A Quick Visit To Nova Scotia

The months of May, June, and July are always the busiest for me, and 2024 was no exception. As someone who earns their living as a field biologist, it makes intuitive sense that field work is most readily available during these spring and summer months. Birds are nesting, frogs are calling, snakes are active, and a dizzying diversity of vascular plants and insects can be readily found. My work incorporates all of these taxa, and as such, I have had a very busy few months of fieldwork. At one point I worked for 57 consecutive days, a personal best.

American Black Duck - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

As the calendar flipped to August I was ready for a mini vacation. Don't get me wrong, I love the type of work that I do, but I was looking forward to a bit of a break as well as some naturalizing opportunities on my own time. Laura and I planned to do a quick five day trip at the start of August to Nova Scotia where her parents live. I used to visit Nova Scotia with Laura every summer and every Christmas season, but I haven't been out there during the summer months since 2017.  

American Toad - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

As someone who resides and works in southern Ontario, a visit to Nova Scotia is always a breath of fresh air. Subdivisions, urban sprawl and agricultural fields are traded for ocean coastline, vast forests and wetlands teeming with diversity. Human density is much lower, and natural areas seem less tainted. I love it on the east coast...

Salt Marsh Trail - Cole Harbour, Halifax Regional Municipality

Despite the brevity of our vacation, we made the most of it. I set up my moth light during each of the four nights. We went on hikes every day, reacquainting ourselves with known haunts and exploring some other places for the first time. We spent a morning birding along the eastern shore, where we hoped to find Laura's lifer Nelson's Sparrow. And I documented the biodiversity everywhere we went, finding plants, insects, mushrooms and much more that I had never seen before. 

Appalachian Rockcap Fern (Polypodium appalachianum) - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Northern Long Sedge (Carex folliculata) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Bald-faced Hornet Fly (Spilomyia fusca) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Yellow Patches (Amanita flavoconia) - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Our quest for the Nelson's Sparrow took us east of Halifax-Dartmouth along the ocean coastline, and we completed a loop from Chezzetcook down to Three Fathom Harbour and then back to Dartmouth. Laura is closing in on 4,000 species for her bird life list, and Nelson's Sparrow is one that had eluded her to this point. Healthy populations of this secretive sparrow dwell in the vast salt marshes along the coast. Early August is not an ideal time of year to find them, as the birds are done nesting and a lot quieter (and sneakier) in their marshy haunts. The day we picked for our birding excursion was hot and sticky, further complicating the sparrow search. 

Great Blue Heron - Grand Desert, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

It did not take us too long to hear the first Nelson's Sparrow, but laying eyes on them would be another matter. As the morning ticked along we found many other interesting things, including lots of shorebirds and quite a few plants that I had never knowingly seen before. 

Carolina Sea Lavender (Limonium carolinianum) - Grand Desert, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Along the causeway at Grand Desert our luck changed, and we enjoyed fantastic scope views of a Nelson's Sparrow perched up on the saltmarsh cordgrass as we battled thick swarms of mosquitoes. Minutes later, we improved on these views as a Nelson's Sparrow popped up on a rock right beside the road! 

Nelson's Sparrow - Grand Desert, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Nelson's Sparrow - Grand Desert, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

The Nelson's Sparrows here on the east coast are of the subspecies subvirgata and they are a lot more dull and grayer than the one I am used to, the altera subspecies that breeds in the Hudson Bay lowlands. Here is a photo of a typical altera Nelson's Sparrow that I photographed along the James Bay coastline in Ontario. 

Nelson's Sparrow - James Bay coast, Cochrane District, Ontario

We spent the rest of the afternoon scoping the flocks of shorebirds, enjoying great views of migrants like Solitary Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and Ruddy Turnstone, along with locally-nesting Eastern Willets. Nothing unusual for the area, but some fantastic species. Northern Gannets and Common Eiders could be seen offshore, and a brisk onshore breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay. It was a fantastic morning in a beautiful corner of the country.

Grand Desert area, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

One morning, we went for a hike at a new location for us - Charlie's Lake, near the town of Bedford. Despite the muggy weather it was an awesome hike with beautiful scenery and a lot of biodiversity. I heard some Red Crossbills and we found a few mixed flocks of songbirds - the beginnings of autumn passerine migration. This Brown Creeper had just caught a large crane fly. 

Brown Creeper - Charlie's Lake, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Rest breaks were more numerous than usual because the bushes were filled with ripe Black Huckleberries. These are delicious - similar to blueberries, but juicier and with a milder, slightly sweeter taste. 

Black Huckleberries - Charlie's Lake, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

I found a type of damselfly for the first time called the Swamp Spreadwing. Quite a few were clinging to the vegetation around the edges of the lake. Another damselfly of interest for me was Azure Bluet, a pretty species that I had only seen once before. 

Swamp Spreadwing (Lestes vigilax) - Charlie's Lake, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) - Charlie's Lake, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

I've recently taken an interest in dragonfly and damselflies (odonates). I have always had a passing interest in them but never really dove into their identification, as certain groups can be quite challenging. But it was only a matter of time. Finding a few uncommon Painted Skimmers in my local patch in Hamilton this spring piqued my interest into this diverse group. ​

Painted Skimmer (Libellula semifasciata) - Falkirk West Park, Hamilton, Ontario

Nova Scotia shares many of the same odonates as Ontario but there are a number of different species that are more coastal in range. One of these is the Martha's Pennant. I had seen on iNaturalist that a friend of mine, Luke Berg, had found a Martha's Pennant at Mount Uniacke Estate several years ago. This is barely a five minute drive from where Laura and I were staying in Mount Uniacke and so I headed out one afternoon to see if I could turn any up. 

Common Loon - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

I investigated a marshy corner of a lake that seemed to have good potential. Lots of odonates were flying, including many Slaty Skimmers and dozens of mating bluets. The ones I identified were all Hagen's Bluet. 

Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Hagen's Bluets (Enallagma hageni) - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

After a few minutes, I noticed a smaller dragonfly, superficially similar to the Slaty Skimmer but with an obvious dark mark in the hindwing. A male Martha's Pennant! 

Martha's Pennant (Celithemis martha) - Mount Uniacke Estate, Hants County, Nova Scotia

But this wasn't the main odonate highlight I would have on the trip. On our final day in Mount Uniacke, I set out along the railway tracks towards a corner of the lake that is always teeming with life. I thought the dragonfly potential would be high and I was excited to check it out, now that I was more attuned to these flying predators. 

Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Lancet Clubtails patrolled the narrow forest gap created by the old rail line. Several species of robber flies were also present. 

Lancet Clubtail (Phanogomphus exilis) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Machimus sadyates - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

I reached the wetland and the odonate show did not disappoint. Along with numerous Slaty Skimmers, I quickly picked out a few other species including Familiar Bluet, Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, Skimming Bluet, Swamp Spreadwing, and, best of all, a Dragonhunter. These massive dragonflies are a menace to all others, as dragonfly is the preferred menu option for them. An impressive beast that I had only seen a handful of times previously. 

Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Swamp Spreadwing (Lestes vigilax) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Even more surprising were several Martha's Pennants! Unlike at Mount Uniacke Estate, this time I was able to observe several females as well as numerous males. The males were the only ones that sat still for photos, however. As exciting as my previous experience with the species was, it was more satisfying to discover a separate population of them, especially so close to "home"!

Martha's Pennant (Celithemis martha) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

As I approached the wetland's edge for better photos, some bluets in the emergent vegetation grabbed my attention. I immediately knew what this rare species was, as I had just looked up photos of them earlier that day. The distinctive violet stripe on the thorax gives it away that this is a Little Bluet. 

Little Bluet (Enallagma minisculum) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

This species has a very restricted range on the eastern seaboard, just barely making it into Canada in southern New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Its distribution is spotty at best, and I wasn't aware of any populations within about 100 km of here. I figured that I would need to travel to the south shore of Nova Scotia to see this species one day. Finding it at the local pond was a nice alternative!

Little Bluet (Enallagma minisculum) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

I'll finish this blog post with some comments and photos from our mothing excursions. Due to relatively warm overnight temperatures, I set up my LepiLED light and sheet each of the four evenings. The second evening was calm and quite warm, producing a ton of insects, while the other three nights were a bit slower but still productive. 

Primrose Cochylid (Atroposia oenotherana) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

I ended up photographing around 140 species of moths, as well as dozens of other insects. Underwing moths (Catocala sp.) are always a special find at a moth sheet and we ended up with two species. Praeclara Underwing is one that I had only seen once before (in Ontario), while Sordid Underwing was new. 

Praeclara Underwing (Catocala praeclara) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Sordid Underwing (Catocala sordida) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

While most of the species were familiar to me from mothing excursions in Ontario, I still picked up around a dozen which I had never observed before. Some of these can be found in eastern Ontario or boreal regions, places where I hadn't done a lot of sampling, while others are limited to the eastern seaboard. 

Hoary Bell (Eucosma cana) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Aristotelia lespedezae (tentative) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Olethreutes submissanum - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Brown-hooded Owlet (Cucullia convexipennis) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Apotomis albeolana - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Olethreutes melanomesum - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

One of the rarest insects I recorded was not a moth, but rather a very small species of planthopper. This is Conomelus anceps which is a European species that was first detected in North America around 20 years ago. There are Canadian records from the provinces of Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. I believe that this is the first record of this species for Nova Scotia. 

Conomelus anceps - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Speaking of planthoppers, here is another unique one. This is from the genus Telamona, but it doesn't match any of the known species.  

Telamona sp. - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Leafhopper diversity was high, particularly on the warmest night out of the four. Here are a couple of them. Some of these were only a few millimetres in length. 

Saddled Leafhopper (Colladonus clitellarius) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Bog Leafhopper (Helochara communis) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Empoa gillettei - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

This blue leafhopper caught us completely off guard. It is clearly in the genus Draeculacephala but they are supposed to be green. Apparently, blue morphs can occur rarely but there aren't many examples that I could find online. I think this is D. robinsoni. 

Draeculacephala robinsoni (blue morph) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

And for comparison, here is a "normal" D. robinsoni. 

Draeculacephala robinsoni - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

American Giant Water Bugs are one of the largest true bugs in North America. One showed up at the sheet on our first evening. 

American Giant Water Bug (Lethocerus americanus) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

On occasion, frogs and toads stop by the sheet, hoping for a free meal. This Spring Peeper was checking out the action. 

Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

And finally, here are a few other random photos from our adventures at the moth sheet. 

Saddled Prominent (Cecrita guttivitta) caterpillar - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Capperia sp. - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Arched Hooktip Moth (Drepana arcuata) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Brown Prionid (Orthosoma brunneum) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Lettered Habrosyne Moth (Habrosyne scripta) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Skunkback Monopis (Monopis dorsistrigella) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Boldly-marked Archips Moth (Archips dissitana) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia

Forest Yellowjacket (Vespula acadica) - Mount Uniacke, Hants County, Nova Scotia