A Ruff in Newfoundland

 A what? A Ruff! Here in Newfoundland? Here it is, and it is not the first time.

On August 26th Catherine Barrett made a short detour on her way home from work. When she arrived at the shoreline of Fourth Pond, there stood a different bird. She knew it was special but wasn't quite sure what it was. A quick call and look by an expert birder made the ID in no time - a juvenile male Ruff.

 The calls started and the posting was made. Very soon after, several birders made the worthwhile trip to Fourth Pond. It is a good thing, too, because those who didn't go that evening didn't get to see this great bird. By the next morning it was gone.

 This is a young Ruff that is way off course. However, it didn't look tired from its journey. In fact, it was bright and alert, not fazed by onlookers. It came out of the water and walked on shore providing great looks.

 The "Winging It" article by Ken Knowles appearing in The Telegram this last weekend gave a great overview of this bird. For those that haven't read it, it may be available through the paper's online site. It is worth checking out.

The brief sighting of this Eurasian bird illustrates many important points:
1) Never underestimate the kinds of birds that come to this North Atlantic island;
2) keep on checking all of the familiar locations even though 99.9% of the time, there is nothing there;
3) confirm the ID as soon as possible;
4) go as soon as a rare bird is sighted; and
5) get the word out quickly.

If Catherine had not found this bird, it would have never been seen, shared or documented. It was a great find and was a special sighting for those who managed to see it on its brief stay. I never imagined that I would ever see this bird.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

 While song bird activity has been quite slow lately, the action on the beaches makes up for it.  On a quick birding trip to the Southern Shore, Catherine Barrett and I stopped at several small places along the way. We actually hit Cape Broyle twice with a stop on the way down and an "after-thought" stop on the way back.

We drove past the first exit when we were heading home because we were really doing a "speed" birding trip but for fear of missing something good, we made the second turn and went back to Cape Broyle Beach.

We got out and had a cursory look and didn't see anything different, but then just as we were lowering our binoculars, out walked this great Buff-breasted Sandpiper. It was so distinctly different. Many small shorebirds can be very confusing to identify but this one looked like none other. Right away Catherine knew what it was.





It looked right at us and then went on about its business. It stayed on the beaching walking back and forth in front of us. It did seem to stay in the line of sea weed and didn't take to flight once. When it wanted to move away, it walked very quickly with its head bobbing back and forth.

The feathers on this bird look like velvet. It is one of the prettiest little birds that I have seen and this was another first for me. This rare bird breeds in Alaska and the Western Canadian Arctic and rarely finds its way to Atlantic Canada.  Yet, several have been reported this year.  These birds nest on the ground and are often seen in grassy areas which leads to its nick name, "grasspiper."

Three days later I found myself in the same area with another birder and we "refound" the Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the same area. Then later in the day we scanned the beach in Renews for shorebirds and much to our surprise, there was another Buff-breasted Sandpiper. A quad roared by and flushed all of the birds and the little "Buff" didn't return. On our drive home we stopped into Cape Broyle one last time and the "Buff" was gone from there. Is it possible that it was the same bird that had travelled the distance to Renews? Or, are there two of the lovely birds around?

Without question, once having seen this bird, I will surely know it in the future as it is a real "stand out." 

Exotic Birds

Why do we like birds? Because we love their ability to fly, and to get out of every difficult situation. The birds are some of the most important animals in our ecosystem. It is impossible to live without birds, even if we don’t realize this. The birds were on earth long before us, and some say that even humans have common characteristics with those. Back to our days, birds are impressive when people are able to photograph them, or to observe them in their natural habitat. Bird photos are perfect if you are looking for relaxation, and there are many people looking for photos just for that.