Alix Arthur d'Entremont: December 2017

I've been spending more time writing for our magazine Nova Scotia Birds, so between that, work and birding, I haven't had the opportunity to publish very many blog posts this year. If you aren't already a member of the Nova Scotia Bird Society, I encourage you to join and have a look at the magazine. There are 4 issues per year and it provides a summary of the season's birds in Nova Scotia.

I was able to add 71 new species to my World life list and 12 of those were additions to my Nova Scotia life list (now at 325). My NS life list was augmented by 36 species in 2014, 22 in 2015 and 13 during 2016, so another 12 this year isn't bad. My NS year list for 2017 ended up at 278, my highest yet - respectable for someone with a full-time job.

Birding highlights of the year were seeing two long-overdue breeding species in NS - Black-backed Woodpecker and Spruce Grouse; finding a large portion of the missing Roseate Terns from North Brother; surveying an island with an estimated ~6000 Leach's Storm-Petrel burrows; participating on a pelagic trip to an area 220 km south of Nova Scotia, east of Georges Bank with 25 Degree Celsius waters; finding a Swallow-tailed Kite, LeConte's Sparrow and Golden-winged Warbler; birding in a 'fallout' in late October; and seeing and audio recording Nova Scotia's first Tropical Kingbird.

When you're a birder, there is always something to look forward to. I'm particularly interested in what the Roseate Terns of Yarmouth County will decide to do. Will they abandon North Brother entirely? Will they make Gull Island their long-term home? I plan on surveying for Leach's Storm-Petrels on Pearl Island and possibly islands near Canso and on Cape Breton Island. I'd like to search for Black-crowned Night-Heron breeding evidence in the Mud Island chain, where I've seen them on multiple occasions. I want to make the trip to Seal Island in my boat (28 km from Dennis Pt Wharf), but I'd only go if there were at least another boat going just in case something goes wrong. The Duffy Rd marsh in Saulnierville looks like a great place for rails, so checking it this spring is a priority.

Below is the list of Nova Scotia life ticks during 2017, self-found birds are annotated with an asterisk (*):

1. Prothonotary Warbler
2. Franklin's Gull
3. Black-backed Woodpecker *
4. Swallow-tailed Kite *
5. Long-tailed Jaeger
6. Audubon's Shearwater
7. LeConte's Sparrow *
8. Tropical Kingbird
9. Yellow-throated Vireo
10. Golden-winged Warbler *
11. Cave Swallow
12. Spruce Grouse *

Here are some photos of the rarities that I was fortunate to see during 2017: