In May and June, dead birds, mostly murres, have been washing up on beaches on St. Lawrence Island, Shishmaref and east Norton Sound.

Large shearwater die-off at a Pilot Point beach.

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.