I took a small boat tour of islands (Bird Island Boat Tours) about 2.5 miles off the northeastern end of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. Hertford Island, closest to shore, is .7 miles long and 131 yards wide. Northeast of Hertford is Ciboux Island, 1 mile long and 131 yards wide. Each have cliffs up to 65 feet high with holes and ledges for birds. They have the largest colony of nesting great cormorants in North America (averaging 565 nesting pairs), average 960 nesting paris of black-legged kittiwakes, 150 pairs of razorbill, 75 pairs of Atlantic puffin, 200 pairs of double-crested cormorants, 300 pairs of black guillemots and some Leachs storm petrels. I saw Atlantic puffins, gray seals, great cormorants, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, great black-backed gulls, ruddy turnstones, and lots of mature and juvenile bald eagles.

Posted on June 15, 2022 03:02 PM by rwcannon57