If you remember yesterday there were few birds to be had. Today was a different story as we got on the road at 6:50 AM, and headed for the Ferry at LaHave (sic) where James H.would meet us on the other side of the LaHave River. James lives there in La Have and knows the area as he was born there and gets out to bird that wonderful coast line with all its bays and beaches, as well as the Acadian forests as often as he can. James is an experienced birder and assists all the major efforts to find, record, and tabulate the birds of Nova Scotia and Canada.
He had sent us some hints to finding the birds over the internet, on places he has known and tried. Today he added to that list by leading us to those places on "his" side of the Ferry. Between his house and Crescent Beach, we spent three hours finding and identifying birds of Nova Scotia. As James would admit the birds just were not "cooperating", but we did find and identify at least 27 species.
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| The Ferry between East LaHave and La Have is a cable type ferry. |
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| Waiting on the Ferry we saw the sunrise. |
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| Looking out to the Atlantic at the estuary of the LaHave River |
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| Main St. of LaHave Nova Scotia. |
Stopping as often as there were birds to be seen or heard, we scoped out the coastal areas where there was an incoming tide, and the shorebirds were gathering to get food before the tide covered it up. Then it was into wooded areas where some land birds had been seen or heard. This was successful in a few places but overall the birds were not moving.
All along the way I was curious about bird behavior and movement in NovaScotia as James would know most of the answers. Of course with all the ponds and bays the migration of the waterfowl and shorebird is the largest draw for this Province. Many factors assist the birds and weather is a large one. These calm, sunny, and warm days probably don't put a charge of "urgency"in the birds.
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| Fort Point Museum Light, NS |
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| A small beach on the LaHave River |
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| An excellent tidal beach that is being quickly covered by water. Ten minutes previous there were hundreds of birds there. |
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| A look across the bay at that same tidal beach. |
Some birds we saw today were: (James will count birds heard and positively identified, but we will not do that), OSPREY, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, LEAST SANDPIPER, SEMI PALMATED SANDPIPER, SHORT BILLED DOWITCHER, SANDERLING, BLACK BELLIED PLOVER, MERLIN, EASTERN WILLET, BLACK DUCK, BLACK POLL WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA, YELLOW THROATED WARBLER, CATBIRD, YELLOW WARBLER, COMMON LOON, AMERICAN BALD EAGLE, NORTHERN FLICKER, SWAMP SPARROW, SEMI PALMATED PLOVER, PALM WARBLER and RED EYED VIREO. It was a good day.
We want to thank James for the time he took with these visitors from the States. It meant a lot to us and helped us continue to know how dedicated and devoted many people are in the Maritimes (and Canada) to the preservation and promotion of bird watching and care of the same.
Some final shots to round out the day.
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| Historically this site has been habituated by Europeans a long time. |
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| James and Ruth looking at Least Sandpipers (see list) |
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| One of the roads that traverses the LaHave area. |
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| A pond at the end of the peninsula. |
Instead of taking the Ferry back across the water we drove around it, along side the LaHave River where we ate lunch, and ended up in Bridgestone. (Sounds familiar, eh? ) That's where we drove from Hunt's Point to buy the Propane last week. That led us back to Lunenburg by a very direct way on Hwy 103.
Tomorrow I think we will explore Mahone Bay. It's that picturesque town that has the three white churches on the water that is "postcard perfect".
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