The Atlantic coast
near Shelburne, Nova Scotia
|
The house where we would
live for our month on Bon Portage.
|
Looking south over the ocean
from our house.
|
A Yellow-breasted Chat
|
Heading up from the southern
end of the Island.
|
Although there was a
generator on the island for
occasional use, our light was usually provided
by kerosene lanterns
|
A Chestnut-sided Warbler
|
A Sharp-shinned Hawk.
We actually caught and banded quite a few of these tiny hawks.
|
A large portion of the
island, including this section in the middle is very swampy.
|
A shell with hair?
|
Magnolia Warbler
|
Black-and-white Warbler
|
A Wilson's Snipe.
This was the only one that flew into our nets.
|
This old wooden swingset on
the southern end would probably fall if someone sat on it now!
|
There was one particularly
wet and muddy hole near
the outer nets.
|
The small cabin where we did
the actual banding
of the birds.
|
Banding a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
|
Banding a Northern Parula
|
Northern Parula |
Danielle releases a
Sharp-shinned Hawk she just banded
|
The intense stare of a
Sharp-shinne Hawk, not at all happy about what is happening to it!
|
Sunrise on Bon Portage.
We opened the mist nets a half-hour before sunrise, so we got
to enjoy the early morning every day
|
The moon setting
over the ocean |
Black-throated Blue Warbler
|
The crew stands outside
the
banding cabin on
a slow morning
|
Steve and Caleb practicing
log rolling on a slow
misty day
|
There were no washing
machines on the island
so all our laundry had to be done by hand.
|
The island was dissected
down the middle by
a very low-lying bog. |
One of the small ponds
on
the northern end
of the island.
|
This was the only
stretch of
sandy beach on
Bon Portage.
|
The edge of the aptly-named
"Kelp Cove"
|
We came across this piece of
a whale's backbone.
|
Sunrise on Bon Portage
|
Extracting a Gray
Catbird, while another one waits its turn behind
|
Danielle extracts a
Brown
Creeper
|
The crew gathers around to
take pictures of a recently banded bird before it's released
|
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
|
Steve concentrates on
extracting a bird while Trina, who runs the station, looks on |
The crew of Bon Portage
poses in front of the
banding cabin.
|
Fixing the boardwalk along
the swampy net lanes.
|
Sunset on Bon Portage |
Banding a Northern
(Yellow-shafted Flicker).
|
The southern end of the
island as seen from the lighthouse.
|
Our first walk once we got
to Seal Island |
Lloyd's Hole, a low-lying
depression that fills
up at high tide
|
The middle of Seal
Island is
a large rolling dune with grasses and small ponds
|
On the eastern side of Seal
Island there are the remains of a recent "shipwreck".
|
There are about 200
semi-wild sheep living on Seal Island.
|
Green Head, a grass-covered
knoll on the south-western side of the island.
|
The West Side Village, one
of two small goups of houses on the island.
|
Looking south across a small
bay to the East Side Village
|
A close-up view of the
shipwreck at high tide
|
A trail along the north-east
side of the island
through a patch of ferns and blow-down
|
Walking around the north
side of the island on a sunny, foggy day |
Walking around the
north-east side
|
The north-east side of the
island
|
This "fog-bow" seemed to
follow us all day as we walked around
|
The north-east side was one of our favourite spots on the island.
|
Along the north-east side
there was a high bank caused by wave action that was, in places,
probably 30 or 40 feet high.
|
Taking a break from walking
|
The leaves of the Skunk
Currant changed red with the fall and provided some of the best colour
on the island
|
One of the
old buildings at
the south side |
Wilson's Warbler
|
A typical view of the forest
on both islands |
Twinflower is one of the
more common plants that trail along the surface of the moss.
|
Moss of some variety covers
almost all available space within the forest.
|
One of the many sheep paths
leading through the forest.
|
The "banding station" on Seal Island, located in a corner of our dining
room. |
The seals coming up to the rocks near the coastline to bask in the sun.
|
Danielle walks across
Lloyd's Hole at low tide. |
Kyla holds one of the
five Saw-whet Owls we caught
|
Sunrise on Seal Island
|
The same sunrise, 10 minutes
later |
This group of sheep could
always be found grazing around the Green Head on the south-western side |
The West Side Village seen
from the wharf |
The south end of the island,
with the Lighthouse, generator room, storage shed, and old barn.
|
Looking back at the
lighthouse from Mother Owen's Point
|
Playing "washers" with the
two couples that were still on the island while we were there
|
The lighthouse at sunset |
Bits of an old wreck on the
southern tip
|
Sunset on Seal Island |
Sunset on Seal Island |
Danielle and Tina firing up
the wood stove for pizza and cookies.
|
Evening behind our house |
The old lighthouse keeper's
house, which now serves as the banders' house for 3 months a
year |
Looking south past the old
buildings near the lighthouse |
Walking around the north end
of the island |
A particularly rocky section
of the north-east trail |
The north-east trail |
The north-east trail; no
wonder the sheep
hang out here, that grass looks like candy!
|
Looking north from the
remains of the shipwreck. Something about the light that day looked
almost tropical
|
Old Man's Beard hanging from
the trees. In places it was so thick that you could hardly see the
trees beneath it!
|
Heading up the path that
leads to the southern end and the banders' house.
|
One of the highest points on
the island |
Sunset on our last night on
Seal Island |
Moving out.
|
We had to stop and haul the
ATV into the boat |
Danielle sits on the back of
the boat as the sun
sets over the Atlantic.
|
Back on Bon Portage, we were
pleasantly surprised to see a much more "fall-like" appearance
|
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Those beaks are make for crackin'
|
A shelf of clouds moves over
the southern end of Bon Portage
|
Sunset on the Red Bank |
Steve admires the sunrise on
our last day on Bon Portage.
|
Danielle and Caleb take
advantage of the fire between net rounds. |
The same sunrise, a little
later on after the sun broke the horizon |
Lee ferries us over the
larger boat as we leave
Bon Portage for the last time.
|
Our last view of the
southern tip, the lighthouse and our temporary residence as we leave
the island
|
Roadtripping home through
New Hampshire
|
A northern Appalachian
stream in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
|
A deciduous forest in the
White Mountains, the ferns still holding onto their green colour
|
Hiking up to Glen Boulder in
the White Mountains
|
Our last night on the road,
in the Adirondacks of New York |
.
