Venture to 

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 

July 7 - 19, 2007

Visiting Newfoundland is like taking a long heady breath of fresh air. Spruces and firs carpet the hillside; bogs are ablaze with orchids, pitcher plants and cotton grass and rock headlands are alive with the sound of seabirds. It's probably one of the most natural destinations you could visit. From the charming and picturesque town of St John's we drove south along the Irish Loop as we explored the Avalon Peninsula. Along the way we enjoyed lighthouses, humpback whales feeding on shoals of Capelin and several meals of cod and chips. Several Short-eared Owls flew like giant moths and a very lost (but thankfully re-found) Pacific Golden Plover brightened our day in Trepassey after we enjoyed the spectacle of tens of thousands of nesting Atlantic Puffins in the Witless Bay Marine Sanctuary.

The rain fell on us on an almost daily basis, but rarely stopped us birding…….and this continued as we blazed our trail north into Labrador. Alas our foray into the burn in Terra Nova National Park did not produce the previously enjoyed Black-backed and Three-toed Woodpeckers, although we did get our only Olive-sided Flycatcher of the trip along the nearby river. After getting a few warblers under our belt we sped towards Gros Morne National Park- a spectacular stretch of mountainous coastline. Of course we did not attempt to hike the mountain, but stayed a little closer to the ground and birded the coastal thickets with views of Mourning Warbler and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Parson's Pond certainly helped fill in some of our shorebird gaps with Semipalmated Plover, Kildeer, Whimbrel and Least Sandpiper and a lone Caspian tern flew past the van as we drove ever northwards to St Anthony. The Triple Rose B and B was a very comfortable and friendly place to stay with an ever diminishing larder of Cloudberry and Bake-Apple Berry preserves- and yes, it was cod and chips again! Icebergs never fail to amaze and, although a little short on birdlife, our boat tour certainly produced with a pod of orca hunting a small Minke Whale and super close up views of an iceberg the size of a small cruise ship- complete with lush strings of the theme from Titanic. Aah, such black humour!! We never did see the Polar Bear that had been reported at Burnt Cape, and we never got to see any of the endemic and range-restricted wildflowers either. The crossing over to Labrador produced lots of Northern Fulmar, Sooty and Greater Shearwaters and surprisingly, both Leach's and Wilson's Storm-Petrels and as we climbed the cliffs of Labrador several Rough-legged Hawks hung in the air like dark kites beckoning the weary travelers ever north. The blackflies found us along the Pinware River, but we had great views of a Black Bear as it ambled slowly along the beach, pausing to scratch and sniff from time to time. We stepped back in time with the Basque fishermen at Red Bay, used a GPS for the first time and raced around the Labrador headlands with Pete, George and Tom and we must not forget dinner of seatrout, moose and beaver sausage! The abandoned fishing villages were picturesque especially Pigeon Cove with its wall of drying fish. Wilson's, Tennessee, Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll Warblers were in every thicket and we eventually found 2 fly-over Bohemian Waxwings with all of the Cedars. The ferry trip back to Lewisporte had icebergs in view for most of the daylight hours as well as breaching Minke Whales, thousands of seabirds and herds of seals- what a trip that was!