Nova Scotia 2021: Ells Cemetery

Magnolia Warbler

One of the best birding spots on Cape Split that I discovered through eBird, Ells Cemetery, was only a ten-minute walk down the highway – though honestly the walk along the highway was just as terrific. The highway was great for birding due to the edge habitat along which grew wildflowers and shrubs near the properties and thick stands of forest in between houses. There were plenty of conifers, which resulted in my most amazing discovery yet: crossbills! Both Red and White-winged Crossbills were present almost every day, and thanks to the irruption in Ottawa last winter I was able to identify their calls before I even saw them. Other birds seen or heard along the road include a cuckoo making its throaty “co-co-co” sound, Blue-headed Vireos, Red-eyed Vireos, more Alder Flycatchers (I heard at least nine on one morning), Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, White-throated Sparrows, juncos, a Purple Finch, and several warblers, most of which were in song – including Northern Parulas.

The Road to Ells Cemetery

The flowers growing along the highway were quite colourful and attracted their share of insects and hummingbirds. As I would walk up to the cemetery early in the morning before work, it was often too cool for many butterflies or odes to be flying, though I did see many bees and flies.

Meadowsweet sp.

Fireweed

One interesting thing about Scot’s Bay is the number of creeks that run beneath the highway to empty out into the ocean on the Bay of Fundy side.  Some of them form neat pools about 15-20 feet below the road’s surface, with no way to get down to them. I had hoped to find access to these creeks to look for dragonflies, as I saw one darner patrolling one of the pools of water and would have liked to have photographed it.  Alas, there is no way to get down to the water so I had to abandon my dreams of finding any good odes here.

Creek flowing under the highway

Snowshoe Hares were surprisingly common along the walk, often feeding at the edges of the lawns on various properties. This is the only member of the rabbit and hare family present on the mainland, so there was no possible confusion with Eastern Cottontail or other lagomorphs.

Snowshoe Hare

The cemetery is a short walk (about 0.2 kilometers) from the main road. The dirt road winds beneath an overhanging canopy of tree branches with an open area immediately beyond the trees, providing more excellent edge habitat. There were usually warblers flitting in the trees, including American Redstarts, Northern Parulas, and Black-and-white Warblers, and on one visit I saw a pair of hummingbirds perching on the branches before one decided to give chase to the other. White-throated Sparrows were also usually present, chipping at me from the open area behind the tree-lined path. On my first visit, a sunny morning on August 3rd, I startled a pair of Snowshoe Hares feeding on the vegetation.

I made the short walk to the end of the common road, which terminated at a chain guarding the rest of the road which presumably led to private property. There was a creek running through a culvert beneath the gravel road; it ran adjacent to a grassy clearing on the right-hand side which contained a single large granite stone marking the cemetery proper. A few steps further down the road led to a small grassy clearing on the left, presumably for parking. This clearing was surrounded by shrubs and raspberry brambles, with a short trail leading to a dead-end beyond which were groups of spruce trees.

Ells Cemetery

Gravestone for the Ells Family

What makes this a particularly special birding spot worthy of hotspot status is the public access to a patch of forested area on Cape Split. I only spent half an hour on my first visit, most of it in the cemetery clearing, and the longer I stayed the more I saw: there were Blue-headed Vireos and Brown Creepers, a Red-breasted Nuthatch yammering away, and Purple Finches and White-winged Crossbills flying over. I counted a total of six warbler species in just this short visit: Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Parula, and Magnolia Warbler.

Common Yellowthroat

The birding was so unexpectedly good that I returned for a full hour the next day, despite the overcast skies. This time I saw a Swainson’s Thrush along the dirt road carrying food in its beak and heard a Hermit Thrush calling. In trying to track it down I followed the path through the raspberry thickets to where it dead-ended at a group of spruce trees….and was surprised when a Red Crossbill flew in and landed on one close to me!

Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill

These are probably the best photos I’ve taken of this species yet, and it made my morning just to see this bird so close! The birding within the cemetery itself almost seemed like a letdown in comparison, although a relatively large number of songbirds were present. Five White-winged Crossbills flew over, at least four American Redstarts, two Northern Parulas, and two Yellow-rumped Warblers were present, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch scurried up a conifer. I added Blackburnian Warbler to my Nova Scotia life list, and saw Magnolia, Yellow, and Chestnut-sided Warblers as well. A Black-throated Green Warbler serenaded me on my walk out, although I was not able to spot it. I heard four Alder Flycatchers this time, a Northern Flicker, and I suspect the Blue-headed Vireo I heard singing here again was a resident on territory.

My last morning visit on August 7th was even more productive, and the walk down the highway was just as birdy with Cedar Waxwings, a single Red Crossbill, two hummingbirds feeding on the roadside flowers, and plenty of sparrows and warblers. This male American Redstart is down to his last two tail feathers:

American Redstart

American Redstart

This time I proceeded directly to the spruce tree area, where I found several crossbills feeding. There appeared to be equal numbers (about five or six) of each species, though with birds flying over it was hard to be certain. One of each species perched at the top of a different spruce at different times, with the Red Crossbill being much closer.

Red Crossbill

White-winged Crossbill

I waited for several minutes for them to land in the closest spruce tree where I had originally photographed the Red Crossbill against an overcast sky, but they preferred to feed in the distant conifers with the sun directly behind them. Still, it was neat to see these finches in the middle of summer as they normally only show up in eastern Ontario in the winter.

In the cemetery itself the birding was spectacular, with the largest group of migrants passing through the area of each of my three visits. The Blue-headed Vireo sang persistently as it moved through the branches, while a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet popped out briefly. There were lots of Black-and-white Warblers – I counted at least five, but there might have been more.

Black-and-white Warbler

Nine other warbler species were present as well, including my first Nashville Warbler, two Northern Parulas, two Magnolia Warblers, two American Redstarts, a Blackburnian Warbler, a Black-throated Green Warbler, a Common Yellowthroat, and a Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

The last warbler species was a surprise Ovenbird, foraging in a tree at least twice my height. Normally I see them much closer to the ground, so it always surprises me when I see one so far up….especially in a relatively open area.

Ovenbird

Goldfinches, a Purple Finch, Alder Flycatchers, a single Least Flycatcher, chickadees, an American Crow, a Downy Woodpecker, White-throated and Song Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings and two Red-breasted Nuthatches rounded out the walk. And those were just the birds I identified! There were more moving around within the foliage, many of which I only saw briefly and was not able to identify. I was reluctant to leave after my 90-minute visit, but work was beckoning me.

As I left, I noted on my eBird checklist that this hotspot was “just as good as any September morning on the ridge at Mud Lake….but with crossbills!” I highly recommend stopping over at this site during the late summer to see all the summer residents and early migrating species in this unique public patch of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest. It is probably just as fantastic in the spring as well, and I look forward to returning at other times of the year on future visits!