waterfowl, such as Bufflehead, have never recovered, but more ubiquitous pond species, such as Mallard, Northern Pin-tail, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, and Ring-necked Duck, have all shown range increases, especially since the creation of new wetland breeding areas by Ducks Unlimited Canada and other wetland managers. The Wood Duck is also making a comeback, as is the Hooded Merganser, but Horned and Red-necked Grebes, which bred here at one time, are not.

Hunting for food, and, later, market hunting, put extreme pressure on the migrant shorebirds that remain a prominent feature of maritime birdlife from July to November and brought some, including Eskimo Curlew, Hudsonian Godwit, and American Golden-Plover, close to extinction. The last two have largely recovered since market hunting ended in 1916. The number of nesting Willet fell as favoured coastal sites were cleared and de-veloped by Acadians settling along the Northumberland Strait shore, and other breeding species suffered to a lesser extent. The masses of smaller sandpipers largely escaped the


impact of market gunners and, like many waterfowl, were successful enough in their northern breeding grounds and southern wintering areas to cover any losses sustained in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere along the Atlantic coast. Now loss of habitat to larger settlements and, more recently, holiday resorts and golf courses have made feeding more difficult.

Draining of wetlands, a practice intro-duced and perfected by Acadian settlers, greatly reduced breeding numbers of marsh birds and waterfowl, Willet, Sa-vannah Sparrow, and the maritime race of Nelson’s Sparrow, but the many Ducks Unlimited Canada impoundments started since 1960 have reversed this trend and enabled Gadwall, Redhead, Ruddy Duck, and Common Moorhen to establish small breeding populations. Global warming of one or two degrees means an earlier spring break-up and snow melt, as well as milder winters, helping southerners like Carolina Wren, Northern Mockingbird, and North-ern Cardinal to winter and raise young without having to rush things. Ice cover reduction encourages nesting on coastal inlets by Black-crowned Night-Heron, Glossy Ibis, and maybe even a few Snowy Egrets, and this trend will continue for some time, allowing more southern spe-cies to expand northwards.

A recent study in the Chignecto Isthmus region of southeastern New Brunswick linked environmental changes, including forest spraying and logging, farming, wetland creation, life-style, acid rain, and global warming, to variations in bird populations over the last seventy years. Several waterfowl spe-cies benefited from less extensive winter

ice, while Ring-necked Pheasant and Mourning Dove found food more easily with less snow cover. Many summering warblers declined after forest spraying, and the draining of both salt and fresh-water wetlands for farming reduced the population of many species, including American Bittern, Blue-winged Teal, Sora, Yellow Rail, Wilson’s Snipe, Sedge and Marsh Wrens, and Nelson’s Spar-row. On the other hand, an increase in managed wetlands encouraged breeding waterfowl, including Wood Duck, Red-head, Hooded Merganser, and Ruddy Duck, to nest for the first time. Many waterfowl also increased as wildlife refuges became more widespread, and wintering raptors took advantage of these habitats and the end of trophy hunting. American Bittern, rails, and Black Tern have also made use of newly created wetlands, while waterfowl, raptors, and nesting songbirds have also increased as a result of nestboxes and winter feeding.

A reduction in local agriculture and the loss of farm buildings also had a negative effect on the number of breeding Horned Lark, Barn and Cliff Swallows, and Vesper Sparrow; although, Killdeer, Northern Mocking-bird, and House Finch have benefited from changes in rural habitats and by utilizing urban “green” areas. Increased pulpwood cutting and forest spraying re-duced the populations of Spruce Grouse, Pileated Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, and both Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but provided habitats for Least Flycatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Veery, Ovenbird, Mourning and Canada Warblers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Increases in the numbers of migrant

15INTRODUCTION

Double-crested Cormorant and Hud-sonian Godwit, wintering Red-winged Nuthatch and Bohemian Waxwing, and a few vagrants are less readily explained.

Away from the coast, Atlantic Canada has undergone many changes since the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s, and none was more far-reaching than the loss of mixed forests that covered much of the land. Early forests were composed largely of broadleaf trees, especially sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch, with few of the now dominant balsam fir and spruce. Cavity nesters like Barred Owl and Pil-eated Woodpecker declined, although both now appear to be making a come-back, while conifer-loving species like Cape May and Bay-breasted Warblers, and forest-edge species like American Robin, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and American Redstart, have clearly benefited from hu-man changes. The Little Ice Age around 1600 may well have discouraged southern hardwood species, such as Whip-poor-will, Red-headed Woodpecker, Warbling Vireo, House Wren, Brown Thrasher, Pine Warbler, and Indigo Bunting, from breeding, but all of them are now re-turning and expanding their ranges, especially in New Brunswick. Early suc-cessional stages are far more common, so Alder Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, and Song Sparrow are all thriving.

Farmland did not exist when the first colonists arrived in 1604, as Aboriginal resi-dents were largely nomadic and dependent on seasonal food resources, and agri-culture really only changed things on a major scale in

Prince Edward Island, with the highest amount of farmland available in the fifty years after 1880. Some new species like Horned Lark, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, and, in recent decades, Killdeer, arrived from the southwest to join established Bobolink and Savannah and Nelson’s Sparrows. Vesper Spar-rows, which had previously used burns and sandy barrens, clearly benefited until mechanized farming replaced the labour-intensive manual farming and allowed crops to be planted and harvested much earlier. For some reason, possibly disturb-ance during their nesting cycles, both Upland Sandpiper and Eastern Meadow-lark, which would seem ideally suited to farmland, did not benefit.

Rock Pigeon were introduced for food purposes before 1700 with unexpected and somewhat unwelcome success, although their numbers and usefulness could not rival the contribution previously made by the huge flocks of Passenger Pigeon that fed on beechmast and other wide-spread native crops. The recent increase in Mourning Dove numbers owes more to global warming and the spread of suburban bird feeders than to any con-scious effort to increase their numbers. The burgeoning abundance of European Starling, which did not appear until the

1920s and 1930s, and, more recently, of House Finch, underlines the

ability of some songbird spe-cies to take full advantage of urbanization after several decades of marking time. Other species that clearly

benefited from settlement

Alder Flycatcher


include Common Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, and Barn and Cliff Swallows.

The top ten breeding species in the 1990s, as shown by the Atlas of Breed-ing Birds in the Maritime Provinces, were American Robin, White-throated Spar-row, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Tree Swal-low, Northern Flicker, Barn Swallow, Dark-eyed Junco, and Yellow-rumped Warbler, half of which correspond to the New Brunswick top ten. Next com-monest were Common Raven, Red-eyed Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, Common Grackle, Cedar Waxwing, Swainson’s Thrush, and Purple Finch, all of which figure in the New Brunswick top twenty. Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, Ovenbird, Northern Parula, Chipping Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and European Starling follow. All but the last three and American Goldfinch made the top twenty-five in New Brunswick. A few species, including Savannah Spar-row, Red-winged Blackbird, Bobolink, and Belted Kingfisher, rate much higher on Prince Edward Island farmlands and dune fringes, but, in general terms, the three Maritime Provinces are very simi-lar in their birdlife. Closed forest species arriving after the Little Ice Age and settlement changes, including most of the boreal forest wood-warblers, have been supplanted by species more tolerant of the mixed wood and edge habitats generated by land clearing. Including Newfound-land and maritime Quebec would change the abundance order of several species and add some colonial nesting seabirds,

raptors, and boreal finches to the more numerous species.

Although most species nest in all three Maritime Provinces, some have rather limited distributions. Some breeding spe-cies are confined largely to southwestern New Brunswick where southern hard-woods are more prevalent. These include broadleaf-nesting Cooper’s and Red-shouldered Hawks and Whip-poor-will; young pine-nesting Pine Warbler; and forest edge-nesting Willow Flycatcher, House Wren, Brown Thrasher, North-ern Cardinal, and Indigo Bunting. Other species commonest in this sub-region include woodland-nesting Black-billed Cuckoo, Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, and Baltimore Oriole; and open country-nesting Eastern Phoebe, Purple Martin, and Eastern Bluebird. Some boreal forest-nesting species are confined mainly to northeastern New Brunswick, including Greater Yellowlegs, Boreal Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Philadelphia Vireo, Bicknell’s Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler, and Fox Sparrow. Other mixed forest-nesting species, in-cluding Broad-winged Hawk, Veery, and Black-throated Blue and Chestnut-sided Warblers, are found as widespread breed-ing species in New Brunswick. Current Atlas of Breeding Birds work will cer-tainly reveal major changes in waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds. Continued monitoring will also likely reveal subtle changes in breeding, wintering, and migratory distribution as conditions continue to evolve in Atlantic Canada. In this respect, Christmas Bird Counts, Maritime Shorebird Surveys, Breeding Bird Surveys, and other major monitor-

17INTRODUCTION

ing studies will bring such trends into sharper focus and update the information contained in published works.

A few nesting species showing increases in the last decade include Common Loon; Osprey; Wilson’s Snipe; Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls; Mourning Dove; Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; Pileated Wood-pecker; Blue-headed and Philadelphia Vireos; Cliff Swallow; Brown Creeper; Nashville, Chestnut-sided, and Black-throated Blue Warblers; and Purple Finch. On the other hand, decreases occurred in the nesting numbers of Northern Harrier; Broad-winged Hawk; American Kestrel; Killdeer; Spotted Sandpiper; Black-billed Cuckoo; Common Nighthawk; Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers; Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers; Eastern Wood-Pewee; Eastern Phoebe; Eastern Kingbird; Gray Jay; Bank Swallow; Winter Wren; Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets; Wood Thrush; European Starling; Cedar Waxwing; Tennessee, Bay-breasted, Mourning, and Canada Warblers; Northern Waterthrush; Amer-ican Redstart; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; Lincoln’s Sparrow; Bobolink; Red-winged Blackbird; Pine Siskin; Evening Gros-beak; and House Sparrow.

In this book, some widespread resident species are not included in seasonal key lists unless they are particularly numer-ous, although they may be mentioned in site descriptions if warranted. These spe-cies are common and found in all regions throughout the year, so it can be assumed that they are likely to be seen on any visit at any time of year, although numbers may be substantially lower in the winter months. These omitted species are Canada

Goose; Mallard; American Black Duck; Ring-billed, Great Black-backed, and Herring Gulls; Rock Pigeon; Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers; Blue Jay; Common Raven; American Crow; Black-capped Chickadee; American Robin; European Starling; Savannah, White-throated, and Song Sparrows; and American Goldfinch. In some cases, generic terms — loons, grebes, shearwaters, marsh birds, dabbling ducks, diving ducks, sea ducks, rallids, shorebirds, plovers, sandpipers, alcids, woodpeckers, flycatchers, vireos, hirun-dines, thrushes, kinglets, wood-warblers, sparrows, blackbirds, and finches — are used to indicate that several common species are involved. The breakdown of seasons is somewhat arbitrary and reflects Maritime tendencies: spring is mid-March to mid-June, summer is mid-June to mid-August, fall is mid-August to mid-November and winter is mid-November to mid-March. Some accounts may in-clude bird species, especially shorebirds, occurring outside these periods during migration.

Each regional chapter begins with a brief overview, including a mention of more unusual sightings in some cases, and a map indicating where sites within the region are located. Each site section contains a brief description and a seasonal key list — a summary of birds that can be expected at each season, of those that have occurred on enough occasions to be con-sidered worth looking for (“chance of”), and of vagrants seen on fewer than five occasions. The map page for each region gives access routes and a reference to rel-evant pages in the New Brunswick Atlas/Nouveau Brunswick Atlas (second revised edition, 2002).

Birdingin new Brunswick


grand Manan

campobello island

st. Andrews

st. stephenOak Bay

digdeguashBasin

st. georgechamcook

Passamoquoddy Bay

Letang

Letete

deer island

McAdam

uniTed sTATes

MAine

4

2

7

3

1

1

127

NB Atlas pages: 89, 90, 93 Access Routes: 1, 3, 772, ferry, 774

21

Passamaquoddy Bay

rural Charlotte County is known as a holiday centre and the home of several biological research and natural history interpretation facilities. Many of the early settlers were

Scots, hence the name given to St. Andrews, the most visited of the many small towns and certainly the most affluent. The waters of Passamaquoddy Bay are extremely rich in marine life, which ensures a year-round concentration of waterfowl and gulls and migrant marsh birds and shorebirds. Areas close to the Maine border cater more to the tourist trade, while the coastal region is still very much involved with fishery and aquaculture. From a birding perspective, Charlotte County is the most productive county in southern New Brunswick, with several southern species reaching their northern range limits here.

At the entrance to Passamaquoddy Bay, Deer and Campobello islands offer some pro-tection to the mainland and provide access to some of the richest marine waters New Brunswick has to offer. The ferry from Letete passes by several smaller islands before reaching Deer Island, and another seasonal ferry crosses Head Harbour Passage on its way to Campobello Island — both sections are often filled with birds throughout the year. Campobello Island lies on the southwestern edge of New Brunswick at the United States border and can be reached by the Franklin D. Roosevelt International Memorial Bridge and causeway from near Lubec, Maine, to the southern portion of the island occupied by the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park. Much of the island is low-lying, wet woodlands with similar resident species to the western portion of Grand Manan, while the northern communities of Welshpool and Wilson’s Beach are more open and urban like North Head on Grand Manan. A seasonal ferry links Campobello Island to Deer Island.


CAMpOBEllO ISlAndThe turbulent waters off Head Harbour Passage between Deer and Campobello Islands are home to huge numbers of gulls and terns from August to October. In November, the masses of Bonaparte’s Gulls are followed by as many as fifteen thousand Herring Gulls, five thousand Great Black-backed Gulls, and eight thousand Black-legged Kittiwakes. With so many gulls around, it’s not surprising to find Franklin’s Gull appearing at times from mid-September to late October, Black-headed and Sabine’s Gulls at any time from late August to early Novem-ber, and Little Gulls throughout the fall. Good numbers of Common and Arctic Terns also pass by in fall, alongside skeins of Common Eider; White-winged, Surf and Black Scoters; and a variety of loons; grebes; cormorants; and alcids.

Upper and Lower Duck Ponds are saltwater bays in Quoddy Narrows, part of the cross-border Lubec Flats area best viewed by telescope from Cranberry Point. They are used by migrant water-fowl flocks, while shorebirds often mass at the barrier beach and barachois pond if the water levels are down. Flood tides sometimes deposit hundreds of sea trout in the ponds to provide a feast for water-fowl and gulls. Great Blue Heron fish the shallows, and migrant Whimbrel flocks should be checked for occasional Hudsonian Godwit and Stilt Sandpiper. Shorebirds are often flushed by migrant Northern Harrier and Merlin. The best sea watches are often conducted from the northern end of the island alongside Head Harbour Passage between Wilson’s Beach and East Quoddy Head. After a decade of low counts, hundreds of Red-necked

and Red Phalaropes came back to feast on euphausiids in early fall 2005 and have returned in subsequent years. Counts had previously reached several thousands.

Other productive sites at various times of year in the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park include the visitor centre for wood-warblers, including Northern Parula and Nashville Warbler, and boreal finches; Friars Head for Alder Flycatcher and wood-warblers, includ-ing Chestnut-sided Warbler; Fox Farm for Alder Flycatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and wood-warblers, including Northern Parula; Cranberry Point for mi-grant wood-warblers, including Cape May Warbler, and irregular White-winged Crossbill; Eagle Hill bog for Yellow-bellied and Least Flycatchers, thrushes, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Nashville, Palm, and Canada Warblers; Fox Hill Drive for Ruffed and Spruce Grouse, woodpeck-ers, and thrushes; Raccoon Beach for Sharp-shinned Hawk; and Liberty Point for loons, grebes, sea ducks, and Black Guillemot.

There have been very few reports of birds outside the busy fall migration season and the Eastport – Campobello Christmas Bird Count period. This is a shared border count and is similar to other Bay of Fundy counts, but with somewhat lower numbers. The winter months see a buildup of numbers of Herring Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake, both of which have exceeded the ten thousand mark more than once; Bonaparte’s Gull, which reach five thousand at times; and Amer-ican Black Duck and Great Black-backed Gull, which have reached four figures. Landbirds are much less conspicuous and few reach three-figure counts. April

23passamaquoddy bay

vagrants include Boreal Owl, Indigo Bunting, and Yellow-headed Blackbird, with Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in May. Campobello Island provided the prov-ince’s first White-winged Dove in late July 1977, with a few repeat visits since then.

Access Routes: from Lubec, Maine, on State Road 189 and across International Bridge on Highway 774.

Birding Focus: small gulls; rarer passerine migrants.

kEy BIRdSSpring-SummerBald Eagle; Sharp-shinned Hawk; Kill-deer; Spotted Sandpiper; American Woodcock; chance of Short-eared Owl; woodpeckers; chance of Black-backed Woodpecker; f lycatchers; Red-breasted Nuthatch; Winter Wren; kinglets; thrushes; wood-warblers; Northern Parula; Nashville, Palm, and Canada War-blers; Lincoln’s Sparrow; Purple Finch; chance of White-winged Crossbill; Pine Siskin. Vagrants include White-winged Dove; Boreal Owl; Eastern Screech-Owl; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Summer Tanager; Indigo Bunting; Yellow-headed Blackbird.

FallLoons; grebes; shearwaters; chance of Manx Shearwater or Wilson’s Storm-Petrel; Brant; dabbling ducks; chance of Gadwall; diving ducks; chance of Red-head or Canvasback; sea ducks; chance of King Eider, Harlequin, or Ruddy Duck; migrant raptors; rails; chance of Clap-per Rail; migrant shorebirds; Solitary Sandpiper; Whimbrel; chance of Hud-sonian Godwit or Stilt Sandpiper; Red

and Red-necked Phalaropes; Parasitic Jaeger; chance of Pomarine Jaeger; Black-legged Kittiwake; Bonaparte’s, Little, Black-headed, Franklin’s, Laughing, and Sabine’s Gulls; chance of Iceland or Glau-cous Gull; Forster’s, Common, Arctic, and Black Terns; alcids; migrant owls; flycatch-ers; vireos; chance of Boreal Chickadee; thrushes; wood-warblers; sparrows. Va-grants include Magnificent Frigatebird; American Oystercatcher; American Avo-cet; Great Skua; Red-headed Woodpecker.

WinterLoons; grebes; chance of Northern Ful-mar; Northern Gannet; Great Cormorant; Greater Scaup; sea ducks; chance of King Eider or Hooded Merganser; Bald Eagle; Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks; Merlin; chance of Peregrine Falcon or Gyrfalcon; Spruce and Ruffed Grouse; Little, Bonaparte’s, and Iceland Gulls; chance of Black-headed, Glaucous, or Lesser Black-backed Gull; Razorbill; chance of Dovekie; Northern Flicker; Northern Shrike; Horned Lark; Gray Jay; Boreal Chickadee; Red-breasted Nuthatch; Golden-crowned Kinglet; Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings; North-ern Cardinal; American Tree Sparrow; Common Grackle; Rusty Blackbird; Pine Grosbeak; White-winged Crossbill; House Finch; Common Redpoll; Pine Siskin. Vagrants include Red Phalarope; Belted Kingfisher; Red-headed, Red-bellied, Black-backed, and Pileated Woodpeckers; Tufted Titmouse; Ruby-crowned Kinglet; Northern Mockingbird; Yellow-rumped, Palm, and Pine Warblers; Yellow-breasted Chat; Eastern Towhee; Lapland Long-spur; Savannah, Chipping, Swamp, and Fox Sparrows.


dEER ISlAndThe closest island to the New Brunswick coast is Deer Island, which lies at the en-trance to Passamaquoddy Bay and can be reached by ferry from Greens Point near Letete. This ferry passes close to where thirty thousand Bonaparte’s Gull have been counted taking advantage of the churning August tides, which bring tiny euphausiid shrimp to the surface. Counts of two million Red-necked Phalarope were regular here into the 1990s, and the 2005 recovery of prey species makes a return to these numbers possible. This re-covery is, however, under severe threat as proposals to harness tidal power at Head Harbour Passage escalate.

Highway 772 continues from the ferry terminal at Stuart Town to the southern end of the island at Cummings Cove and back to Northern Harbour on the west coast. Much of Deer Island is heavily wooded and supports most of the wood-land species found on the mainland, while the shoreline is quite rocky and provides few places for marsh birds and shorebirds to feed, except in the area around and east of Northern Harbour and at the south end of the island.

There have been breeding attempts by Northern Gannet, the most recent being in 1999 on White Horse Islet, which had a three-hundred-pair Double-crested Cor-morant colony but now has Black-legged Kittiwake. The many small islands in Passamaquoddy Bay provide nesting sites for colonial seabirds and Common Eider. These colonies should be left undisturbed as the various species are all easily seen from shore. The waters of Passamaquoddy Bay also offer an opportunity to watch marine birds feeding without the need to

venture out in small boats or check ferry crossings. The best viewpoint for a sea watch is at Deer Island Point Park, which offers a view of the turbulent waters of Head Harbour Passage between Deer and Campobello Islands and usually has good numbers of most species, including hundreds of Bonaparte’s Gull throughout the winter months, and Harlequin Duck, often visible from East Quoddy Head on Campobello Island. In the past, this narrow channel has been home to huge numbers of phalaropes, gulls, and terns in August – October and is crossed by the summer ferry. A peak count of three hun-dred thousand Red-necked Phalarope in the late 1990s was as good a reason as any to make the short trip, and there had been counts of a hundred thousand Red Phala-rope in late August. Unfortunately, these totals dropped dramatically and stood at zero for several years until rebounding in 2005. As the closest island to the New Brunswick mainland, Deer Island acts as a stepping stone to the Maine coast for raptors and passerines.

Access Routes: by ferry from Letete on Highway 772.

Birding Focus: staging phalaropes and gulls; wintering Harlequin duck.

kEy BIRdSAll yearCommon Loon; Red-necked Grebe; Great Blue Heron; Brant; dabbling ducks; Common Eider; Bald Eagle; chance of Wild Turkey; Black-bellied Plover; Black Guillemot; woodpeckers; chance of Black-backed Woodpecker; Horned Lark; Gray Jay; Boreal Chickadee; Red-breasted Nut-

25passamaquoddy bay

hatch; Winter Wren; Golden-crowned Kinglet; Savannah Sparrow; Pine Gros-beak; Pine Siskin.

SpringLoons; grebes; Northern Fulmar; chance of shearwaters; Double-crested Cormor-ant; Northern Gannet; chance of Snowy or Cattle Egret; Great Egret; chance of Glossy Ibis; Ring-necked Duck; Greater Scaup; sea ducks; migrant raptors; mi-grant shorebirds; chance of Parasitic Jaeger; larids; chance of Caspian Tern; alcids; chance of Northern Shrike or House Wren; Ruby-crowned Kinglet; Brown Thrasher; American Pipit; Cedar Waxwing; wood-warblers; Eastern Meadowlark; blackbirds.Vagrants include Golden Eagle; Worm-eating Warbler; Scarlet Tanager.

SummerPied-billed Grebe; shearwaters; chance of Manx Shearwater or Leach’s Storm- Petrel; cormorants; chance of rarer herons or egrets; American Bittern; chance of Brant; Red-breasted Merganser; chance of Ruddy Duck; raptors; chance of Peregrine Falcon; Semipalmated Plover; Killdeer; migrant shorebirds; Bonaparte’s Gull; chance of Little, Laughing, or Black-headed Gull; Black-legged Kittiwake; Common Tern; chance of Black Tern or Common Murre; Belted Kingfisher; flycatchers; chance of Willow Flycatcher; Brown Creeper; chance of House or Marsh Wren; thrushes; Gray Catbird; Northern Mockingbird; Cedar Waxwing; wood-warblers; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; Bobolink; Rusty Blackbird; Baltimore Oriole. Vagrants include Little Blue and Tricolored Herons; Glossy Ibis; Cooper’s

and Broad-winged Hawks; White-winged Dove; Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers; Tufted Titmouse; Carolina Wren; Indigo Bunting; Summer Tanager; Eastern Towhee; Field Sparrow.

FallLoons; grebes; shearwaters; cormorants; Northern Gannet; Great and Cattle Egrets; chance of Snow Goose; chance of Eurasian Wigeon; diving and sea ducks; chance of Harlequin Duck, King Eider, or Ruddy Duck; migrant raptors; chance of Broad-winged or Red-shouldered Hawk; rails; chance of Yellow Rail; American Coot; migrant shorebirds; Piping Plover; American Golden-Plover; Red and Red-necked Phalaropes; chance of Great or South Polar Skua; Parasitic Jaeger; chance of Pomarine or Long-tailed Jaeger; Little, Bonaparte’s, and Black-headed Gulls; chance of Lesser Black-backed or Sabine’s Gull; terns; Black and Caspian Terns; chance of Forster’s Tern; alcids; wrens; thrushes; wood-warblers; American Pipit; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; chance of Blue Grosbeak or Indigo Bunting; sparrows; blackbirds and finches; Lapland Longspur. Vagrants include Golden Eagle; Red- bellied Woodpecker; Brown Thrasher.

WinterRed-throated Loon; Harlequin Duck; Bonaparte’s Gull; Black Guillemot; Northern Shrike. Vagrants include Varied Thrush.


St. StEphEn And OAk BAyThe constant mixing of salt and fresh-water by Cookson Island makes that section of Oak Bay, a little further east off the Trans-Canada Highway, very popular with Great Blue Heron, water-fowl, and shorebirds at both high and low tides. Although marsh birds are not a major feature, several egrets and rarer herons stray north of Maine to the St. Croix River estuary east of St. Stephen, which has had as many as twenty Cattle Egret in late April. A small marsh just north of Glebe Road is worth checking in spring and again in late summer. The St. Stephen area has also provided nesting sites for a few pairs of House Wren and Grasshopper Sparrow. After the discovery of fifteen Pine Warbler pairs at a cemetery in St. Stephen, there are now known to be as many as four hundred pairs nest-ing in the Brockway white pine stand on the way to McAdam, so a few prospect-ing birds can be expected anywhere in Charlotte County in spring and summer. A growing Cliff Swallow colony is located in the eaves of the house next to the St. Stephen SuperStore. Ganong Nature Park, near St. Stephen, is worth a visit in fall. Reached by taking the road to Oak Haven, the park is located on the site of an old farm and has trails through open fields, orchards, woods, and a beach area. Introduced or escaped Wild Turkeys are common in the St. Stephen area.

Hooded Mergansers move through the Oak Bay area, where 20 have been counted just before the ponds start to freeze over. North of St. Stephen, over the York County border, as many as 275 Common Mergansers have gathered on Oromocto Lake in early October. The

local Christmas Bird Count is shared with Calais, Maine, and regularly pro-duces 45 to 50 species. Waterfowl are especially plentiful, with the early win-ter flock of 2,500 American Black Duck dispersing by early January but building again in March, and the same pattern is exhibited by diving ducks. The more pe-lagic sea ducks reach a December peak of 1,200, but are largely absent until late March – early April brings concentrations of 7,500 or more. A large number of geese, ducks, and gulls feed in the St. Croix es-tuary, including 300 Bufflehead, 150 Surf Scoter and 30-plus Barrow’s Goldeneye in late February – early March. At this time, small parties of northbound Brant and Canada Goose are likely to be seen.

Access Routes: from calais, Maine, on state Highways 1 and 9; north on High-way 3 and east on Highway 1.

Birding Focus: nesting Pine Warbler and extra-limital songbirds; wintering waterfowl.

kEy BIRdSAll yearGreat Blue Heron; Common Goldeneye; Common and Red-breasted Mergansers; Bald Eagle; Red-tailed Hawk; Ruffed and Spruce Grouse; chance of Wild Tur-key; Killdeer; Wilson’s Snipe; Mourning Dove; Great Horned and Barred Owls; chance of Eastern Screech-Owl; Belted Kingfisher; woodpeckers; corvids; chance of Gray Jay; Horned Lark; chickadees; chance of Tufted Titmouse; nuthatches; Brown Creeper; Winter Wren; chance of Carolina Wren; kinglets; Northern Mockingbird; waxwings; Yellow-rumped

27passamaquoddy bay

Warbler; Savannah Sparrow; Northern Cardinal; blackbirds; Pine Grosbeak; Purple and House Finches; chance of crossbills; Pine Siskin; Evening Grosbeak; House Sparrow.

SpringLoons; grebes; chance of Great or Snowy Egret; Brant; dabbling and diving ducks; chance of Redhead or Barrow’s Golden-eye; migrant raptors; Rough-legged Hawk; chance of Peregrine Falcon or Gyrfalcon; Bonaparte’s and Black-headed Gulls; chance of Arctic or Caspian Tern; chance of Long-eared Owl; chance of Loggerhead or Northern Shrike; vireos; hirundines; thrushes; wood-warblers; Pine Warbler; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; chance of Indigo Bunting; sparrows. Vagrants include Black-billed Magpie; Yellow-breasted Chat; Eastern Meadowlark.

SummerCommon Loon; Pied-billed Grebe; Double-crested Cormorant; chance of Great, Snowy, or Cattle Egret; chance of rarer herons or Glossy Ibis; Turkey Vul-ture; chance of Wood Duck; dabbling ducks; Ring-necked Duck; Common Eider; Hooded Merganser; chance of Northern Goshawk; American Kes-trel; rails; chance of American Coot or Common Moorhen; migrant shorebirds; American Woodcock; chance of Wilson’s Phalarope; Common Tern; Black-billed Cuckoo; Short-eared and Northern Saw-whet Owls; Common Nighthawk; C h i m n e y Sw i f t ; Ru b y- t h r o a t e d Hummingbird; chance of Red-headed Woodpecker; flycatchers; vireos; hirun-dines; Cliff Swallow; Marsh Wren; chance of House Wren or Blue-gray Gnatcatcher;

thrushes; Brown Thrasher; wood-warblers; Pine Warbler; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; chance of Indigo Bunting; Scarlet Tanager; Eastern Towhee; Nel-son’s and Swamp Sparrows; chance of Grasshopper or Field Sparrow; Bobolink. Vagrants include Northern Bobwhite; Wood Thrush; Eastern Meadowlark.

FallLoons; grebes; Great Egret; chance of Snowy or Cattle Egret; Turkey Vulture; Brant; dabbling ducks; chance of Eurasian Wigeon; diving ducks; scoters; Hooded Merganser; Osprey; migrant raptors; rails; chance of Yellow Rail, American Coot, or Common Moorhen; shorebirds; chance of Baird’s or Buff-breasted Sandpiper; gulls; chance of Little, Black-headed, Franklin’s, Laughing, or Sabine’s Gull; terns; chance of Forster’s or Caspian Tern; Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos; Common Nighthawk; chance of Western Kingbird; vireos; hirundines; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; thrushes; Eastern Bluebird; chance of Bicknell’s or Gray-cheeked Thrush; Brown Thrasher; American Pipit; Cedar Waxwing; wood-warblers; sparrows; Lap-land Longspur; Indigo Bunting. Vagrants include Wood Stork; Glossy Ibis; Red-shouldered Hawk; Gyrfalcon; Clapper and King Rails; American Avocet; Marbled Godwit; Western and Curlew Sandpipers; Parasitic Jaeger; Roseate Tern; White-winged Dove; Boreal Owl; Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers; White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos; Sedge Wren; Northern Wheatear; Blue-winged, Yellow-throated, Prairie, and Hooded Warblers; Louisiana Waterthrush; Clay-colored, Har-ris’s, and Seaside Sparrows; Blue Grosbeak; Dickcissel; Yellow-headed Blackbird.


WinterCommon Loon; Horned Grebe; Great Cormorant; chance of Double-crested Cormorant; Canada Goose; most ducks; chance of Harlequin Duck, King Eider, or Barrow’s Goldeneye; Rough-legged Hawk; chance of Peregrine Falcon or Gyrfalcon; Purple Sandpiper; Bonaparte’s Gull; chance of Black-headed, Glaucous, Iceland, or Lesser Black-backed Gull; chance of Black-backed or Pileated Wood-pecker; chickadees; chance of Hermit Thrush; Bohemian Waxwing; American Tree Sparrow; Snow Bunting; Common Redpoll. Vagrants include Turkey Vulture; Cooper’s Hawk; Yellow-breasted Chat; Dickcissel; White-crowned Sparrow.

St. AndREWSThe setting of St. Andrews at the head of Passamaquoddy Bay makes it ideal for birdwatching, although much of the original forest has been cleared, thus re-stricting the opportunity for many of the more interesting southern hardwood spe-cies to nest. The town itself is best visited in the spring and fall migration periods,

when large numbers of birds gather to feed along the shorelines. The indented coastline, with its mud flats and small coves, provides a feeding and staging area for geese, ducks, shorebirds, and gulls. It also attracts a number of Osprey and, particularly in winter, Bald Eagle. Fewer records in recent years may indicate that shoreline development has taken over much of the better habitat, but a more likely explanation is that local and visiting birders now travel more often to Grand Manan and Saint John. More stops by visiting birders en route to Maine or Saint John would likely add a number of species to the local birdlists produced by staff at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre and Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre. Species such as Eastern Screech-Owl and House Wren are seen in the woods north of St. Andrews more regularly than anywhere else in the province, and Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager, and Orchard Oriole are more likely spring migrants.

Shorebirds are not a spring feature, but some birds do pass through the area rather than use the Saint John River and inner Fundy Shore flyways. Spring is generally less productive here than on other parts of the Fundy Shore, perhaps because many songbirds tend to use offshore islands as stepping stones north, but there are oc-casional rushes of songbird migrants, including a tally of three hundred Yellow-rumped Warbler in early May. The area around Brandy Cove is often filled with migrants in late May – early June, includ-ing as many as five f lycatcher species and more than a dozen different wood-warblers. St. Andrews is less active from a birding point of view in the summer months, but the woods around St. An-Horned grebe

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drews, especially those by the Algonquin Hotel, are excellent places to look for songbirds, particularly f lycatchers and warblers.

Southbound shorebirds are no longer plentiful in the St. Andrews area, which once had counts of 300 Semipalmated Plover and 1,600 Semipalmated Sandpiper close to town. Fewer birders now visit the area in fall, so many rarer marsh birds and shorebirds may well pass through unnoticed. You have to be on your toes to catch the August passage of Com-mon Nighthawk as they stream through in parties totaling 500 or more at a time during the last two weeks of the month. The St. Andrews Christmas Bird Count always has good numbers of wintering waterfowl and gulls, including a count of 416 Bufflehead as well as a few raptors and shorebirds, but songbirds tend to be in short supply. A wrench was thrown into the works in late January 2005, when what was originally reported as a normal drake King Eider was discovered to be a very rare KingxCommon Eider hybrid. An Ivory Gull was a unique occurrence in early February 2000.

Access Routes: from Highway 1 at gilmans corner and Bocabec on Highway 127.

Birding Focus: spring songbirds; early fall common nighthawk; wintering waterfowl.

kEy BIRdSAll yearCommon Loon; Horned and Red-necked Grebes; Double-crested Cormorant; Great Blue Heron; Common Eider; Common Goldeneye; Red-breasted Merganser;

Bald Eagle; Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks; Ruffed Grouse; Black Guillemot; chance of Tufted Titmouse; Red-breasted Nuthatch; chance of Carolina Wren; Northern Cardinal; chance of Pine Gros-beak; House Finch; House Sparrow.

Spring-Summer Chance of Pied-billed Grebe; Turkey Vul-ture; Brant; dabbling ducks; Ring-necked Duck; scoters; Buff lehead; Hooded Merganser; raptors; migrant shorebirds; Killdeer; American Woodcock; Bona-parte’s Gull; chance of Glaucous or Iceland Gull (spring); Common Tern; Short-eared Owl; chance of Eastern Screech-Owl; C h i m n e y Sw i f t ; Ru b y- t h r o a t e d Hummingbird; Belted Kingfisher; chance of Red-headed Woodpecker; f lycatch-ers; vireos; hirundines; Eastern Bluebird; thrushes; chance of Bicknell’s Thrush or House Wren; Gray Catbird; Northern Mockingbird; chance of Brown Thrasher; wood-warblers; chance of Pine Warbler; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; chance of Indigo Bunting or Blue Grosbeak; Scarlet Tan-ager; chance of Eastern Towhee; sparrows; chance of Field Sparrow. Vagrants include Glossy Ibis; American Avocet; Red-bellied Woodpecker; Great Crested Flycatcher; Loggerhead Shrike; Black-billed Magpie; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Wood Thrush; Cerulean and Prothonotary Warblers; Summer Tanager; Clay-colored Sparrow; Brewer’s Blackbird; Orchard Oriole.

FallChance of Great or Cattle Egret; Turkey Vulture; Brant; dabbling ducks; chance of Eurasian Wigeon; Ring-necked Duck; Greater Scaup; chance of King Eider; scoters; chance of Barrow’s Goldeneye;

Documents

Birding in new Brunswick...Also by Roger Burrows Birds of the Great Plains, 2005 Birds of Pennsylvania, 2005 Birds of New England, 2004 Birds of Oregon, 2002 Birds of Atlantic Canada,