Sightings of a world traveler: Parc National du Bic

This day was set aside to go on a trip to Parc National du Bic. This was a park I wanted to go to since I got here and had been dying to get some free time to do so. It ended up being very convenient that the school was planning a trip for us for only $12.

We headed to the park at 10am and first walked the Pic de Champlain trail up to the lookout. This was when I realized how much I hate large groups. Within the first 5 minutes of the crowds of other students marching up the hill at the encouragement of our teachers (who aren't much older than us), talking and yelling...etc. I realized that I was very unlikely to see any types of birds today. The hike was nice and the view was great from the lookout.

First trail of the day

Before picture!

After lunch at the lookout we hiked down the trail and I head many birds but they all seamed to avoid the trail that 3 bus loads of students had walked on that day. I was often ushered ahead by the organizers and got quite upset at being treated like a child. Then the only bird I had in my lens for a shot was scared off by another student who has a very unnaturally loud voice. This probably was a new bird for my year and I have no hope of identifying it now since all I notices was a grey body and white wing bars> Not nearly enough!

At the lookout

Friends from back home

View without people in the way

As my back was hurting enough to give me a headache and I felt like I might yell at someone I wandered off by myself at the next stop by the beach. I walked down a trail to my left because it was literally the first one I saw. These trails were also busy of both locals and students but I was looking for seals (phoques) so I wasn't too worried about them being scared off by loud people. As I walk the trails I see a few sparrows and hear many warblers but my spirits are so low from the morning that I hardly bother to look at them. As I scan the rocks along the trail I realize that a new mammal has replaced seals basking on the beaches and rocks. Humans are all over the place here and I can barely get away from them. Needless to say there were no seals on the rocks that I saw. But as I neared the end of the 1.5km trail I saw common eiders in a large bay. This is actually a life bird for me despite not being a rare one (I'm new at this). The new bird and the gorgeous view as all the students retreated back to the buses before I did kinda perked up my mood but the extra strength advil when I got home was even better relief.

So although the lists from Parc National du Bic on eBird go up to the 5000 mine consisted of about 13. A lot were very common species but I did see a new lifer.