Coasting Through the Winter

by Blake Maybank
 

Purple sandpipers enjoy winter foraging along rocky coasts. Photo: Blake Maybank

It may seem counter-intuitive, but Nova Scotia’s birders spend more time along the province’s coastlines in winter than in summer. They’re not forced there by silent forests, but are drawn by the numerous birds that think Nova Scotia’s food-rich and mostly ice-free coastline is a great place to spend the winter. While some of us complain about freezing rain and wind, many birds possess remarkable adaptations that allow them to cope with harsh weather.

Every coast has something to offer - rocky or sandy, sheltered or exposed - so birders and nature enthusiasts can see and enjoy many types and groups of birds during the winter months. Birders scan the nearshore waters for loons, grebes, and “sea-ducks”, - ducks that dive to search for food on the sea-bottom. Some of these ducks, such as eiders and Red-breasted Mergansers, also breed along Nova Scotia’s coasts, but many more species spend their summers further north, such as Long-tailed Ducks, Harlequin Ducks, and three species of scoter (White-winged, Black, and Surf). Common Loons, a familiar bird of our lakes in summer, shift to salt-water foraging during winter where they are joined by Arctic-breeding Red-throated Loons. Horned and Red-necked Grebes, close relatives of the loons, also winter in many of our sheltered bays and inlets.

Other high-Arctic nesting birds, including Dovekies and Thick-billed Murres, usually winter well out at sea, but are sometimes blown inshore by winter storms. Such coastal sightings cause excitement among birders, some of who travel great distances to observe a bird species for the first time.

To most shorebirds “southern wintering grounds” means the shores of the tropics, but to Purple Sandpipers it means the rocky shorelines of the North Atlantic Ocean. These winter specialists deftly avoiding crushing breakers while foraging in small flocks among the rock-weed where there is a confluence of waves and tides..

Sandy-bottomed bays offer less-productive feeding for waterbirds, but birders walk the adjacent beaches looking for birds as well as at the beauty. Storm-driven kelp harbours insects that attract American Pipits and shorebirds that did not complete their usual southern migration, such as Sanderling. Wintering Lapland Longspurs, Snow Buntings, and Horned Larks are sheltered by Wind-swept dune grass

A birder standing on a windy, winter headland is not in need of therapy, but is instead enjoying a precious resource, our coastline: vibrant and alive even in the depths of winter.

Learning more about the birds that spend their winter with us is a great way to enhance your coastal walks and impress your friends and family! The Nova Scotia Winter Birds web site tracks the winter birds found province-wide: http://tinyurl.com/2u2ulg. For the best winter coastal areas, consult the “Birding Sites of Nova Scotia” guide book (http://tinyurl.com/2xxk4d).

Blake Maybank is a writer, naturalist, and guide, and is editor of “Nova Scotia Birds” magazine, and author of “Birding Sites of Nova Scotia”.