2-4. 16 to 20 August 2019. Transecting Quebec.

   Black Spruce boglands

After a night at the Thrift Lodge in Cochrane, Ontario, I did some grocery shopping and then headed east and northeast across central Quebec, taking the northerly “back way” to Tadoussac and the St. Lawrence River. This would allow me to get to the East Coast without having to pass through Montreal and Quebec City and all that urban sprawl and traffic. This back way is about 700 miles (Cochrane to Tadoussac).

   Poplars and aspens

All of central Quebec is very rural, and much is unroaded and minimally developed. I was following the one primary (two-lane) road through the northern side of developed Quebec. This road trends northeastward to the town of Chibougamau and then turns southeastward, transecting the Reserve faunique Ashuapmushuan, then passing Lac Saint-Jean, negotiating the city of Saguenay, and then entering the spectacular Fjordlands of the Saguenay River down to the charming port town of Tadoussac, on the northern shores of the vast St. Lawrence River, which is tidal and salty at this point.

   This is what camp looks like in Tadoussac

Western Quebec, which I passed through the first several hours, is agricultural has a bit of a New Englandy feel. Lots of open country—pastures and croplands. Rolling country.

   Yes, white-winged Crossbills are around now

The remainder of the driving transect was through boreal conifer forest, dominated by White and Black Spruce. The road I followed travel from one very small town to another. Why is this road here? Presumably to facilitate timber extraction (Black and White Spruce) and mining (gold, copper).

   White Spruce flats--the dominant forest type up north

I stopped for the night on Lac Opemisca near the tiny town of Chapais. Here there was a bustling private campground named “Camping Opemisca,” which welcomed me and gave me a tent site right above the lake waters.

   How to pronounce? I am told not like its spelled!  (thanks Warren!)

Early the next morning I was off to my next stop, Lac Chigoubiche, in the vast Reserve faunique Ashuapmushuan. I was curious about this giant reserve, of 4,450 sq. km. It appears as a big green polygon on the Quebec map.

Wikipedia tells us that Ashuapmushuan is a term in Montagnais Innu language, meaning "where we see the moose.”

Sadly, I saw no moose. I did see lots of boreal conifer forest and also lots of evidence of massive clearfelling, even right alongside the highway in the Reserve.

I camped in the nice little campground on Lac Chigoubiche, right in the center of the Reserve. I set my tent in a mix of mature Jack Pine and White Spruce. I kayaked the lake and did a lot of birding. 

What I found is that in mid-August in central Quebec most of the migrant breeding songbirds had left the area, and that the forest was very quiet indeed.

   Whaaaa?

I did encounter Pileated Woodpecker, Common Loon, Raven, Bald Eagle, and American Crow, but little else. When I did playback, a few rather ratty-looking warblers appeared along with some juvenile sparrows, but no adults. Apparently, the adults had already departed for the riches of central New England, where they fatten up before migrating to the tropics.

This was the first time I had experienced the boreal forest after the songbirds had left for the season. Usually when I think of the North Woods, I think of the bright songs of warblers and vireos. Not this time.

   Bwheat fields in the Saguenay valley west of Lac St.-Jean

After two nights at Lac Chigoubiche I drove south and east, down by Lac Saint-Jean and then through the fjordlands of the Saguenay, to the lovely little waterside tourist town of Tadoussac.

I stayed two nights in “Camping Tadoussac” that sits of a bluff overlooking the broad expanse of the St. Lawrence. Another superb private campground.

   Tadoussac village--a gem. This is the vista from my camp ground... (other times fog-enshrouded)

The next morning I went down into the harbor to check out details of my planned whale watch trip. Walking toward the pier I glimpsed an adult Mink moving about at the edge of the spruce woods of a small in-town nature reserve and while I struggled to get my long lens out of my backpack I look over and saw Louise Zemaitis and Michael O’Brien birding just down the street.

   NJ Birding! Louise Zemaitis, Michael O'Brien, Kathy Horn, Roger Horn (in Tadoussac!)

What a shock to find Louise and Michael, with their friends Kathy and Roger Horn, visiting from Cape May, New Jersey. Small world! After agreeing to catch up later in the day I got on my whale watch vessel and headed out into the windy, cool, and choppy waters of the St. Lawrence.

   Our glimpse of Beluga

The whales were great and in numbers but the vessel was overcrowded, making it very difficult to have clear sightlines to the whales.

   Northern Gannet

And the on-board naturalist spoke very rapidly, mainly in French, and I rarely heard her properly point out the where’s and what’s we were seeing. I had to do most of the ID myself. The boat  raced by a pod of Belugas without slowing speed.

   Minkes were everywhere... 5-6 at a time...

So this is my excuse for the rather poor images I am presenting here.

   Humpbacks were few but one put on a show from a distance, with multiple breaches (and some other antics like above)

Back from the boat, I caught up with the NJ birding foursome at the Dunes, where the famous trove of 700,000 warblers were encountered in a single morning on 28 May 2018 by Ian Davies,  Pascal Côté, and other lucky observers. No such event today. Instead, Michael identified 12 warbler species this morning, and in the PM we climbed up to a wonderful hilltop overlook that provided a vista out over the St. Lawrence. We later chased butterflies and dragonflies in some fields filled with goldenrod.

   This is a pair of Fin Whales--the big guys!

Then I had to depart to catch my late afternoon ferry at Les Escoumins to take me across the River to the South side. The ferry point was great birding itself. There were 3,000 Bonaparte’s Gulls and an equal number of Black-legged Kittiwakes here at the harbor. Also Northern Gannets and many cormorants.

   Black-legged Kittiwakes (2 images)

I arrived at Trois Pistoles on the south side at 8:30 PM (dark) and Google maps got me to the Camping Municipal in Trois Pistoles, where I unfolded my sleeping pad and slept in my car, too tired to set up the tent. I needed my sleep, because the next morning early I would be headed to New Brunswick to meet other friends and see flocks of Semipalmated Sandpipers…

   If you want to get wet while looking for whales, this is your thing!