The rarest bird sighted in 2018 was the purple gallinule on the Waterford River in St. John’s. There have been more than a dozen recorded sightings in the past, typically on a ship or in a random back garden only to be seen briefly and never again. This bird was different. It was present for about six weeks from mid-May and into June.

As 2018 comes to a close it is time to look back at the birding year in Newfoundland. According to my calculations 272 species of birds were observed on the island of Newfoundland in 2018. This grand total is on par with recent years.

A woman who put bird seed out in her yard in St. Chrysostome, in western P.E.I., was thrilled she ended up attracting a rare bird.

This is the first breeding record for this species in all of Canada.

While their kin are declining worldwide, Canada’s largest amphibian, the bullfrog, is multiplying out of control in British Columbia — with some human help