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We hope you’ll follow along with us as we explore the fascinating ecology of Owls Head Provincial Park. You can click any of the photos to enlarge.

saveowlshead

A grassroots movement to protect Owls Head Provincial Park in Nova Scotia (Mi\'kma\'ki)

What a great week for letters to the editor! Six l

What a great week for letters to the editor! Six letters of support of saving Owls Head Provincial Park.

"Any politicians or private interests who frame the situation as “golf vs. conservation” or “economy vs. environment” are not only misrepresenting the situation but also doing a disservice to Nova Scotians."

To read "Not Binary Choice" and other letters, click on the link in our bio.

#SaveOwlsHead

Great Blue Heron in the moonlight. Doesn't this lo

Great Blue Heron in the moonlight. Doesn't this look like a painting?

#SaveOwlsHead

📸 Photo contributed by group member who wishes to remain anonymous.

One year ago, concerned citizens united in the bit

One year ago, concerned citizens united in the bitter cold to protest the delisting of Owls Head Provincial Park.

To see what you can to do to help today, check out the link in our bio.

#SaveOwlsHead

📸 Photo Credit: David Sorcher

This is @ns.speciesatrisk , here today to talk abo

This is @ns.speciesatrisk , here today to talk about Owls Head Provincial Park. The park is home to several species of conservation concern. Today, we’re profiling Hirundo rustica, better known as the barn swallow. How did the most abundant and widely distributed species of swallow in the world come to be endangered in Nova Scotia? Read on to find out.

The barn swallow is an aerial acrobat. An insatiable consumer of flying insects, particularly wasps, ants and flies, this colourful songbird can be found from sea level up to 10,000 feet, foraging in open areas including parks, fields, lakes, and beaches.

In spring, a male and female barn swallow will work together to build a nest cup of mud, usually mixed with grass stems, against a suitable vertical surface. They line the hardened nest with grass, then feathers. In instances when an old nest is reused, the pair will replace the old lining with new grass and feathers and add fresh mud to the nest’s rim.

Historically, barn swallows built their nests on the walls of caves, in crevices, and on ledges in cliff faces. However, because the species has little natural fear of humans, and can often be seen boldly driving off threats such as cats and crows, when open structures such as barns and bridges proliferated across North America with the spread of European settlements, the barn swallow tended to favour the inner walls and nooks of these places as nesting sites.

With the industrialization of agriculture over the past several decades, small country barns have gone from ubiquitous to relatively uncommon in Nova Scotia (and across Canada), and so too has the barn swallow. The loss of barns for nesting does not adequately account for the dramatic decline in barn swallow numbers, however. Neither does the widespread use of insecticides in agriculture, which causes food shortages in otherwise suitable open agricultural habitat. The species saw a staggering 76% decline in numbers Canada-wide from 1970 to 2009, and the falloff has continued since.

COSEWIC conservation status: THREATENED
Barn swallow conservation status in Nova Scotia: ENDANGERED

#SaveOwlsHead

$100 Million Dollars - That's how much prize money

$100 Million Dollars - That's how much prize money Elon Musk's foundation is offering for technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Seagrass beds, like the eelgrass meadows offshore Owls Head Provincial Park, can actually capture carbon up to 35x times faster than rainforests can! Now that's worth saving and celebrating.

📸 Photo: Lobster in Eelgrass by Nick Hawkins Photography

Unlike many owl species, the barred owl has brown

Unlike many owl species, the barred owl has brown eyes, not yellow. The barred owl is just one of 70+ bird species observed at Owls Head Provincial Park last summer.

Seeing an owl in the wild is an incredible experience. Until then, check out Nick Poirier Photography for more great wildlife photos (@nicholasjpoirier )

Snowshoe hares are named for their large, furry fe

Snowshoe hares are named for their large, furry feet, which help them move nimbly atop the snow. It takes around 10 weeks for their coats to change with the seasons. Have you seen any tracks from hares or other animals this winter?

"The Liberals’ endorsement of this scam is an as

"The Liberals’ endorsement of this scam is an assault on both the body politic and the rocky bones of the body of the province itself."

Richard Bell of the Eastern Shore Cooperator just called for the three Liberal leadership candidates to release a joint statement in support of saving Owls Head Provincial Park. To read Richard's compelling overview, visit the link in our bio.

📸 Owls Head Provincial Park, Courtesy of the Government of Nova Scotia

There has been a concerted campaign by the provinc

There has been a concerted campaign by the provincial government and the prospective developer to misrepresent the delisting of Owls Head Provincial Park as an exclusively "local issue."

Our provincial government removed a provincial park reserve from a provincial protection plan. Delisting the property is, therefore, a provincial issue...The delisting and possible sale of this parkland — which many reasonably believed to be protected — has the power to set a dangerous precedent for our nature reserves, provincial park reserves, and wilderness areas. Certainly, that affects ALL Nova Scotians.

📸 Photo from Envisat Satellite
Used under license: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

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