By Ian Davidson
Characterised by rugged Precambrian Protect, the landscapes and seascapes of japanese Canada are mesmerising. Untouched boreal forests and uninterrupted seashores stretch from horizon to horizon. The deep fjords alongside the Newfoundland coast remind guests of the latest glaciation that not solely formed the geomorphology of the area, but additionally created Sable Island, a 40-kilometre-long nationally protected barrier mendacity 200 km off the east coast of Nova Scotia. Alongside the continental shelf that borders Canada’s complete Maritime Provinces, the most important underwater canyon within the North Atlantic offers rise to an upwelling zone supporting a rare range of marine life.
With this because the backdrop, Journey Canada, along with BirdLife Worldwide, Margaret Atwood and 175 worldwide visitors from around the globe, set sail on 24 June 2022 for a 10-day expedition to expertise the large great thing about the area’s wildlife and its storied cultural previous. Within the preliminary planning for the journey, BirdLife teamed up with Journey Canada to advertise the Graeme Gibson Fellowship, with the objective of creating and supporting gifted conservation leaders from throughout the BirdLife household.
The late Graeme Gibson, alongside along with his associate, Margaret Atwood, have been veteran expedition leaders on Journey Canada excursions, in addition to serving as honorary members of BirdLife’s Uncommon Hen Membership. This partnership was due to this fact a pure match for this endeavour.
The primary draw was the wealthy number of breeding and migratory seabird species. Atlantic Puffin, Thick-billed and Common Murres (or Guillemots), Razorbill, Black-legged Kittiwake, Northern Fulmar, Great, Manx and Sooty Shearwaters, Leach’s Storm-petrel, Northern Gannet and a South Polar Skua didn’t disappoint. However the forests have been additionally alive with birds and included a range of North America’s boreal breeding warblers – Northern Parula and Blackpoll, Cape May, Bay-breasted, Palm and Black-and-white Warblers, to call just some.
It was fascinating to study that almost all of those species spent the boreal winter within the Caribbean and northern South America, and that in only a month’s time they might be starting their annual migration southwards.
