January 11 & 12, 2011 Birding Newfoundland

After a number of delays I finally arrived at St. john's about 6 hours late! In Ottawa we sat on the tarmack for 1 hour while a flight instrument was changed. Then in Halifax our direct flight was canceled and we were put on a later flight and arrived in St. John's at 7:00p.m.
Anyway regardless of the slow start the following days were wonderful for birding. On January 11th we started birding at Lake Quidi Vikki and saw the BLACK-TAILED GULL, a second record for NF which had been around for a few weeks. This was a LIFER for me and the group! The Black-tailed Gull is a vagrant in North American from Asia. We had fantastic views as it sat and preened along the edge of the lake. See photos below. Later during the day we had a variety of great birds including Eurasian Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Eurasian Teal, Yellow-legged Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, and a Yellow Warbler! The warbler has been around in the city for the past month or so feeding along a creek and appears to be doing well so far.

On January 12th we headed out to the south shore area and at Renews we were fortunate to see the Northern Lapwing which had been found earlier in the month. It was resting along the shorleine with a Black-bellied Plover and a group of Killdeers. This vagrant from Europe was a new Northern American species for all of us. Later on we saw a male Baltimore Oriole coming to a suet feeder and 25+ Killdeer at various locations. Since there is no snow it looks more like April in Ottawa then the mid of January! Our last stop at Point La Hayes yielded 8 Ruddy Turnstone and 24 Purple Sandpiper. Not bad for 2 days birding!

A number of views of a Black-tailed Gull preening at Quidi Vidi Lake, St. John's Newfoundland.

A flock of Eurasian Wigeon with 2 female American Wigeon.

Close-up of a male Eurasian Wigeon in St. John's.

A Yellow Warbler in January in NF is an amazing record.

The Northern Lapwing at Renews, Newfoundland.