Cape Sable Island: A Canadian Birding Hotspot

Only 3 pairs of American Oystercatcher breed in Canada, so off we went to Cape Sable Island to look for them. 

The island itself is the most southerly point of land in Atlantic Canada, off the tip of Nova Scotia, and therefore holds tremendous potential for finding birds rare to Canada.

 The Hawk Flats - At low tide extensive mudflats can be found to the south of The Hawk, and six Red Knots amongst Black-bellied Plovers was an unexpected bonus!

An American Oystercatchers pair foraging in the estuary near Daniel's Head! Five other new birds for the ride made our detour to Cape Sable Island an overwhelming success!

 At one point, this Black-crowned Night Heron was foraging beside the oystercatchers in the saltmarsh ponds near The Hawk.

Big Green Island - Jaime and I went looking for puffins with a 82 year old retired coastguard.  Check out Bird-o to see our first mini-documentary plus more!

We needed to celebrate finding our new favourite place in Nova Scotia...three lobsters for $20 did the trick.

Sunset over the estuary at Daniel's Head. We wedged our tent between the beach, estuary and lobster traps, and slept to the calls of Nelson's Sparrows and Willets.

Next: New Brunswick, but that won't stop us looking for Roseate Tern, Northern Cardinal and possibly Snowy Egret before our time in Nova Scotia is spent!

New Birds:

134. Ring-necked Pheasant

135. Pileated Woodpecker

136. Eastern Wood-Pewee

137. Golden-crowned Kinglet

138. Common Nighthawk

139. Broad-winged Hawk

140. Black-throated Blue Warbler

141. American Oystercatcher

142. Nelson's Sparrow

143. Black-bellied Plover

144. Red Knot

145. Atlantic Puffin

146. Black-crowned Night Heron

New Mammals:

14. Eastern Chipmunk
15. Muskrat


New Amphibians:

2. Northern Green Frog