Ornithologizing in Nova Scotia

Last week, I took my wife, daughter, three students, and a student spouse to Nova Scotia to a combined meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society, the Canadian Society for Ornithology, and the Association of Field Ornithologists. The meeting was held at Acadia University in Wolfville. It's a touristy college town but lots of nice places to eat and people are friendly so I have no problems. 

First two days were council meetings then two days of talks and one night for poster sessions and another for the banquet so my plate was full. So it goes. 

The biggest downer was my fault; I picked a cheap hotel 35 minutes from the meeting. This meant it was a pain getting there and back and it limited what my wife could do. Lesson learned. Lack of bird diversity was a downer too but I found many nice sites I would like to come back too.

On the up side: meeting great folks and seeing some great science by the younger folks. Really impressive group.

Places we visited were Harborville, Grand Pre, a UNESCO Heritage Site, and the town of Digby. Wife went horseback riding on the Evangeline trail. 

Bald Eagle moving through Wolfville

Sole boat docked at Port Williams

Harborville - close to the parking lot

Harborville - check out that sexy strata

Harborville - size of bowling ball - no idea

Harborville

Harborville (the joke is that this is Syd's dorm room) 

The base of those cliffs in Harborville has a section that is "lumpy" 

Harborville 

Lupine - these were all along the highways

Sunset in Harborville

Grand Pre - the tide here is 11 meters vertical but hundreds of meters along the shore

A beach just outside of Digby. There's a loon on the right. I promise.