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June 15, 2014. Mary's Harbour to Red Bay, Labrador
We got up and out fairly early. Heading south, we drove the two roads in Lodge Bay and saw what we think were two Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, which were a bit north of where they should be. Continuing, we were blocked by road construction. They were doing some blasting, so we spent about an hour chatting with locals and enjoying the grand scenery. If you get stuck in construction, there isn't a better place in the world to do it.Eventually we made it to Red Bay and the end of the dirt roads. We stopped at the local museum to learn about the Basque Whaling history (dating to the late 1500s), but we were told that this was the second of two museums, and we needed to visit the other one first. We got lunch, and after watching the 23-minute video at the Information Center, we were waylaid by staff regaling us with unending stories about local history. When they learned we were birders, we had a very long discussion about the taste of various local bird species. We eventually made it back to the museum, which was very interesting, but for a second time, we were waylaid by staff.
After finally breaking free, we walked a trail to a beach with several ancient whale skulls, and then decided to spend the night here because by then, it was late and we didn't get to see the wild places we had wanted to visit. We got a fantastic hotel room, but without internet.
 Red Squirrel cutting Spruce cones at Lodge Bay |
 Snowshoe Hare eating someone's lawn at Lodge Bay |
 Construction delay along Labrador Coastal Highway |
 Last kilometer of gravel road when arriving at Red Bay |
 Red Bay Harbor |
 Arctic Tern |
 Red Bay Basque Whaling Museum |
 Actual clothing recovered from peat-bog burrial site |
 First evidence of European Rats in the New World! |
 Liz on Bony Shore Walking Trail |
 Skull of Right Whale butchered by Basque Whalers ca. 1680 |
 Cut markes on whale skull left by Basque whalers |
 Female Common Eider resting on an iceberg |
 Our room with a view! |
 Our room on edge of Red Bay |
 Mouth of Red Bay: view from our front porch |
Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
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