Mega Road Trip, June 23

Mega Road Trip to Far-Eastern Canada, June 23
June 23

June 23, 2014. Lockston Path to Whitbourne

What a day! The morning was warn and dry with few bugs --maybe the bats got them all during the night. Even so, there were few birds, so we broke camp quickly. Driving out, however, we saw a red bird fly across the access road. It was a Purple Finch, and while watching it, we also saw Black-and-White Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Fox Sparrow, Boreal Chickadee, Northern Waterthrush, and several other species -- all in one little area.

We then drove to the town of Elliston near the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula and were greeted by courting Common Loons. At the coast, we found a colony of Common Terns who were quite annoyed by the Herring Gull nesting among them. Farther out, we saw 200 Atlantic Puffins, 10 Razorbills (LB#628), 10 Black Guillemots, and 15 Northern Gannets, plus lots of Herring and Black-backed Gulls.

We drove out to the old Bonavista lighthouse, which was historically interesting, but other than Black-legged Kittiwakes and Gannets, was a bit of a bust. Sadly for the puffin, we also saw a Common Raven flying off with an Atlantic Puffin in its beak. So with only one more sunny day in the forecast, we left for Witless Bay, stopping in Whitbourne as the sun went down.

Morning Joe and don't forget: leave unfamiliar snakes alone!	Uploading the blog at the campground community room
Boreal Chickadee	Black-and-White Warbler
American Robin	Swallowtail Butterfly
Welcome to Elliston: Root Cellar capital of the world	Road to Elliston: not so welcoming
Yes, the rough paved roads seem to go on forever up here	Entrance to the Puffin Site
Walking across the greens towards the Puffin Site	Jim looking at puffins
Liz using scope at high power to look at Razorbills	Razorbills are way out there!
Mind the sign	The sign
Common Tern nesting colony	Common Tern in flight barely showing dark primary wedge
A gaggle of Atlantic Puffins	Atlantic Puffin coming in for a landing
Atlantic Puffin at burrow	Dozens of Atlantic Puffins in the water
Mom and Dad Herring Gull at nest	What would a day be up here without icebergs?
Elliston Root Cellar	Vegetable bin inside Elliston Root Cellar
Inside Elliston Root Cellar looking out through hallway	Inside Elliston Root Cellar: double-hung door with tiny window
Approaching Cape Bonavista Light House	Cape Bonavista Light House sign
Cape Bonavista Light House and Wardens Cabin	Near-original lighthouse mechanism (much like a grandfather's clock)
Six oil-lamp lighthouse lights	Historic objects in the lighthouse residence area
Sunset from Moorland Motel (the views can't all be grand)	Moorland Motel
Moorland Motel	more to come ...

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
; Last updated 140625

Mega Road Trip

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