Far Eastern Curlew in Quebec, Canada! ~ September 3, 2026

Tuesday, September 2, 2026

I got a text from Jason Horn around 10:00 AM stating that a Far Eastern Curlew, the largest shorebird in the world, had been found in Quebec on Tuesday, the 1st, and had been refound this morning. Jason knew that I had missed seeing this bird in Alaska by about a week, so he knew I'd be interested in it. He also contacted his friend, Marjorie Keefe, who also had not seen this bird. The bird's location was "Blanc de Carleton" on Chaleur Bay in the town of Carleton. "Blanc de Carleton" translates to the "Carleton Sandbar" in English. I looked on Google Maps at the location and realized that it would be at least a 14-hour drive to get there. There was no way I'd be able to try doing this drive by myself, but it would be doable with the three of us sharing the driving. I checked the weather for that area and found that rain was supposed to move in around noon, so we wanted to get there in the early morning. In order to do that and despite the short time to prepare, we all agreed to meet at my house at 3:30 that afternoon where we started the 850-mile drive.

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Wednesday, September 3, 2026

As it became Wednesday, we headed up through Maine and crossed the border into New Brunswick, Canada at Houlton, Maine. We still had another four hours to go, plus we would lose another hour because of entering the Atlantic Time Zone. Sunrise came a little while before we crossed the bridge into Quebec. We finally arrived at the "Carleton Sandbar" around 7:00 AM. We grabbed our gear and headed towards the point. Luckily, a group of birders had already found the bird out near the southern end of the spit. I started taking photos of my life Far Eastern Curlew!

Far Eastern Curlew

It occasionally flew around to different parts of the area.

Far Eastern Curlew

A Hudsonian Whimbrel was its 'sidekick'. They were often seen together. I got a nice comparison photo of the two, which showed the huge curlew dwarfing the whimbrel in overall size and bill length.

The Far Eastern Curlew (left) with the smaller Hudsonian Whimbrel (right).

Hudsonian Whimbrel

The two eventually flew up the spit towards the parking lot, allowing me to get some flight shots of this rare visitor.

Far Eastern Curlew

We spent about a hour-and-a-half there. It was tough to leave such a fantastic bird, but we got great looks at it and we knew we had a long drive back home. Even as we left, it was feeding in the longer grass next to the entrance road.

Far Eastern Curlew

We left Quebec and New Brunswick and went back through customs at Houlton. We had a nice conversation with the border patrol officer about the bird. He had another car of birders pass through earlier and was interested in what the bird looked like, so Jason showed him one of his photos. We drove back through Maine, New Hampshire, and into Massachusetts where we stopped to eat and took an hour "power nap" before continuing down through Massachusetts and Connecticut.

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Thursday, September 4, 2026

We cleared the rest of Connecticut and checked off New York and New Jersey, getting back to my house at around 2:30 AM. We drove around 28 hours, covering roughly 1,700 miles. The curlew's appearance was the first record for eastern North America! It was a 'life bird' for Marjorie and I and a 'Canada bird' for Jason, who had seen one previously in Alaska.

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Southern California Trip ~ August 6, 2026

A couple decades ago, my goal was to see 700 species of birds in the American Birding Association (ABA) area, which includes the United States and Canada, without ever going to Alaska. That was achieved in 2005. My next goal was to see 800 species in the ABA area. That occurred in 2016. Obviously, the higher my life list gets, the tougher it is to see something new, so '900' is a very tough level to acquire. My list is currently around the mid-880's. I'm hoping that I can reach my '900' goal before I "kick the bucket". That said, I was researching where I could go and have the chance to see new birds. Since my motion sickness often keeps me from doing boat trips, I haven't seen several of the "expected" Atlantic and Pacific Ocean's birds. I saw that the Buena Vista Audubon Society was running back-to-back pelagic trips out of San Diego, California on August 8th and 9th, led by expert birder Paul Lehman and several others. There were also a few San Diego-area landbirds that I had not yet seen. Plus, since I keep a "photo list", there were several other species that I didn't have photos of from that area. Realizing all of this, I decided to plan a 6-day trip with two days of landbirding on either side of the boat trip weekend.

Thursday, August 6, 2026

I headed for the Newark Airport at 3:00 AM for my 6:35 AM non-stop flight to San Diego. Thankfully, it took off on time and actually landed a little early.

I got my rental car by 9:45, grabbed something to eat, and headed south on I-5 to the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park's Bird & Butterfly Garden, located about a mile from the Mexican border. Walking the trails there, I found a group of Lesser Goldfinches and a few Allen's Hummingbirds.

Lesser Goldfinch

Allen's Hummingbird

Soon after, I heard and then saw my first 'life bird' of the trip, an introduced Swinhoe's White-eye.

Swinhoe's White-eye

Other birds seen there included Red-tailed and Cooper's Hawk, Common Raven, Cliff Swallow, California Towhee, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Yellow Warbler, and Black Phoebe, which is about as common as our Eastern Phoebe.

Black Phoebe

I headed back north to National City, which had two areas where Burrowing Parakeets were occasionally being seen, although there hadn't been any recent sightings there in the past couple weeks. The most reliable spot was an intersection at E. 2nd Street & 'D' Avenue where a lady had feeders on her front porch. Unfortunately, when I got there, there was a construction crew working at that exact spot. I spent about a half-hour there with no luck, so I continued on to Harry Griffen Regional Park.

Harry Griffen Park has some ball fields, a dog park, a large open field area, and a natural area along its western edge. The park was presently the best spot to look for Pin-tailed Whydahs, which have now been established in a few areas of southern California. They are brood parasites similar in action to Brown-headed Cowbirds, often laying their eggs in the nests of Scaly-breasted Munias, another established exotic. I walked the trails through the area and found a group of about 25 Bushtits, grabbing these photos as they fed.

Bushtits

It is believed that the females have pale eyes while the males have dark eyes.

Female Bushtits, showing their pale eyes.

Male Bushtits

Dark-eyed Juncos of the "Oregon" race were also present. It seemed weird seeing Juncos in 80-degree weather since our "Slate-colored" form heads north for the summer to breed.

Dark-eyed Junco of the "Oregon" race.

A young Western Bluebird was seen dropping down to feed from a tree along the eastern edge of the park.

Western Bluebird

Other birds found in the park included an Anna's Hummingbird, 5 Red-masked Parakeets, 3 Black Phoebes, 2 Cassin's Kingbirds, a Bewick's Wren, 11 Lesser Goldfinches, 3 California Towhees, a Hooded Oriole, an Orange-crowned Warbler, and a Western Tanager, but I didn't see any Whydahs.

I drove into nearby El Cajon and checked into my motel, which was the 'Super 8' located just off I-8 along Magnolia Avenue. It wasn't "super", but it was very reasonable compared to many of the San Diego motels and did the job for me since I wouldn't be there from sun-up to sun-down anyway. It was my "nightly apartment" during my stay.

After settling in, I drove over to the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, a series of small lakes with picnic and camping facilities. Found on the lakes were Wood Duck, Mallard, American Coot, Western Gull, Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Great and Snowy Egret, and Common Gallinule.

Common Gallinule

Additional birds seen in the park included Eurasian Collared-Dove, Black Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, and Hooded Oriole.

Cassin's Kingbird

Eurasian Collared-Dove

I went back to the room and chilled out since it had been a very long day.

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Southern California Trip ~ August 7, 2026

This morning's plan was to bird Mission Trails Regional Park, looking for some species that I didn't have any photos of. They included Nuttall's Woodpecker, Bell's Vireo, Wrentit, California Gnatcatcher, California Thrasher, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow. I had seen these bird many years ago, some of them back in the 'film camera' days when photos were limited to 24 or 36 shots per roll of film and you saved your film for the best opportunities. How things have changed since digital cameras have taken over. However, I was slightly delayed when I walked out of the motel and saw 4 parrots on the wires. I was hoping that they might be Lilac-crowned Amazons since that was one I hadn't seen before, but after getting closer, I realized that they were the more common Red-crowned Amazons. I took these photos of them before heading off to Mission Trails.

Red-crowned Amazons

I started by hiking the Deerfield Crossing Trail, a roughly one-mile loop trail. When I got to the area overlooking the BMX bike course, I saw a Rufous-crowned Sparrow in the brush.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

It then popped up on a boulder next to a couple California Towhees that appeared to be catching the early morning sun.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

California Towhees

One of the towhees moved to a post where I got this nice photo of it.

California Towhee

Down at the bottom of the steep hill, I saw a California Thrasher moving in and out of view along a fence.

California Thrasher

Soon after, a flock of about ten Bushtits worked their way across the path.

Bushtit

Nearby, I noticed a fairly small bird with a long tail working its way through the thick brush. Eventually, it moved into an opening and I realized it was a Wrentit.

Wrentit

Up to the north, there were some showers that created a nice rainbow that I was able to capture with my cell phone.

A rainbow to the north.

While I had it out, I took another photo of the landscape to the northeast.

Looking northeast towards South Fortuna Mountain Summit and Kwaay Paay Peak.

A little farther along the trail, I spotted a gnatcatcher, hoping that it was a California Gnatcatcher, but it turned out to be the much paler Blue-gray Gnatcatcher instead.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher with its white outer tail feathers, whereas a California's are mostly dark.

About three-quarters of the way around the trail, I came across a territorial battle between some Anna's Hummingbirds. One was a nice male, one was an immature male, and another was a female.

An adult male Anna's Hummingbird.

An immature male Anna's Hummingbird.

There was constant hovering and dive-bombing going on as is common with hummingbird species.

Another California Thrasher was seen grabbing food along the path.

California Thrasher

Just before getting back to the car, a California Quail zipped across the trail and disappeared into the brush before I could get a photo. Other notables seen along the loop were Lesser Goldfinch, and Northern Rough-winged and Cliff Swallow.

I headed up Mission Gorge Road and turned down towards the Old Mission Dam. I parked before the dam and walked the trail back to Kumeyaay Lake. On the way to the lake, I came across a group of Acorn Woodpeckers working over a snag.

Acorn Woodpeckers

A Cassin's Kingbird was also perched nearby.

Cassin's Kingbird

Birds on the lake included Mallard, Pied-billed Grebe, Snowy Egret, and Great Blue Heron. On the northwestern side of the lake, I found a Bell's Vireo.

Bell's Vireo

A Bewick's Wren was also present in the same area as the vireo.

Bewick's Wren

At the lake's outlet, I saw a Common Gallinule with its young and a Black Phoebe.

Common Gallinule

Black Phoebe

Other species around the lake area included Anna's Hummingbird, Downy Woodpecker, Common Raven, Wrentit, California Thrasher, Lesser Goldfinch, California and Spotted Towhee, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Yellow Warbler.

I then headed down to the Old Mission Dam area where I saw this sign warning about a recent Mountain Lion sighting by the parking lot.

After a little while, I finally found two Nuttall's Woodpeckers, a male and a female.

A male Nuttall's Woodpecker.

A female Nuttall's Woodpecker.

At the dam, I found a Lazuli Bunting and a Song Sparrow, which is darker and much more heavily streaked than the ones we have here in the East.

Lazuli Bunting

The dark-streaked "California" race of Song Sparrow.

Around the parking lot, I saw a Western Tanager and an Orange-crowned Warbler.

Western Tanager

Orange-crowned Warbler

Additional birds around the dam included Anna's Hummingbird, Common Raven, Bushtit, Wrentit, and Lesser Goldfinch.

I stopped at Harry Griffen Regional Park to look for the Pin-tailed Whydahs, but it was the middle of the day, so the odds weren't too good for success. I spent less than an hour there, but I did manage to see some Scaly-breasted Munias along with Western Bluebird, Lesser Goldfinch, and Dark-eyed Junco.

Scaly-breasted Munias

I decided to visit Sunset Cliffs Natural Park since it was a place where the California Gnatcatcher was often seen. It was the middle of the afternoon, but the temperatures weren't too bad because this park is right on the coast.

The view of the Pacific Ocean from Sunset Cliffs Natural Park.

I walked several of the trails through the scrub but was unable to find one. Birds that I did find included Anna's Hummingbird, Western Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Bushtit, Northern Mockingbird, California and Spotted Towhee, and Orange-crowned Warbler, which is a lot more common in the West than it is here.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Once again, I returned to Harry Griffen Park and, this time, a male Pin-tailed Whydah flew into the tree above me, showing off its amazingly-long tail.

A male Pin-tailed Whydah.

It eventually worked its way down to a branch next to a feeding area and then down to the seed on the ground.

A male Pin-tailed Whydah.

Later, it went to a tree where it displayed for the female.

A male Pin-tailed Whydah displaying for the female (bottom right).

The female then dropped down to the seed where I was able to get better photos of her.

A female Pin-tailed Whydah.

About an hour before sunset, I drove to the El Cajon Courthouse and parked on the top level of the parking deck, hoping to see parrots coming in to roost. As sunset approached, I saw several groups fly by, but none of them flew into the trees next to the courthouse. Instead, they all flew by heading northeast. Fortunately, at least one of those groups was close enough to tell that they were Lilac-crowned Amazons.

A group of Lilac-crowned Amazons.

I drove the few blocks back to the motel and celebrated my two new 'lifers' of the day with some ice cream.

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