On July 18, 1833, John James Audubon and his fellow explorers breakfasted early aboard the ship named Ripley and then departed in three rowboats to begin exploring Labrador’s Little Mecattina Cove. After rowing for five miles along the steep rocks and cliffs of the cove, a landing spot was finally found. Audubon and his fellow explorers had to split up and enter into “what in that country is called a wood” before they were able to detect any signs of bird life.
While moving through the “stubborn tangled trees” of the wood with “great difficulty,” the captain of Ripley, Henry Emery, fired a shot and then called out to Audubon to join him. Audubon turned in the direction of Emery and headed through the wood “with much tugging and tearing.” As Audubon neared Emery, the air began to fill with bird calls that Audubon had never heard before. The alarmed birds refusing to flee from the site likely meant a nest was being guarded. Audubon and his fellow explorers undertook a search and located a nest with four hatchlings. Once the nest was found, Audubon and his fellow explorers attempted to catch the parents by hand. Chasing, reaching, and grabbing without success, Audubon and his party resorted to pointing their guns at the birds to bring them down and provide the specimens that Audubon used to draw for Birds of America the bird he named the Canadian Titmouse. The bird is known today as the Boreal Chickadee.