Canada & United States – a month of mountains, critters, friends and snow

 

Northern Pygmy-Owl

Following a week-long visit to the island of Taveuni in Fiji and an 11-day cruise through the Lesser Antilles, we had almost a month in the United States and Canada. First off was a 3-night stay in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We did day trips to Jonathon Dickson State Park; the historic centre of Fort Lauderdale; and the Everglades, with the latter focused on the Wildlife Management Areas of Holey Land and Rotenberger. Highlights included lifers Swamp Sparrow and Florida Scrub-Jay, American Alligator and finally seeing that huge expanse of wetland (mind-boggling from the air) known as The Everglades.

Rotenberger, Everglades

American Alligator

Swamp Sparrow

We flew to Portland, Oregon, where we were picked up at the airport by our friends Charlie and Frank and driven an hour east for a 3-night stay in their forest home near Hood River. The view from the house of nearby Mt Hood was something to behold. We had a great day exploring the lower slopes of Mt Hood, and although it was early Spring (late-March), there was plenty of snow about. 

Mt Hope

Highlights were the wonderful scenery, lifers American Goshawk and Townsend’s Chipmunk, engaging Canada Jays on Mt Hood, Anna’s Hummingbird at the house feeder, and having quality time with our distant mates.

Anna's Hummingbird

Canada Jay

Townsend's Chipmunk

Next we flew to Vancouver in Canada, picking up a hire car and overnighting in the city before heading north to Whistler for a 3-night cabin stay at Parkbridge Riverside. Nice to see Harlequin Duck at Squamish on the way.

Harlequin Duck

More great scenery about Whistler. We took the gondola ski run to the tops of Mt Whistler and Mt Blackcomb, where hoped-for ptarmigans and rosy-finches failed to materialise, but the sweeping snowscape compensated.

Mt Whistler

Steller’s Jay, Northern Flicker and Yellow-Pine Chipmunk were among critters about the cabin, while lifer Red Fox-Sparrow was in the woods nearby. Close  Lifer Pine Grosbeak was seen near Pemberton after leaving Whistler. We were somewhat taken aback by how cold it was and how much snow was about.

Red Fox-Sparrow

Yellow-Pine Chipmunk

Northern Flicker

Steller's Jay

Next stop was Lillooet for another 3-night stop, another cabin with this one overlooking the Fraser River in Fraser Cove Campground. Drier and somewhat warmer here, but the stunning mountain scenery didn’t go away.

Lillooet

 Highlights were distant Mountain Goats scoped from the cabin balcony on a high ridge across the valley, and lifer Sooty Grouse. Nice birds about the cabin included Spotted Towhee and Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Spotted Towhee

Mule Deer were numerous. Heading further north we found quite a few Bighorn Sheep in roadside paddocks, but no rams with big horns.

Bighorn Sheep

Mule Deer

We moved on to Bear Valley for another 3-night cabin stay, at Bear Valley Highlands. This cabin was a trip highlight; one of just two on the property and the other was vacant. Beautifully situated and fitted out, we enjoyed more glorious scenery with plenty of forest and a small lake to explore.

Bear Valley

A pair of Barrow’s Goldeneye were on the lake and elsewhere birds included lifers Red-naped Sapsucker, Black-backed Woodpecker and Boreal Chickadee. Hairy Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker showed nicely.Another trip highlight was tracking down a delightful Northern Pygmy-Owl during the day (first image).

Barrow's Goldeneye

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Red-naped Sapsucker

The night before our arrival, a cougar killed a Mule Deer on the road a short distance from the cabin. All that remained were the deer’s rumen and intestines in two neat piles, and a broad blood trail where the carcass was dragged into surrounding forest.

Cougar kill blood trail

Next was a 3-night stay in the town of Kelowna at Siesta Suites after visiting en route Swan Lake Grassland Trail at Vernon, where nesting Tree Sparrows were cute, and Swallwell Lake on Beaver Lake Road. 

Tree Swallow

 I dipped on Western Screech-Owl in Kelowna. A visit to Philpott Forest Road turned up Douglas’s Squirrel and Pileated Woodpecker.

Pileated Woodpecker

Douglas's Squirrel

Kelowna is a delightful town located in a valley surrounded by high peaks. Musk Rat was seen in suburban Thomson Marsh Park.

Musk Rat

Kelowna

Last stop on what was a circuit drive around southern British Columbia was a 3-night stay in another cabin at Manning Park Lodge. It was very cold here (with the temperature on one day not exceeding 1 degree C), with snow blocking most side roads and walking trails, and we had some heavy snow falls, which was something of a novelty. I slipped on ice on a trail and fell, damaging my ribs but luckily not my camera..

Lightning Lake, Manning Park

Snow squall at Manning Park

Yellow-bellied Marmot and Columbian Ground-Squirrel were entertaining.

Columbian Ground-Squirrel

Yellow-bellied Marmot

An active beaver lodge was occupied at Beaver Lake. The beautiful Varied Thrush was plentiful.

Varied Thrush

Beaver lodge

After leaving Manning Park we called in at Great Blue Heron Reserve, where we found fresh Black Bear droppings – our first bear encounter of any kind during our visit as it had been too cold and most bears were still hibernating. White-crowned Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow were among birds at a feeder here.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Finally we had 4 nights in Vancouver, enjoying the sights of this lovely city.

Vancouver

We visited Pitt Meadows, a delightful spot where a perched Bald Eagle was a suitable finale for the trip.

Bald Eagle

Lesser Antilles Cruise Part 3: Dominica to Grand Turk

 

Red-necked Parrot

After a successful clean-up of targets on St Lucia, our cruise vessel headed north to Roseau, the capital of the island state of Dominica (often confused with the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles). St Lucia and Dominica were the most important of the six ports on our cruise schedule for birders. I again planned to hire a guide, hopefully with less hassle than the St Lucia shenanigans. I’d hoped to corner “Dr Birdy”, Bertrand Baptiste, who is something of an avian legend locally. Bertrand was not available so I instead hired his able assistant, Ricardo, a sharp observer and good company in the field.

Ricardo at first parrot lookout

There is just one primary site for the Dominica targets: the Syndicate Nature Trail and access road to Morne Diablotin National Park in the island’s north. On a day trip to Dominica during a cruise, there is insufficient time to locate a key target, Forest Thrush, which occurs primarily in southern Dominica and elsewhere is found only on Guadeloupe, which we were not visiting. The Syndicate Trail is especially important for Dominica’s two endemic parrots – Red-necked Parrot and Imperial Parrot, the latter being the largest neotropical parrot.

Valley view from parrot lookouts

We saw several Red-necked Parrots flying between forest patches along the access road on the way up the mountain, and quite a few more from three lookouts along the trail that overlooks a heavily forested valley. 

Red-necked Parrot

The critically endangered Imperial Parrot is much more scarce - with as few as 50 wild birds surviving - and is often missed on birding trips. As soon as we arrived at the first lookout, however, an Imperial Parrot called loudly from vegetation immediately below us. It did not show and another hour passed before we heard a second bird from another lookout distantly. The parrot appeared briefly as it flew through the canopy opposite the lookout. At this point, Dr Birdy turned up with another tour group he was leading. We heard more Imperial Parrots faintly and he scoped one in a distant tree: an impressive feat of spotting. The bird was joined by its mate and the pair offered reasonable if distant flight views (the image below was the best I could manage but shows its distinctive shape) before flying much closer, showing nicely as they disappeared into the vegetation.

(Very distant) Imperial Parrot 

Along the road to the mountains we encountered the first Lesser Antillean Swifts of the trip feeding over a field. A few more swifts were seen in the forested valley from the lookouts. This is another target that can be missed on a cruise trip; I did not see it on other islands.

Lesser Antillean Swift

Roseau, capital of Dominica

Also en route to Morne Diablotin we encountered a few Caribbean Martins outside a village. These were the only ones logged for the trip other than a pair seen during our first port call at Antigua.

Caribbean Martin

Along the forest trail we we heard several skulking endemic Plumbeous Warblers and eventually saw a couple in the thick undergrowth. A Rufous-throated Solitaire of the endemic race dominicanus was seen.

Plumbeous Warbler

Also in the forest was a calling House Wren of the endemic race rufescens showing nicely. This and other House Wren subspecies in the Lesser Antilles sound and look quite different to their better known cousins and are surely good candidates for splits.

(Dominican) House Wren

At the well-kept national park headquarters at the trail entrance we had Mangrove Cuckoo calling before finding our final target – a Brown Trembler, vigorously shuffling its wings in the subcanopy.

Brown Trembler

The usually skulky Scaly-breasted Thrasher showed nicely.

Scaly-breasted Thrasher 

Two male Blue-headed Honeyeaters buzzed around in forest near the trail lookouts – the only ones seen other than a single female on Martinique. Along the access road we had nice views of Purple-throated Carib, Green-throated Carib and Antillean Crested Hummingbird. All three were widespread during the trip; the latter two I had seen previously in Puerto Rico.

Antillean Crested Hummingbird

Green-throated Carib

After the vessel left Dominica, I saw from the ship deck a flock of 4 Audubon’s Shearwaters feeding about 20 nautical miles north-west of the island. A few more Audubon Shearwaters were seen before we reached our next port stop - Charlotte Amelia, the capital of the island of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. 

Charlotte Amelia - capital of St Thomas

St Thomas north coast

We visited the newly opened botanic gardens, seeing Scaly-naped Pigeon close, a fantastic display of orchids and a Grass Anole (Anolis pulchellus). This port call was mostly a sight-seeing trip through the historic town.

Grass Anole

Botanic garden orchids

After leaving St Thomas, I was very happy to see a Black-capped Petrel at sea from the ship at 21.34836N, 70.47093W. The bird was distant but its distinctive features, shape and flight were clearly observed. The species is known to nest only on the islands of Hispaniola (in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Dominica. The sighting was not overly distant from Hispaniola. Also seen was a pod of what I identified as Melon-headed Whales. Other opinions are welcome.

Melon-headed Whales

Our final port call was Grand Turk in the UK territory of Turks and Caicos islands. I looked unsuccessfully here for Bahama Woodstar, a Bahamas endemic which occurs sporadically on Grand Turk. Instead I made do with old friends like Tricoloured Heron and White-eyed Vireo.

Tricoloured Heron

White-eyed Vireo

All up, in addition to two seabird lifers, I saw 20 of 30 Lesser Antilles species that I had not seen previously. Seeing them all would have required also visiting Barbuda, Montserrat, Grenada, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados and Guadeloupe. Other than the woodstar I missed two potential targets: Forest Thrush (for reasons explained above) and Bridled Quail-Dove (seen most easily on Antigua and St Thomas among the islands we visited, but I spent little time birding on those two). To sum up, birding during day stops on cruises can be a rewarding and relaxing way of cornering difficult targets.

Ebird list for Dominica

Trip Report on Surfbirds

Grand Turk