WHERE TO FIND THE BIRDS IN NOVA SCOTIA TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction When to Find the Birds l Where to Find the Birds • • • • :3 The Valley Road • • • • • 3 (Yarmouth County Insert) Halifax and Environs 6 The Truro Road 8 The Sunrise Trail 9 Cape Breton 10 The Eastern Shore 13 The South Shore 15 The Birds of Nova Scotia 18 I N T ROD U C T ION This booklet has been prepared from the records of the Nova Scotia Bird Society, for people planning a trip to the Province in search of birds. It is to be used in con­ junction with a highway map, obtainable free of charge at any tourist bureau. In the back of this booklet is a list of the birds which have been found in Nova Scotia, annotated in 1972. Roger Tory Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds is completely adequate for field identification in this region, but for more serious bird students, Robie Tufts' The Birds of Nova Scotia is the definitive work, and is'available at the Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is about 350 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide. Being a peninsula, the coast is nowhere hard to reach, and for the most part it is easy to get near enough to the birds to see them with or without binoculars. There are many paved highways and byways from which branch small gravel or dirt roads leading down to the shore or into the woods. Even among the hardwood stands, the trees are not lofty, and visibility is quite good. If you are a bird caller, in the country you have no problems. Our birds are unsophisticated, from the Raven to the Wren. Since this booklet was first printed, there has been a considerable extension of the limited-access highway system, and secondary and feeder routes have been re-numbered, many paved. This sort of thing is likely to continue to happen. We have corrected the text up to date, and can only advise bird-watchers to stick to the "old" and "scenic" routes; in fact, to seek the smallest roads and slowest pace possible, for most rewarding results - advice not necessary for seasoned ornithologists. C.R.K. Allen, Past-President P.R. Dobson, Editor NOVA SCOTIA BIRD SOCIETY Halifax, 1968 Halifax, 1970 Halifax, 1973 Halifax, 1976 wHEN TO FIND THE BIRDS Visitors usually plan their trips to coincide with summer holidays, June through September. By the first of June, our migratory birds have mostly returned, and those nesting here will still be in breeding plumage, and the vocal ones singing until the end of that month. This is the time of year to visit wooded areas, particularly in the early morning, to "atch and to listen to such birds as the winter wren, Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, white-throated Sparrow and the Wood Warblers. (See the list of Nova Scotia birds for the twenty-two warbler species known to nest here.) Keep in mind that it is apt to be cool in June, and swamps and brooks may be brimming, so coats and high boots are indicated, not to mention fly dope. Ducks start incubating in April, and broods are well advanced by mid-May, but some will still be in convoy on the lakes in June and later. The commonest are the Black Duck, both species of teal and the Ring-necked Duck. Pintail breed in Amherst Bog, Goldeneye in Cape Breton, and both species of merganser fairly generally, though in less conspicuous places. In July, it may be hot during the day, but the long balmy evenings can be delightful, with the songs of the White­ throated Sparrow and the Hermit Thrush still echoing across the inland lakes. Sweep your glasses over some of these lakes in the daytime on the chance of seeing chicks of the Common Loon or the Pied-billed Grebe. Along the roadsides and in the woods you are most likely to hear the incessant chittering of greedy nestlings and fledgelings, plus admonitory chirps from harassed parent birds. For those so inclined, this is a good time to brush up on alarm calls. Early July is the best time to visit the islands off Cape Breton and the Eastern Shore which are sanctuaries for such breeding birds as petrels, cormorants, eiders, the Razorbill, Black Guillemot and Atlantic Puffin. If you wait until August, you may be disappointed as very few of these birds will be in evidence. About the middle of July, shorebirds, most of which nest in the Arctic, start returning and begin to congregate on the mud flats and beaches along the many miles of mostly rugged coastline. It may be foggy in the morning, but usually clears by mid-day. Again , it can be cool directl;y in the Atlantic breezes even in July, so a sweater, and sneakers or the like for rock walking, should replace the gabardine and high boots. By August the weather becomes more settled, and usually remains so straight through October, often our love­ liest month, with autumn colors flaming, but with of course a diminishing bird population. Some of the migrants start leaving in August, although September is the busiest month in this respect. In late September and early October it is a real experience to visit the islands off the southwestern tip of the province, where many birds congregate before their long ocean hop. As in the spring, they seem so concerned with their own affairs they are indifferent to human approach and can be observed very close at hand. The migration of most ocean-going birds may be described as feeble off Nova Scotia coasts in spring. In the summer you are likely to see only Herring and Black-backed Gulls, Common and Arctic Terns and the occasional Osprey; but fall is the time to set up the telescope on beaches and head­ lands and look out to sea. Bonaparte's Gulls gather in the surf late August through November. Ring-bills appear in September through October, and a few stay all winter. Black­ headed Gulls may appear in September, and do stay all winter, notably in Halifax Harbor, Cole Harbor and most abundant at Glace Bay. The white-winged gulls, Glaucous and Iceland, are around November to March. Kittiwakes are seldom seen close in, but are common offshore all winter. By mid-October both Terns and the Osprey are long gone, but the Common Loon is coming to salt water (plumage changing or still "summer"), and a few Red-throats appear, as do the first of the Horned Grebes. Great Blue Herons are concentrated in good feeding places in the shallows, often in large numbers. Leach's Petrels, usually far out, occasionally come into View, as does the rare straggling Gannet. Double­ crested and Great Cormorants are both migrating, Canada Geese are flying in considerable numbers, and the Black Duck and Green-winged Teal migration is in full swing, a few Blue­ winged Teal among them. Eiders and all three 0coters are still going strong, and in Cumberland County the Greater Scaup and Goldeneye will go through until Northumberland Strait freezes over. These two latter species are not usually seen on the Atlantic coast until late January or early February, when flocks begin to build up in the inlets. Old Squaw and a few Harlequin show in the breakers late October, Bufflehead start to collect in sheltered water by late November, some years building up to flocks of many hundreds. This information is given in some detail, as we have found visitors disappointed at not finding the above-mentioned species visible in summer. The local breeders are present, of course, but must be looked for in their special habitats (description to follow in the text). The ice-pack really does break up before high summer. 2 WHERE TO FIND THE BIRDS The principal points of entry tO,Nova Scotia are Digby, Yarmouth, Halifax, the Sydneys, Car~bou and Amherst. Yarmouth, Halifax and the Sydneys may be reach~d by pla~e as well as boat; Digby and Caribou are ferry term~nals, wh~le, the sole overland route crosses the border from New Brunsw~ck at Amherst. r THE VALLEY R 0 A D Arbitrarily we shall start at Yarmouth, where High­ ways No.1 and 101 take off for Halifax via Digby and the Annapolis Valley. The visitor arrives in Yarmouth either early in the morning on the Prince of Fundy from Portland, Maine, after an all-night voyage, or in the afternoon by the M.V. Bluenose after a six-hour trip across the Bay of Fundy. If the day is fog-free he will probably have seen SOOTY and GREATER SHEARWATERS, LEACH'S and WILSON'S PETRELS (hard to distinguish from the deck) and GANNETS - mostly immatures. The same voyage if made from fall to spring may yield other pelagics as well, such as FULMARS, RED and NORTHERN PHALAROPES, KITTIWAKES, RAZORBILLS, MURRES, DOVEKIES and PUFFINS. Around the town itself any time after mid-July when the shorebird migration is on, the flatE and beaches on both sides of Yarmouth Harbor are resting and feeding grounds for SEMI-PAL~~TED and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, RUDDY TURNSTONES, WILLETS, both species of YELLOWLEGS, PEEP and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Flocks of GOLDEN PLOVER are by no means uncommon in August and early September in the pasture lands bordering the town, and BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS show up occasionally. 3 Among the Peep (Semipalmated Plover, Least, Semipalmated and White-rumped Sandpipers) at the height of migration DUNLINS are not uncommon, and by September and October flocks of PECTORAL sand­ pipers are regular.