Whitman Wharf House Bed and Breakfast, Canso, Nova Scotia

Above: The dovekie is one of our winter visitors!

Local Birding Hot Spots

There are some 250 nesting pairs of bald eagles in Nova Scotia. They are frequently seen along the rugged shorelines and cliffs. Most common in Cape Breton, more local sightings of Bald Eagle are also frequent on the Eastern Shore especially around the picturesque Cole Harbour and Charlos Cove area, and around the Horton's Cove and Cooks Cove area. There are also some twenty nesting pairs of bald eagle around Antigonish Harbour.

Left: Bald eagle's nest spotted on the Antigonish Harbour shoreline while sea-kayaking.

The Atlantic puffin nests on the protected cliffs of Bird Islands, an official bird sanctuary just off Cape Breton Island. Boat tours are available from mid-May to the end of September, to view puffins, grey seals, eagles and many sea-birds: great black-backed gulls, great cormorants, double-crested cormorants, black-leg kittiwakes, razorbills and black guillemot.

The endangered piping plover is protected along the stretch of sand dunes near Musquodoboit on the Eastern shore of Nova Scotia.

Tor Bay Provincial Park is well known for many species of sea birds, including some rare and transient birds including sandpipers, sanderlings, & cormorants. The occasional grey seal can also be spotted while birding on Tor Bay. Sea urchin shells lie in plentiful clusters along the pebbled shoreline immediately north of the Tor Bay provincial park's sandy beaches. Together with clams and other molluscs they are the remnants of the sea-birds' breakfast.

Osprey & great blue heron are frequent sightings around Antigonish Harbour in spring through autumn.

From late August through September there are many migrating birds to view as they touch down to rest and feed on the shores of Nova Scotia. A prime viewing hot spot for migratory birds is from the Canso Causeway across the Strait of Canso. Sightings here include grebes, loons, gannets, dovekies, and bald eagles from autumn through to early winter.

Read Birding in Canso

Read about a birding expedition around Canso in June 2007.