“Our recovery goal to be delisted is 150 breeding pairs for five consecutive years,” said Saunders over a Zoom call, “with at least 50 of those pairs outside of Michigan, because Michigan is the stronghold.” An endangered species in Nova Scotia, the bird’s population is rising thanks to a recovery breeding program.

My first stop was Salt Marsh Trail, a flat section of the Trans Canada Trail that winds through a mix of evergreens and coastal marshlands along rocky shores.

I heard a northern parula before it vanished into the forest. A black-and-white warbler and a yellow-rumped warbler were less coy, hopping around in nearby shrubs. I turned to find another birder eyeing the warblers, dressed stylishly in a chocolate brown leather coat with a black jacket underneath. Otto Zhu, a student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, is treasurer of the Dalhousie Birding Society. Since they usually miss spring migration because of the school calendar, they focused on warblers this summer.

Among this new generation of birders is the Nashville-based musician and birder Bonner Black, who has gained an international following through her birding advocacy on Instagram. She once described her musical style as “Driven Singer-Songwriter Dunked in Glitter.” Black discovered birding on a whim, after a breakup sparked what she described over Zoom as a “quarter-life crisis.” Then, a Carolina wren showed up. “This little brown bird landed on a fence in front of me,” she recalled, and she thought, “I need a hobby.”

When she started posting comedic bird posts on social media, the posts “went way more viral than any of my songs,” Black said with a laugh, “which kind of annoyed me at first, but then I accepted it.”

She says the assumption is that her generation is “obsessed” with phones, when in reality, they can be a source of anxiety. She describes birding as “just weirdly like this little rebellious act in a way.”

But birding isn’t just attracting the younger generation. In May, Black emceed “Birder Prom ” at The Biggest Week in American Birding, an Ohio festival celebrating migrating warblers that attracts tens of thousands of people each year. Everyone from young children to couples in their 80s danced together to celebrate their shared love of birds.

In Nova Scotia, kids are discovering birds in the Nova Scotia Young Naturalists Club.

The group was started to fill a gap in the educational system, said Marina McBride, the club’s 25-year-old provincial coordinator, over Zoom. McBride took a birding course in college and recalled thinking, ”Oh, I’m gonna hate this course.” But learning bird calls got her hooked.

McBride spoke about Nature Guardians, a chapter for tweens in the club. Two of these Guardians, Bryson Gollop and Julian Togni, both 11, participate in beach cleanups and plant bird-friendly native gardens. Togni recalled stickers they put in the library window. “They have dots,” he recalled excitedly. “You could see out, it’s just so the birds would see the dots in the windows and they wouldn’t hit the window.”

Another man asked if I was looking for the Nelson’s sparrows reported on eBird. I helped him look until he had to leave. The birds appeared two minutes later. “Well, that’s birding for you,” I mumbled.

On my way back to KOA for the night, I stopped by Uniacke Estate Museum Park as suggested. It didn’t disappoint; masses of American goldfinches filled the trees.

Not spotting plovers on day one wasn’t surprising, but I had a secret weapon for day two.

The next day I got up early. The sun was out, as were the greens and blues I had expected. I met up with Sue Abbott, associate director for Birds Canada’s Québec and Atlantic region. She oversees the regional piping plover conservation program and graciously agreed to go road-tripping in search of plover nests.

“It doesn’t look good,” said Abbott shortly after we arrived at Beach Meadows, where a GPS-marked nest had disappeared. “Nest failure.”

This year, however, funding was delayed and, when renewed, fell short of previous levels. The uncertainty comes amid broader federal conservation funding reductions, largely driven by the expiration of the five-year Enhanced Nature Legacy initiative. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 2026 to 2027 departmental plan, federal spending on nature conservation is expected to fall to approximately $366 million, compared with $952 million allocated the previous year. 

In September, the federal government announced $2.6 million in funding for Birds Canada over five years, supporting bird monitoring, conservation programs and research across the country. While the organization also receives funding through other grants and donors, the changes have created uncertainty around the long-term stability of its conservation programs.

At Carter’s Beach Provincial Park, we planned to cross a creek to observe a known nesting pair, but heavy rains made it significantly deeper than expected, so we moved on. 

At Summerville Beach Provincial Park, just nine kilometres away, we found well-camouflaged plovers nesting in the distance, but still no chicks.

At Crescent Beach, we met plover volunteers who walk beaches looking for nests and documenting their locations, with one proudly flashing her plover arm tattoo; nesting pairs ran along the beach looking for food, but no one saw a chick.

The day was going fast.

Those plovers were definitely harder to spot now. I was wondering if I would finally get to see those chicks, and then Abbot came to the rescue.

“Three plover chicks!” I heard Abbott call from behind her scope. We hurried to get a view, but were still too far away to see the tiny chicks well.

“This is where getting low on your knees and kind of inching a little closer will probably help,” Abbott told me. She didn’t want to frighten the birds. We dug our knees into the wet beach and slowly made our way closer, pausing every few feet.

A fluffy chick scurried across the beach behind the roped-off area, exploring while its mother kept an eye on it. I was transfixed by this fragile but adventurous and curious little birb. They had only been in the world for a matter of days, but they were ready to see it all. The chick eventually disappeared behind some rocks, exploring beyond my camera’s reach, and I said my goodbyes.