A Snow Goose or two

The Navigator Route follows the St Lawrence River downstream on the east side through many very pretty seaside villages with lovely landscapes across the river to the mountains on the other side and islands as well. There are heritage houses because the area was settled by the French in the 1700s. The glacial geology is also evident.

Montmagny, tidal estuary and waterfall

We drove from Montmagny to Riviere-du-Loup. (There is a freeway that runs parallel but we managed to avoid that.) It took all day because we kept stopping but we only touched the surface. A lot of artists and craftspeople live in the area and there is a lot of history here too - it must be a lovely area to holiday in, a bit like Port Fairy or Queenscliff on Victoria's coast.

But what I was most excited about seeing were the birds, the Snow Goose variety in particular. We started at the estuary at Montmagny where there is a lookout and saw hundreds of birds feeding in the mud but at some distance, then we moved down to Cap Saint-Ignace where we had closer views. Then we saw them at several other spots where the road meets the mud flats. They're noisy birds so listening was a good guide and they were restless as well so we saw them flying overhead. We saw the white birds mainly but there were a few of the blue morph there too as well as juveniles. The beaks and legs were covered in mud so it was pointless trying to use the colour as an identification feature!

Thousands of the birds congregate here in autumn on their way south from the breeding grounds in the tundra.

River Otter at Montmagny (I think)

There is one blue morph bird in this photo.

Juveniles.