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--=====================_161748593==.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Bicycle Birding on Pictou Island On Tuesday last (Sept. 22) Martine and I took the 0700 ferry to Pictou Island. We've long talked of visiting this special place, and finally organised ourselves enough to do it. It was an easy 40 minute crossing on a modified fishing vessel, and we shared the trip with a dozen other passengers, lots of supplies, and many bales of hay -- our first marine hay ride. But once we arrived at the wharf on Pictou Island it was all a bike ride, and we spent the next 9 hours pedaling the length of the island (8+ km east-west), as well as biking a private track (with permission) to John Dann's Cove and Beach on the north shore of the island. The biking was easy on the main road, which is a well-graded unpaved road, maintained by the provincial highways dept. The side roads (really tracks) were more challenging on the bicycles, with lots of small rocks, roots, and mud puddles to navigate. It is quite a lovely place, and we'll put a full write-up of our adventure in "Nova Scotia Birds" magazine. There was plenty of bird activity along the road edges, as well as in the beach areas. And from both the east and western points of land there were many waterbirds and seabirds passing by. Highlights included 800+ Bonaparte's Gulls, 900+ gannets in a feeding frenzy, 6 Caspian Terns, large numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers (but only two other warbler species noted, one parula and two Nashvilles), plenty of Song and White-throated Sparrows (plus a Lincoln's), and Boreal Chickadees in every patch of trees -- it was hard work to find a few Black-capped Chickadees. The other surprise was the unexpected hordes of late autumn mosquitoes, which made stopping in shady places in the woods a bit of a trial. Regardless, I heartily recommend this island to everyone. We certainly intend to return, and might remain longer next time, as there are two houses you may rent, and there is a B&B planned for next year. Cheers, and good bicycle birding, Blake ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blake Maybank maybank@ns.sympatico.ca 902-852-2077 Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds" http://nsbs.chebucto.org author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia" http://tinyurl.com/birdingns Downloadable Nova Scotia Maps for inside front and back covers: http://tinyurl.com/mr627d White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada --=====================_161748593==.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html> <body> <b><u>Bicycle Birding on Pictou Island<br><br> </u></b>On Tuesday last (Sept. 22) Martine and I took the 0700 ferry to Pictou Island. We've long talked of visiting this special place, and finally organised ourselves enough to do it.<br><br> It was an easy 40 minute crossing on a modified fishing vessel, and we shared the trip with a dozen other passengers, lots of supplies, and many bales of hay -- our first marine hay ride.<br><br> But once we arrived at the wharf on Pictou Island it was all a bike ride, and we spent the next 9 hours pedaling the length of the island (8+ km east-west), as well as biking a private track (with permission) to John Dann's Cove and Beach on the north shore of the island. The biking was easy on the main road, which is a well-graded unpaved road, maintained by the provincial highways dept. The side roads (really tracks) were more challenging on the bicycles, with lots of small rocks, roots, and mud puddles to navigate.<br><br> It is quite a lovely place, and we'll put a full write-up of our adventure in "Nova Scotia Birds" magazine. There was plenty of bird activity along the road edges, as well as in the beach areas. And from both the east and western points of land there were many waterbirds and seabirds passing by. Highlights included 800+ Bonaparte's Gulls, 900+ gannets in a feeding frenzy, 6 Caspian Terns, large numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers (but only two other warbler species noted, one parula and two Nashvilles), plenty of Song and White-throated Sparrows (plus a Lincoln's), and Boreal Chickadees in every patch of trees -- it was hard work to find a few Black-capped Chickadees. <br><br> The other surprise was the unexpected hordes of late autumn mosquitoes, which made stopping in shady places in the woods a bit of a trial.<br><br> Regardless, I heartily recommend this island to everyone. We certainly intend to return, and might remain longer next time, as there are two houses you may rent, and there is a B&B planned for next year.<br><br> Cheers, and good bicycle birding,<br><br> Blake<br><br> <x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> Blake Maybank<br> maybank@ns.sympatico.ca<br> 902-852-2077<br><br> Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds"<br> <a href="http://nsbs.chebucto.org/" eudora="autourl"> http://nsbs.chebucto.org<br><br> </a>author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia"<br> <font color="#0000FF"><u> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/birdingns" eudora="autourl"> http://tinyurl.com/birdingns<br> </a></u></font>Downloadable Nova Scotia Maps for inside front and back covers:<br> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/mr627d" eudora="autourl"> http://tinyurl.com/mr627d</a> <br><br> White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada </body> </html> --=====================_161748593==.ALT--
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