Mont-Tremblant, September 21, 2019

So fresh, so north...Tremblant

White-winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera

White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum

lesser Fritillary sp.

lesser Fritillary sp.

Dekay’s Brown Snake Storeria dekayi (almost)

  Lovely sunny weather for an early morning trip deep into Parc National du Mont-Tremblant with George and a dozen BPQers. We dipped on most of our boreal target species, although George and I heard (and recorded) the cranky rasps of a frustratingly unseen Boreal Chickadee.
  We ran into White-winged Crossbills several times, which was awesome, as I’d only ever had fleeting looks in the past. The birdiest moment came, as it often does, around the parking lot before the trip officially got rolling, with eight species of warblers, among other bird action. A good variety of sparrows species were also seen on the day, and right before final tally we ran into a wee Dekay’s Brown Snake and a confusing lesser Fritillary…was it a worn Silver-bordered Fritillary?

  And now for a real ‘believe it or not’ incident. On the ride back, as we passed a large mixed-vegetation field near Mirabel, George called out “What’s that?” and pointed out a bird slowly flying over the field. “Owl!” I yelped, without thinking.
  The bird was slightly more compact and ‘nubby’ than a Ring-billed Gull, and showed dirty white underparts, with darker markings glimpsed near the round-looking wingtips. The stumpy head and odd ‘awkward-yet graceful/balancing on the head of a pin’ flight pattern made ‘Harrier’ flash to mind for a split second, before I got a better look at the aforementioned characteristics. The encounter was over in all of ten seconds, but the overwhelming jizz I was left with was that of a Short-eared Owl hunting (I spent a whole afternoon watching a pair hunting low over a field during the day several years ago in Korea).
  The next field we passed had some Ring-billed Gulls over it, and the contrast couldn’t have been any starker (shape, size, colour, flight attitude). The first bird was not a gull. So was it a Short-eared Owl? Only if you believe such an unlikely bird could be responsibly identified after a ten-second look while zipping down the highway. Believe it…or not.