Halifax's Urban Wildlife

Halifax’s Urban Wildlife

It’s often easy to get caught up in city life, stuck in a routine of daily commutes, all while trying to keep up with studies and jobs. This can make it hard to enjoy or even notice the natural world that surrounds us even in the very heart of the city. Lucky for us, Halifax provides the perfect place to see a huge variety of urban wildlife. From your own backyard to the local park or even down to the waterfront our city is full of a surprisingly diverse array of animals that go mostly unnoticed, but they can be easily seen if you slow down for a second and take a good look around.

The easiest way to see Halifax’s wildlife is to take a walk down to any local waterway, a visit to the northwest arm or any lake, pond or stream in the HRM will almost guarantee a sighting of something extraordinary and unexpected.  Blue herons can be seen with regularity around frog pond and Williams Lake wading for fish, cormorants frequent the northwest arm during the summer months and even bald eagles and osprey can be occasionally seen at the end of the arm buy the traffic circle. Williams Lake also holds a population of painted turtles and if you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of them sunning themselves on the rocks and stumps of its many shallow bays. The list goes on and the lucky observer can see wood peckers, loons, numerous duck species and a wide diversity of songbirds on any walk around Halifax and its associated parks and waterways.

If amphibians and lizards are more your speed red backed salamanders can be easily found by sifting through loose topsoil in your own backyard and are one of the most common animals in the province. Wood frogs, leopard frogs and garter snakes can all be seen on some of the lesser traveled trails on the north side of long lake.

Deer and snowshoe hare frequent the edges of town and red squirrels can be found anywhere with a small grove of trees. Racoons and their kits can also be seen in many forested area areas of town.

Aside from the terrestrial assortment Halifax is also famous for its numerous lakes, streams and of course the ocean and every single body of water in our city holds a population of fish. The Halifax lakes and ponds all provide a home to some combination of small mouth bass, Brook trout, Rainbow trout, yellow perch, chain pickerel and catfish and they are all fun to catch on a rod and reel. In the salt, mackerel are a local favorite entering the near shore water in the thousands in the summer. Flounder, Pollock and cunner along with an assortment of sculpins can also be found as close as the harbour front and northwest arm.

As a final treat harbour seals can often be viewed from the tip of Point Pleasant during low tide in the summer and on rare occasions, porpoises are known to enter the harbour and come well within sight of land.

With all the wildlife around town, take a minute, step outside, and enjoy just how close to nature we really are.

Good luck in your searches

Sam

Just a couple examples of Halifax urban wildlife

Pickerel Frog at Long Lake

Red Squirell

Bald Eagle outside my house in halifax

A very curious Mallard Duck

Small Mouth Bass

Pollock from the northwest arm

Cunner from Pier 21

Atlantic Mackerel off Peir 21

Small Mouth Bass

Brook Trout

White tail deer in Halifax

Muskrat at Cunard's Pond

Brook Trout

Yellow Perch