I recently criss-crossed the continent from east to west. A family wedding and family reunion made this kind of trip a must. Birding was included, of course! I have birded in the east for much of my life, but this trip was not quite the experience I expected. The birds of New Brunswick were alive and well, but not so much in Nova Scotia. There most of the time was spent in the city of Halifax where birds weren’t so plentiful. Urbanization and tourism have taken over to a greater extent than I remembered from my last visit there. In New Brunswick we were situated on the Bay of Fundy. It’s rising tides were amazing.
Dense coniferous forests and other habitats were home to American redstarts, black-throated green warblers, magnolia warblers, northern parulas, and ovenbirds. These warblers are eastern species and were not easily seen but definitely heard. Their melodious calls were music to my ears as they filled the air with their lilting warbles. I have not heard them for many years. It did my heart good to hear them once again.
Familiar birds such as the yellow warbler were common. We have them here. Their song, sounds like, ”sweet, sweet, shredded wheat” to me. This species seemed to be everywhere just like here on the Peninsula. In fact, one nested in the pink flowering shrub just outside the window of our bed and breakfast lodging. It was perfectly placed so that we could watch the adults bringing insects to the wide open mouths of their nestlings. The parents were busy, busy from dawn until dusk feeding their family.
Waterfowl were conspicuous by their absence, even though we were in a place on the Bay of Fundy and near ponds and lakes. Common loons, a great blue heron and double crested cormorants were seen but infrequently. Dark-eyed juncos and northern cardinals were also observed but not often. In fact, they were more often heard than seen.
We drove the Fundy Trail where the scenery was unbelievably gorgeous. We stopped to walk, look and listen on occasion, and were rewarded by the call of a peregrine falcon. The rocky outcrops were perfect for nesting. We were lucky! Turkey vultures were busy as the cleanup crew, keeping the backroads clean. Unlucky deer, caught by vehicles on the road were quickly taken care of.
After a week of hot, humid weather we moved on to Nova Scotia. We had not observed any woodpeckers, shorebirds and very few raptors in New Brunswick, but we did tally 50 species. Most of the time in Nova Scotia was spent in Halifax so birding was more difficult. Black-backed gulls, terns, and double-crested cormorants were most often seen.
The overall sense was that bird life in the east was not as prolific as it is here on the Peninsula. Perhaps, I wasn’t able to be in as many different habitats as necessary for more observations. Arriving in Calgary, Alberta was better for birding, even for the two days we were there. Nesting birds were still busy feeding young and visible. American robins, clay-colored sparrows, red-tailed hawks, Swainson’s hawks and many, many other species were abundant.
Then the drive to The Long Beach Peninsula began. It was a treat. Birds were abundant and were noticeable at every turn. Not so much in the east. The Columbia gorge was spectacular. Common Egrets, bald eagles, American white pelicans were observed in large numbers. Osprey were nesting on cement pilings in the river as well as on power poles. As we got closer to the coast, osprey nested on cell towers too. Two bald eagles were flying high at the John Day Park in Oregon defending their territory from a third bald eagle who had inadvertently wandered there. They were in a fighting mood, so the interloper took flight and left the area in a hurry!
Finally, we reached the Peninsula! My bird of the day as assigned by the Merlin app was a Mallard. Not one was seen from Spokane westward until we reached the Peninsula. There it was on Paul’s Lake. The osprey at the north end of the Peninsula was taking care of nestlings. Brown pelican’s, cormorants, ring-billed gulls, and glaucous-winged gulls were among the greeters as we drove on to and up the Peninsula. The songs and calls of the Swainson’s thrush, olive-sided flycatcher, song sparrow, western tanager, western flycatcher, red crossbill, Anna’s and rufous hummingbirds, and common yellowthroat were there for our homecoming as we drove in the driveway! I love the Long Beach Peninsula!

Happy birding.