Last summer, during my Deluxe Atlantic Puffin Workshop on L’île aux Perroquets, we enjoyed an unexpected encounter with a White-winged Crossbill — a bird I had heard calling over the years but never actually seen land on the island. If you missed that story, you can read it here: A Rare Treat: White-winged Crossbill on L’île aux Perroquets.
What made the experience even more remarkable was that the bird decided to stick around.
When a rare bird appears unexpectedly, you usually get one brief opportunity. A quick sighting, a few photographs, and then it's gone.
The following morning, the White-winged Crossbill was still present and once again offered wonderful photo opportunities for participants on my Deluxe Atlantic Puffin Workshop. It moved calmly between perches, often sitting in the open long enough for everyone to appreciate both its beauty and its unusual bill structure.
White-winged Crossbills are among the most specialized songbirds in North America. Their crossed mandibles are uniquely adapted for extracting seeds from spruce and pine cones. By inserting the tips of the bill between cone scales and twisting, they can access food sources unavailable to most other birds.
Which is exactly why finding one here remains so surprising.
L’île aux Perroquets, located along Quebec's spectacular North Shore, is best known for Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Common Murres, Black Guillemots, and the historic lighthouse. Coniferous trees are completely absent. This tiny seabird island is about the last place most birders or photographers would expect to find a White-winged Crossbill.
Yet there it was.
This image shows the bird perched on a seed-laden stinging nettle, surrounded by the soft colours of the island's late-summer vegetation. The perch seemed perfectly suited to the subject and provided a bit of environmental context while keeping attention where it belongs: on the bird.
One of the reasons I continue returning to L’île aux Perroquets year after year for my Deluxe Atlantic Puffin Workshop is that nature never stops surprising me. Participants arrive expecting puffins, murres, razorbills, black guillemots, seals, whales, and spectacular coastal scenery.
Every once in a while, however, something completely unexpected steals the show.
This White-winged Crossbill was one of those moments.
After decades of leading photography workshops on the island, it remains one of the most memorable passerine encounters I have experienced there.
It's a reminder that no matter how well you think you know a location, there is always the possibility that the next bird to land in front of your lens will be something you never expected.
That's part of the magic of wildlife photography — and one of the reasons I still carry a camera everywhere I go.
Interested in photographing Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Common Murres, Black Guillemots, whales, seals, and whatever unexpected surprises nature decides to provide? Join me for a future Deluxe Atlantic Puffin Workshop on L’île aux Perroquets, one of the most unique bird photography experiences in eastern Canada.