Hi Tweeters,

I just got back from a week of vacationing and birding in Nova Scotia,
mostly on Cape Breton. I went with a list of twelve "hopefuls" and came
back with ten life birds among the 77 species I saw.

If you have been thinking about a Nova Scotia vacation, I highly recommend
it. Lots of incredible scenery - especially Meat Cove at the northern tip
of Cape Breton, the most beautiful place I have ever been! - and very
friendly people with wonderful accents.

While I wasn't exactly on a birding vacation I got in quite a bit of
birding. With the help of a knowledgeable contact in Nova Scotia, I was
able to find nine of my twelve hopefuls with one unexpected find. I came
home resting on 499 on my life list.

The lifers:

Northern Gannet
Great Cormorant
Black-headed Gull
Razorbill
Black Guillemot
Atlantic Puffin
Whip-poor-will
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Bicknell's Thrush
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow

Eastern species I hadn't seen since 1978, the first year I started birding:

Common Eider
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
heard White-throated Sparrows singing for the first time
Common Grackle

mammels:

black bear (scared my wife almost to tears)
moose
cottontail rabbit
white-tailed deer
pilot whale
beluga whale (which we got to pet in the bay at Guysburough)

Had a wonderful trip. It will be a great place to go back to hopefully with
more time for birding and a better whale-watching trip.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA