Over the past several days, three Northern Lapwings have been reported in eastern Newfoundland. As you would expect, the local birders are excited, but they’re not just excited about those three lapwings. They’re excited that there could be more to come.
There have been several significant invasions of Northern Lapwings to the maritime provinces of Canada. The largest was in December 1927 when hundreds, possibly thousands, were found, primarily in Newfoundland. A smaller invasion occurred in January 1966. Both invasions occurred when there was bad weather in western Europe and easterly winds over the North Atlantic.
Northern Lapwing seen on our Dec 2008 tour
The reason for the excitement is that the same conditions are occurring right now, plus Ireland has seen huge numbers of thrushes (Redwing, Fieldfare, Song Thrush) arriving, presumably from points east and perhaps continuing west, so Newfoundland’s birders are looking for more than just lapwings. Jack Snipe is also on their minds.
I’m excited because our 2010 Newfoundland tour starts today (OK, the birding won’t actually begin until Saturday), so I’m hoping the participants will see a lapwing and possibly another European species or two. St. John’s birder Jared Clark will be leading the tour, so I’ll be missing out on the fun this time around, but remarkably, we had a lapwing on the previous Newfoundland tour (photo above). It was a great “bonus bird” for the trip list.