It’s a joy watching all the different birds I find in Nova Scotia. Some are very similar to the birds found in Ontario, others are nothing like their land bound cousins.

Ring Necked Pheasant

The first ‘stranger’ I saw down east was a ring necked pheasant. When I said I wanted to stop and take a picture of it I was told, “That old thing. They’re everywhere around here.” I was to find they are just as common out east as the roughed grouse or partridge is in Ontario.

Osprey

Another common bird in Nova Scotia and a treat to see in Ontario is the Osprey. Not totally rare but not as common as in Nova Scotia. I liked that I could drive out to a few select spots on the sea side and there would be Osprey.

Cormorant

Another bird common to both nova Scotia and relatively new to my area of Ontario is the Cormorant. It’s not very popular with the local fishermen as it’s reputed to clean out lakes and rivers of game fish.

Yellow Legs

Don’t know if this is a greater or lesser, but it’s definitely a yellow legs.

Plover

Very common and very well camouflaged.

Piping Plover

Another common bird although some signs at some of the beaches would have you believe it is an endangered species. Not so long ago it was.

Great Blue Heron

Another bird found both in Ontario and in Nova Scotia, the Great Blue Heron. Generally a solitary bird I’ve found that in Nova Scotia there are so many of them they have to be congenial with each other. In the 2nd image there are 6 of the herons. I suspect these, or at least some of them are a family, young and parents.

Herring Gull

This one is making some noise although at what I don’t know. These are about twice the size of our local Ring Billed Gulls.

Gannet

I only saw two gannets the whole time I was in Nova Scotia, or more likely the same gannet on two separate days. The sightings were within a kilometer of each other and the bird allowed both myself and another photographer to get much closer than I would have expected. The other photographer, Jim Colwell, told me these birds usually spend the bulk of their lives out to sea so seeing this one on land was quite unusual.