On the evening of June 12, 1833, John James Audubon and the rest of those aboard Ripley reached the southern end of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine/Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Magdalen Islands are connected by sand bars. The total length of the Magdalen Islands is about 60 miles. From Entry Island, Ripley continued west and anchored in Pleasant Bay.
After breakfast aboard the Ripley on the morning of June 13, Audubon and his fellow explorers made their preparations to make their way ashore. The air “felt like mid-winter,” i.e. 44 deg. F. Once ashore, the party of six divided into two parties of three. Joseph Coolidge and George Shattuck Jr. accompanied Audubon to the small church and the surrounding hamlet of Havre-Aubert. John Woodhouse Audubon, Thomas Lincoln, and William Ingalls kept to the shoreline. While the later were free to roam, Audubon, Coolidge, and Shattuck found themselves held down by hellos and welcomes from the townspeople. When Shattuck had the chance to remark aside to Audubon that they were making too little progress exploring the islands, Audubon assured Shattuck that they would more than make up for the lost steps by speaking and establishing relations with the people of the town. “In all my years I have never met a person from whom I could not get at least a little information of value.” Although like all good birdwatchers, just because Audubon was engaged with introductions and conversations, it did not mean that he was not noticing birds singing and flying nearby, such as the Barn swallows building their nests “in the open cupola” of the church at Havre-Aubert.