The Majestic Bald Eagles of Cape Breton Island

Bald Eagles are quite rare in most places and, although quite rare in Nova Scotia with only 200 mating pairs, I still manage to see them quite often! I assume this is because most of the Bald Eagles in Nova Scotia are found in the area of the Bras D'or Lakes on Cape Breton Island which is close to where I live.

I frequently see these beautiful and majestic eagles but usually I only see one at any one time. Yesterday I had the privilege of seeing two together and, as luck would have it, I happened to have my camera with me! I first noticed one in a tree above me and while photographing him, he got a bit spooked and flew to another nearby tree where another one was perched, waiting. And that is when I was able to get rare photographs of two bald eagles at once! I won't say where I saw them to protect there whereabouts from curious viewers who may disturb their nest and hunting grounds but I will share the beautiful photos I captured....

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/bald-eagle/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Eagle
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nsbirds/bns0086.htm

Tried Out One of those Bike Trails Finally!

So remember those bike trails I mentioned a few posts back? The ones that I heard were in this area but have never seen? Well I found one of them the other day and tried it out. I left home and took the same route I always do but decided to go a bit further than usual since time was allowing me to do so and I wanted to go somewhere different. When I reached the point where I usually turn around, I decided to go to the end of the street to see where it went and noticed a trail that went alongside the cliffs next to the ocean. I had no idea where the trail would lead me but decided to check it out. The trail was long and just as I was about to turn around and head back home, I noticed that I could see the lighthouse not far away in the distance. I decided to keep going until I reached it but the trail ended on the beach below the lighthouse. I had to walk the bike across the rocky beach and carry it over some giant boulders and boggy areas but finally made it to another trail on the other side that led directly to the lighthouse! I stuck around for a while and took some pictures and watched several boats maneuver in and out of Sydney Harbor. It was getting late when I finally headed for home so I took the road back out of fear of possibly meeting coyotes on the trails but I will be out again soon looking for more new places to go riding very soon! http://marinas.com/view/lighthouse/1480_Low_Point_Lighthouse_New_Victoria_NS

I Found Another Beach on Cape Breton that I didn't know Existed!

I thought I had already found all the beaches on Cape Breton Island but today, my sister proved me wrong. A day trip to Ingonish was supposed to be a day spent on the local beaches but turned into a rainy day spent in the car driving around aimlessly until we got bored of that and decided to drive deeper into the Cape Breton Highlands National Park towards Cheticamp. On the way, my sister mentioned that someone had taken her to a beach in Cape North Near the Hideaway Campground and Oyster Market. I remembered seeing the sign for this place many times on my drives through the area but had never ventured down the gravel road to the campground and market. I had no idea there was a beach there until today and jumped at the chance to see it! We drove down the road for about ten minutes until we came to a parking area and walked to the rest of the way to the ocean. Sure enough, there was a long, sandy beach at the end of the foot path! It was not much different from the other beaches I have seen in the area but there was one peculiar that made it stand out from the rest; tall cliffs with lots white lines of gypsum running through them! We stuck around there are walked the beach and took pictured for a while since the rain had stopped and than made our way onto Cheticamp to search for a fin whale that was said to have washed up on a beach there. We didn't find it but we grabbed some coffees to go and headed back over the mountains towards Ingonish and spent the rest of the evening eating fries in the dry car in the parking lot at Ingonish Beach. http://www.campingcapebreton.com/ http://www.campingcapebreton.com/oyster-market.html