We took a trail up to the summit and racked up a few nice birds on the way. Actually most of my photos were from the way down when I took my time to look for them, but many birds were singing on breeding territory.
My telephoto lens made our cottages look much closer than they were from the top of the hike.
The view from the peak with our cottages on the far right side of the bay.
Black-and-white Warblers were singing up at the peak.
At the time, I didn't think this was a Hermit Thrush. I didn't think it had a rufous tail. I played some Gray-cheeked calls and Bicknell's calls and it went nuts to Bicknell's. However now that I see the pics more closely, I wonder if it was just a Hermit. The eye-ring seems too pronounced for Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's.
Any input from others?
No mistaking this bird! Blackburnian Warbler.
Ovenbirds were calling from every direction.
Least Flycatchers too!
After some delicious breakfast which included some Bread Pudding (Scottish version), we headed east on the Cabot Trail. I should have taken more scenery pics, it was gorgeous! I would imagine during fall foliage it would be absolutely stunning.
We only had two days to explore Cape Breton so we picked our stops carefully. There are many places to go hiking and you could easily be lured into stopping everywhere but then you wouldn't get very far. So I planned to stop at Middle Head for the hike out on a peninsula which could offer some good sea birding.
One of my targets for Nova Scotia was the Boreal Chickadee which I had seen in New Hampshire but I didn't get good looks. When we got to the parking lot, I told Luke to listen for Boreal Chickdees and I played the song for him. We immediately got a response before I even left the parking lot!
Boreal Chickadee!
I couldn't have asked for better looks....
The hike out was amazing! A thin peninsula flanked on both sides by rocky coves teaming with ducks, mostly Common Eiders.
I did have one Long-tailed Duck that flagged as rare on eBird.
Razorbill - most of the birds were fairly far off so the photo ops were not great.
Black-legged Kittiwakes were flying past the end of the head.
White-winged Scoter - I had all three species of scoter flying by. I would imagine on a rough and windy day it would be great ocean watching here.
A very distant Common Murre.
At the very end of the head was a small colony of Great Black-backed Gulls. The chicks were super cute with spotted heads.
I can't really improve on my pics of Black Guillemots from Maine and even in NC so I didn't even try.
On the hike back, Luke and I lagged behind Melissa and George and were rewarded with an encounter with a Ruffed Grouse!
Its cryptic design had it blending in completely so we wouldn't have noticed it if it didn't cross the trail right in front of us.
So cool!
American Redstarts were very common all over Nova Scotia.
I definitely recommend Middle Head if you head out on the Cabot Trail. We stopped a number of times along the way to our next hotel in Dingwall but nothing matched Middle Head in my opinion. I picked Dingwall because it was about half way around the Cabot Trail, and the Markland seemed like it got good reviews. TripAdvisor is usually spot on and it was in this case!
The Markland Coastal Beach Cottages are right on the eastern side of Cape Breton on the water. They had cute little cottages with access to the beach and a really nice restaurant with live acadian type music in the evenings.
I had an Alder Flycatcher singing right outside our front porch!
The beach was gorgeous and reminded me of where I grew up on Long Island in New York. Flax Pond was a salt marsh estuary which emptied out into Long Island sound and I spent most of my youth exploring the estuary, beach and of course swimming in the inlet. This set up in Dingwall at the Markland was very similar although a little more hilly.
I will pick up the next post from my morning ramblings around the Markland property.
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