Great Auk - The Last Chapter

Great Auk Sculpture

Great Auk

I recently visited Fogo Island off the north coast of Newfoundland, east of Twillingate.  The main purpose of my visit was to see the recent tribute placed there to the Great Auk.  

The Great Auk lived in the North Atlantic for hundreds of thousands of years and nested in huge numbers off our north coasts.  It was a flightless bird which swam huge distances from nesting grounds in the North Atlantic to southerly areas like Cape Cod and Spain in winter only to return again in the spring.  It fed on fish and invertebrates and hauled itself out of the water much like penguins do today.  It was a large bird, measuring 75 to 85 cm (30 to 33 inches) long and weighted 4 to 5 kg (11 lbs).

Joe Batt's Arm Rocky Coast

The tribute to the Great Auk is mounted on heavy granite rock polished by glaciers and the North Atlantic weather at Joe Batt's Arm on Fogo Island.  The hike out to the sculpture is 3.5 kilometres each way on a marked path over a very rocky terrain to Joe Batt's Point.  The sculpture is bolted to solid rock right on the point.

Trail to Great Auk Sculpture

Our hike out to the sculpture seemed very long and we wondered if we had missed it until finally we came upon the sign shown above.  The sculpture was a short climb from there.  The photo below shows what I saw as I mounted the last huge rocky mass that made up the end of Joe Batt's Point.

Joe Batt's Point Showing Great Auk Sculpture

The sculpture looked alone as I climbed over the rocks.  Things were very quiet there, only the sounds of ocean waves and few distant gulls.  That was a far cry from the deep croaks of the Great Auks that once lived there by the thousands.  There was a shallow beach immediately east of the sculpture which would have been inhabited by the auks in past times.  See below for the exact area where auks once sunned themselves after making a landing.

Great Auk Landing Area East of Joe Batt's Point

The Great Auk was officially declared extinct in 1860.  The last official sightings were in 1844 in Iceland and one sighted off the Grand Banks in 1852.  Since then the North Atlantic coasts have been sickeningly missing the deep croak of the millions of Great Auks that once lived here. 

The Great Auk was used by early humans for food and oil for heat and light.  In early times we lived in harmony.  Then for two centuries humankind in their greed slaughtered millions of them, driving them into extinction.  The northern coast of Newfoundland was one place ships from Europe gathered to conduct the slaughter.  Funk Island, 70 miles east of Fogo Island was a chief slaughter location.  It even got its name from the stench caused by the slaughter.  The name of the island is a sad reminder of humanity's folly.  Humankind alone is responsible for the extinction of this species!  There have been lots of feed and ample breeding grounds for this species.  It would still be here sitting on the rocks off Joe Batt's Point if it weren't for mankind and his greed.  

Great Auk Sculpture

The Great Auk sculpture is very well done.  It was sculpted by Todd McGrain and erected in 2010.  It is made of bronze and stands about six feet tall (a little less than 2 metres).  It is only feet from the deep Atlantic waters.  It is facing east for a reason.  Todd McGrain made two of these sculptures and the other one has been placed off the west coast of Iceland.  The Newfoundland sculpture is facing east and the Iceland sculpture is facing west.  They are both looking out to sea towards one another looking for their kind.  It is a beautiful but sad reminder to what has happened to this species.  

Great Auk Sculpture Showing the Flightless Wing

The slaughter of the Great Auk species was so dramatic and so ugly that it has become a symbol of humanity's stupidity.  The only good that has come out of it is that it was for this species that the first law was made to protect wildlife.  That was in England in 1794.  It has taken us a long time to smarten up (and there has been an awful trail of blunders along the way).  Funk Island was the largest and last known colony of the Great Auk.  We can rightfully claim the Great Auk as our own.  We took part in its demise but we can learn from our mistakes.  The biggest problem with wildlife protection is humanity and his ability to change the environment.  We must change our ways or we will execute our own suicide.  The Great Auk has taught us that. 

The photo below shows the Great Auk looking east for his mate and family.  For more  extensive  information on the Great Auk please see other posts on this blog.

Great Auk Watching For His Family

Gray Catbird

Regular Summer Resident

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) is a regular summer resident here.  It usually appears in late May and leaves in September or October.  It breeds in all of southern Canada and all of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.  It winters in the southeastern US, Mexico, northern California and the Caribbean Islands.  It is a member of the Mimidae family which contains the mockingbirds and thrashers.  These birds, as their family name suggests, are mockers or mimics.  They copy the songs of other birds and sing them repetitively and lustily. 

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird can be found hiding in bushes and its presence is usually discerned by its variable vocals.  Its voice is a mixture of various squeaks and squawks interspersed with a cat-like 'mew'.  It also mimics other birds' songs but usually attaches some kind of squeak or mew before or after the mimicked song.  It is really quite fun to listen to the antics of this bird.

Catbirds are secretive and usually only peak out at you from among the dense vegetation in which they usually reside.  There they find their food:  insects, spiders, fruits, berries, and seeds.  They usually feed on the ground or in shrubs or low trees.  When feeding on the ground they toss leaves aside looking for insects.  They are curious birds and often peak at you from among the foliage if you squeak or 'spish' at them.  See below as a catbird peaks out at the camera.

Gray Catbird

The Gray Catbird is 22 cm long (8.5 inches).  Males and females are similar in appearance.  The body is a dark gray and they have a black cap and black tail.  Under the tail is a cinnamon patch which is often difficult to see.  See the cinnamon patch in the photo below.

Gray Catbird Showing Cinnamon Undertail Coverts

An interesting fact about the catbird is that it is able to identify its own eggs and therefore is not as susceptible to parasitism from Brown Cowbirds as some other species.  It sees the cowbird egg as not its own and pushes the alien egg out of the nest.  Discerning birds!

Gray Catbirds are very interesting New Brunswick breeding birds.  Look and listen for them around your yard or while on your next hike.

Sora

The Sora is a Rail

Sora

The Sora is a member of the Rail family, Rallidae.   This family includes rails, gallinules and coots.  We have two rails commonly found in New Brunswick, the Sora and the Virginia Rail.  Occasionally a rare rail is found here.  For example, there was a King Rail in Fundy National Park earlier this spring.  

The Sora is a compact chicken-shaped bird about 19-25 cm long (7.6 to 10 inches), about quail size.  It is commonly found in marshes and pond edges in summer.  Its presence is usually discovered by the frequent loud descending whinnying sound it makes.  That sound has become synonymous with a fresh water marsh.  As seen in the photo above, the Sora is brown and gray in colour with bright yellow bill and legs.  There is white barring on its back and sides.  The black on the face and throat set the bright yellow bill off well.  The female is similar to the male but slightly muted on the face and bill.  

Sora

The Sora is a secretive bird (except for its loud voice).  It skulks through the vegetation and prefers to be heard and not seen.  Note above how well it is camouflaged by the cattails. Its large feet facilitate its slow walk through the marsh vegetation.  It also swims readily.  When walking it bobs its head and cocks its tail high.  

Sora

The range of the Sora is widespread.  It summers in all of southern Canada southward to most of the northern US.  It winters in the very southern US, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands.  It builds its nest among the cattails suspending it above water.  The nest is made out of dry leaves, grass and reeds and contains 10-12 buff eggs with gray or brown spots.  Both parents incubate the eggs.  

The Sora feeds on aquatic insects, snails, seeds, invertebrates and wetland plants.  It uses its large feet to rake the aquatic vegetation in search of food, like the way a chicken feeds.  

Sora

The Sora is the most common rail in North America.  Large numbers are shot by hunters each year in the US but their population is stable probably because of their large hatch size.  The greatest threat to this interesting species is the destruction of fresh water marshes.  We are thankful for the help Ducks Unlimited is doing to reverse this trend.  Marshes are a healthy part of our environment and should be maintained and kept pure.