2-5. 21-22 August 2019. Thru New Brunswick

    SE Gaspe farmland

I departed early from the campground at Trois Pistoles, head south and east toward Campbellton and the New Brunswick Border. I was passing through the base of the Gaspé Peninsula. Here the picturesque town of Rimouski stood on the southern shore of the St Lawrence. Crossing the peninsula, I passed through rolling agricultural lands, mainly rural. The radio stations remained 100% francophone. As I headed south the landscape reminded me of the margins of the Adirondacks—with rural hayfields in the bottoms and forested low mountains in the background. Very pretty!

    ripening grains in the rural fields

I then entered a forested gorge of the gloriously beautiful Matapedia River, a world-famous fly-fishing stream featuring Atlantic Salmon. This reminded me of the Hudson in the southeastern Adirondacks—a broad brown-water clear stream with rocks and riffles and bounded by mixed forest.

    fishing the Matapedia

This led me to the head of Chaleur Bay (bracketing the southern side of the Gaspé) I crossed the Restigouche River into New Brunswick, and sudden lost an hour—it was Atlantic Time! One or two Anglophone radio stations suddenly appeared among the mix of French stations

    from small town to small town all on back roads

The only Porcupines I see on the trip are the 6 dead ones I encounter along the roadside in New Brunswick. Sad to see! I saw not a single living one…. Porcupines are a bit of a mystery for me…I see them so rarely…(alive).

    its all about the resources! Here some future paper, I suspect...

I passed along the verge of Northumberland Strait as I headed down from Miramichi. I stopped to have a picnic in the bright sun on a bluff overlooking this little-known body of water.

    and don't forget the 2 x 4s.... 

After circumnavigating Moncton, the “big city,” I headed to Upper Dorchester, where I would be spending the night with friends.

    The town of Dorchester celebrates the abundant Semipalmated Sandpiper right down town!

Before Upper Dorchester I came to Memramcook town, the spiritual home of the Acadian People. Originally a Micmac First Nations settlement, the Acadians arrived here in 1700. The Acadians speak the Chiac derivative of the French language (according to Wikipedia).

    And there is the wind! New wind farms being transported by train...

New Brunswick is a mix of French/Acadian, English, and First Nations. And the town names are 

indicative of the mix.

    What about Hydro! Canada is all about the hydro power. Wires transect every province

I arrived at a pink house in the countryside outside of Upper Dorchester. This is the home (and recording studio) of Katrine Noel and Mico Roy, two illustrious New Brunswick rockers with a number of albums to their credit. I was there to visit with Dr. Michelle Noel Venter, Katrine’s sister and a field research collaborator of mine. We worked in New Guinea on the YUS transect measuring above-ground and below-ground carbon stocks stored in the montane forests there. Michelle even included me as a junior co-author in one of her senior-authored papers.

    Julie, Levi, Michelle, Forrest, Katrine, and Mico! My friends in Upper Dorchester

Michelle now lives in British Columbia, and still works on forest carbon. She was in New Brunswick in August, visiting with family.

    The TNC ladies point out the Semipalmated Sandpipers out on the flats of the Sepody  (Johnson's Mills)

Michelle introduced me to her two darling young children, Forrest and Levi. That evening the whole group feasted on a delicious fresh seafood chowder that Michelle prepared that night (lobster, scallops, fin fish, clams, etc.).

   OK you experts, which Merg? Common or Red-breasted?

The next morning we traipsed off to Johnson’s Mills, a nearby Nature Conservancy reserve on Shepody Bay, an upper arm of the tidally-famous Bay of Fundy. Johnson’s Mills is a site where large numbers of Semipalmated Sandpipers stage in August, before headed to their wintering homes in the south.

    The Semipalmated Sandpipers scattered across the productive flats of the Sepody  (New Brunswick)

We arrived mid-morning, expecting high tide and many sandpipers, but the tide was low, so the Semipalmated’s were scattered thinly across the extensive mudflats of the Bay. This site competes with Mary’s Point to the south for the largest staging concentrations of this species. So far in 2019, the largest count from Johnson’s Mills has been 120,000 individuals. No so shabby! This morning, we saw perhaps a few hundred of the sandpipers through the mists…

    Is this wheat or barley?

I left my friends at the Reserve and headed south and west along the north shore of the Bay of Fund toward the border of easternmost Maine, and back to the USA, after having been away for almost a month.

    The late August wildflowers....

I passed through Petitcodiac, Penobsquis, Sussex, Apohaquis, Norton, Nawigeuwauk, Quispamsis, Rothesay, and Saint Johns, to the Saint Johns River, were I took the tiny back road across the border, rather than the busy highway, saving about 10 minutes wait. I was the only driver at the tiny border crossing. The border agent was polite and welcoming. A pleasant surprise. Just like the old days!

Next blog: Maine and northeastern Massachusetts--(Schoodic Peninsula, Hope, Biddeford Pool, Newburyport, and Plum Island).

    ripening fields....