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World atlas

Cape Breton Highlands National Park

National Park · Canada

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Photo © James R. W. Stewart

Photo © James R. W. Stewart — CC BY-SA 4.0 — Source: Wikimedia Commons

ABOUT

Where the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia rises in weathered cliffs and glacially carved valleys, Cape Breton Highlands National Park spans a landscape where boreal and temperate forests merge across rugged terrain. The Cabot Trail winds through this 948-square-kilometre reserve, revealing steep coastal headlands, sheltered river gorges, and inland plateaus where spruce and fir woodland gives way to exposed heath and windswept ridgetops. This ecological mosaic supports a rich community of forest-dwelling songbirds, raptors that hunt over open moorland and coastal waters, small mammals adapted to cool maritime conditions, and migratory species that use these forests and wetlands as crucial stopover habitats during spring and autumn passages. The park's streams and coastal margins attract wading birds and waterfowl, while the deeper forests harbour woodland specialists and nocturnal hunters. This is working boreal-Atlantic transition zone, where climate and topography combine to create habitats found nowhere else along eastern North America's seaboard.

For wildlife enthusiasts and nature photographers, the park's combination of accessibility and raw landscape drama makes it irresistible. The famous Cabot Trail provides numerous trailheads and overlooks where visitors encounter birds of prey soaring above coastal cliffs and forests alive with songbird activity during spring migration and summer breeding season. Early morning light across the plateaus and valleys offers unmatched photographic conditions, while autumn brings both the visual spectacle of boreal hardwood colour and intense migratory activity. The park remains one of the most visited protected areas in Atlantic Canada, yet its size and rugged terrain ensure that patient observers willing to explore beyond the main trail can find solitude and rare perspectives on boreal wildlife. Access is straightforward year-round, though the brief summer season and shoulder months of May and September concentrate both wildlife activity and the season's best light.

Website parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ns/cbreton

WILDLIFE

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Greater Yellowlegs

Tringa melanoleuca

Northern Harrier

Circus hudsonius

Bonasa umbellus

Double-crested Cormorant

Nannopterum auritum

Northern Gannet

Dark-eyed Junco

Hairy Woodpecker

Leuconotopicus villosus

Downy Woodpecker

Dryobates pubescens

Great Blue Heron

American Herring Gull

Larus smithsonianus

Boreal Chickadee

Poecile hudsonicus

Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

Black-capped Chickadee

Poecile atricapillus

American Black Duck

Zenaida macroura

Histrionicus histrionicus

Anas platyrhynchos

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Corthylio calendula

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Regulus satrapa

Melospiza melodia

Corvus brachyrhynchos

Evening Grosbeak

Hesperiphona vespertina

Great Cormorant

Phalacrocorax carbo

Haemorhous purpureus

Red-tailed Hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

Northern Flicker

Colaptes auratus

Larus glaucoides

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta canadensis

Melospiza georgiana

Ring-billed Gull

Larus delawarensis

Pileated Woodpecker

Dryocopus pileatus

Gallinago delicata

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus varius

Black-backed Woodpecker

Picoides arcticus

Belted Kingfisher

Megaceryle alcyon

Certhia americana

Red-necked Grebe

Podiceps grisegena

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Aegolius acadicus

Common Starling

Sturnus vulgaris

Catharus guttatus

Setophaga coronata

American Yellow Warbler

Setophaga aestiva

Eastern Kingbird

Tyrannus tyrannus

American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow

Spizella passerina

Mangrove Warbler

Setophaga petechia

Savannah Sparrow

Passerculus sandwichensis

White-throated Sparrow

Zonotrichia albicollis

Black-and-white Warbler

Mniotilta varia

Black-throated Green Warbler

Setophaga virens

Northern Parula

Setophaga americana

Lincoln's Sparrow

Melospiza lincolnii

Swainson's Thrush

Catharus ustulatus

Solitary Sandpiper

Tringa solitaria

Great Black-backed Gull

Vireo olivaceus

Black Guillemot

Turdus migratorius

Bombycilla cedrorum

Common Yellowthroat

Geothlypis trichas

Magnolia Warbler

Setophaga magnolia

Blue-headed Vireo

Vireo solitarius

Least Flycatcher

Empidonax minimus

Blackburnian Warbler

Setophaga fusca

American Redstart

Setophaga ruticilla

Spotted Sandpiper

Actitis macularius

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Archilochus colubris

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Empidonax flaviventris

Tachycineta bicolor

Branta canadensis

Common Merganser

Mergus merganser

Common Goldeneye

Bucephala clangula

White-winged Scoter

Melanitta deglandi

Ring-necked Duck

Aythya collaris

Pluvialis squatarola

Melanitta perspicillata

Red-breasted Merganser

Mergus serrator

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrulus

Somateria mollissima

Two-barred Crossbill

Loxia leucoptera

Black-legged Kittiwake

Rissa tridactyla

Bicknell's Thrush

Catharus bicknelli

Melanitta americana

Long-tailed Duck

Clangula hyemalis

Bucephala albeola

Semipalmated Plover

Charadrius semipalmatus

Least Sandpiper

Calidris minutilla

Perisoreus canadensis

Bay-breasted Warbler

Setophaga castanea

Blackpoll Warbler

Setophaga striata

Cyanocitta cristata

American Woodcock

Quiscalus quiscula

Seiurus aurocapilla

Setophaga palmarum

Cape May Warbler

Setophaga tigrina

Mourning Warbler

Geothlypis philadelphia

Falco columbarius

Plectrophenax nivalis

Bonaparte's Gull

Chroicocephalus philadelphia

Red-winged Blackbird

Agelaius phoeniceus

Barrow's Goldeneye

Bucephala islandica

Hooded Merganser

Lophodytes cucullatus

Common Nighthawk

Chordeiles minor

Pied-billed Grebe

Podilymbus podiceps

American Golden Plover

Pluvialis dominica

Charadrius vociferus

Purple Sandpiper

Calidris maritima

White-rumped Sandpiper

Calidris fuscicollis

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Calidris pusilla

Atlantic Puffin

Fratercula arctica

Red-throated Loon

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Accipiter striatus

Rough-legged Buzzard

Bubo scandiacus

American Kestrel

Falco sparverius

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Contopus cooperi

Alder Flycatcher

Empidonax alnorum

Philadelphia Vireo

Vireo philadelphicus

Northern Shrike

Lanius borealis

Riparia riparia

Troglodytes hiemalis

Acanthis flammea

Loxia curvirostra

Lapland Longspur

Calcarius lapponicus

Rusty Blackbird

Euphagus carolinus

Tennessee Warbler

Leiothlypis peregrina

Black-throated Grey Warbler

Setophaga nigrescens

Blue-winged Teal

Spatula discors

Northern Shoveler

Spatula clypeata

Mareca strepera

American Wigeon

Mareca americana

Northern Pintail

Common Pheasant

Phasianus colchicus

Chaetura pelagica

Porzana carolina

Fulica americana

Antigone canadensis

Podiceps auritus

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Numenius hudsonicus

Hudsonian Godwit

Limosa haemastica

Short-billed Dowitcher

Limnodromus griseus

Lesser Yellowlegs

Tringa flavipes

Tringa semipalmata

Ruddy Turnstone

Arenaria interpres

Pectoral Sandpiper

Calidris melanotos

Hydroprogne caspia

Sterna paradisaea

Black-headed Gull

Chroicocephalus ridibundus

Leucophaeus atricilla

Larus hyperboreus

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Parasitic Jaeger

Stercorarius parasiticus

Thick-billed Murre

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Oceanites oceanicus

Sooty Shearwater

Manx Shearwater

Puffinus puffinus

American Bittern

Botaurus lentiginosus

Little Blue Heron

Egretta caerulea

Pandion haliaetus

Broad-winged Hawk

Buteo platypterus

Short-eared Owl

Peregrine Falcon

Falco peregrinus

Sayornis phoebe

Eastern Wood Pewee

Contopus virens

Eremophila alpestris

Hirundo rustica

American Cliff Swallow

Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

White-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta carolinensis

Dumetella carolinensis

Northern Mockingbird

Mimus polyglottos

Catharus fuscescens

Passer domesticus

Anthus rubescens

Chondestes grammacus

American Tree Sparrow

Spizelloides arborea

White-crowned Sparrow

Zonotrichia leucophrys

Pooecetes gramineus

Nelson's Sparrow

Ammospiza nelsoni

Dolichonyx oryzivorus

Baltimore Oriole

Icterus galbula

Brown-headed Cowbird

Northern Waterthrush

Parkesia noveboracensis

Nashville Warbler

Leiothlypis ruficapilla

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Setophaga pensylvanica

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Setophaga caerulescens

Cardellina canadensis

Wilson's Warbler

Cardellina pusilla

Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Pheucticus ludovicianus

Passerina cyanea

Black-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus erythropthalmus

Eurasian Whimbrel

Numenius phaeopus

Phalaropus fulicarius

Pomarine Jaeger

Stercorarius pomarinus

Coragyps atratus

American Black Bear

Ursus americanus

Eastern Chipmunk

Tamias striatus

Lepus americanus

North American Red Squirrel

Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

Northern Flying Squirrel

Glaucomys sabrinus

Eastern Woodland Jumping Mouse

Napaeozapus insignis

North American Beaver

Castor canadensis

White-tailed Deer

Odocoileus virginianus

Ondatra zibethicus

Eastern Deermouse

Peromyscus maniculatus

Northern Short-tailed Shrew

Blarina brevicauda

Eastern Meadow Vole

Microtus pennsylvanicus

Common Minke Whale

Balaenoptera acutorostrata

Long-finned Pilot Whale

Globicephala melas

Halichoerus grypus

View Complete List (226 more) →

COMMUNITY

0 Community observations

No community observations yet — be the first to log a sighting here.

Natural environment

Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Strong seasonal contrast, with cold winters and warmer summers.

Usual climateCold humid with mild summersLowland · Marine environment

Average annual temperature 5.5 °C Average of the twelve monthly means

Average elevation 14 m Lowland

Climate pattern Cold humid with mild summers Main environment around this hotspot

A year of temperatures

Monthly means, with the coldest and warmest highlighted

Monthly minimum · February -6.4 °C Monthly maximum · August 18.0 °C

Global temperature scale

−40°−20°0°20°40°

Terrain and elevation

14 m · Lowland

Average terrain elevation estimate across the hotspot; the figure does not represent its highest summits.

Elevation scale

14 m

02,0004,0006,0008,000m

Lowland

Long-term climate averages, not live weather.

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