Page updated June 17, 2004
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Update #7
Posted at Thursday, June 17, 2004 0:27 AM CDT
(Unable to post from Churchill after 1 pm on 6/11)

Saturday 6/12

Getting out of a snow drift

We arrived on the train at 8:30 am, right on schedule. By the time we had transferred to the the Tundra Inn and taken care of business it was 10:00 am. (We were pleasantly surprised to find that the Tundra Inn has high speed Internet access.) We loaded up ou5 15 passenger school bus type van and headed out to explore Churchill. We quickly picked up species that do not occur in southern Manitoba (Redpoll, Pine Grosbeak, Snow Bunting, Thayer's Gull, etc.)
During our ride down the Coast Road we had one of those experiences that makes a trip memorable. In a bold move we tried to go down a road blocked by a snow drift. We immediately got stuck and after much effort were were able to get the vehicle through the snow drift. After we congratulated ourselves we discovered that the road further down was blocked completely. That meant we had to turn around and go back through the same area we had gotten stuck in initially. Needless to say, we got stuck again. And again, after much effort we got moving. It was a lot of work to get back to where we started.
The birding a Churchill is fantastic. We added about 25 new species today.

Sunday 6/13

Early morning birding

Several of us were out at 6:15 am to do a scan of the Churchill River from Cape Merry. It was crisp, clear and beautiful. The river is still frozen at the entrance with Hudson's Bay. We hope it will break up before we leave.
Right after breakfast we found the previously reported Little Gull and then moved on to try to come up with a Smith's Longspur. After about a half hour in a boggy field we had close up looks with a male and female. We then made sure other groups in Churchill got the word as to the location of this species.
There were several reports of Spruce Grouse from the Twin Lakes area and we made the 20 km drive to try to find them. Unfortunately our luck ran out and we spent the afternoon in futile searches for the grouse and a couple of other species.
There is a report that a Ross's Gull was seen from a boat on the Churchill River. We are trying to get more information.

Monday 6/14

Watching for the Ross's Gull

We ran down the information on the Ross's Gull first thing in the morning. Besides being seen from a boat, several groups had it late Sunday from the Pumping Station viewing area. Our original plan for the day was to go to Twin lakes for the morning and take another shot at the gull in the afternoon. Even though the gull was seen the evening before we decided to stick with our original plan.
Our trip to Twin Lakes yielded Spruce Grouse, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Bohemian Waxwings. (All new trip birds). The road to Twin Lakes is experiencing major flooding and erosion due to the high water levels. We were lucky to get out of the area.
We started our gull watch at about 1:00. During our time there we had Sabine's Gull, Little Gull and a flying away Ross's Gull. The gull watch ended about 7:00 pm. While scaning he river we saw a boat go by with birders. We assumed they had hired the boat to take them up river to find the gull. We found out later that they saw the gull quite well. This evening we made arrangements to hire the boat for tomorrow.
We all got plenty of sun today!

Tuesday 6/15

Downtown Churchill

A couple of us went to Cape Merry at 6 am. The inlet is clearing of ice but is still not open. We hoped to get back to Twin Lakes for Spruce Grouse but the road has completely washed out and is closed. It is expected to take several days to fix.
The plan was changed and we headed for the dump and then the area "behind the airport". We did not run into anything special but we all did get views of a Lincoln's Sparrow.
At noon we met the boat and guide. The boat could take 5 at a time. We had previously decided who would be in the first group and who would be in the second. The first group took off and had two Ross's Gulls about five miles up the Churchill River. When they returned the second group took off and they were not as lucky. There was a brief glimpse of the gull right before the weather changed. In a couple of minutes the temperature dropped 20 degrees (F) and the wind came off Hudson's Bay. The group had a long hard return to the dock.
We had our last dinner at Gypsy's and everyone turned in early to get some rest.

Wednesday 6/16

While this is a full day of travel, some of us did some early morning birding. We were out at 5:30 to look for Spruce Grouse. While we had it on our trip list some of us had only a fleeting glimpse of a flying bird. The Field Guides group had seen a displaying bird on Tuesday and were kind enough to share the location. This was typical of all the sharing that went on among the birding groups in Churchill. By 5:45 we were on the the dirt road where the grouse was seen the day before. The grouse was there to meet us. We had great, close up views of a male.
After a breakfast we were at the Churchill airport at 9:45 for a 10:45 flight. The trip home through Churchill and Minneapolis was uneventful except for a two hour weather delay leaving Minneapolis.

Final species count - 244