Kouchibouguae National Park

Between Bouctouche and Mirimichi on New Brunswick’s east coast was Kouchibouguae National Park. I arrived late in the afternoon after travelling from Hopewell Cape and touring Bouctouche first, so I only took two short hikes. A boardwalk stretched over Little Gully to sand dunes at Kellys Beach. This was home to shore birds such as the endangered piping plover, osprey, blue herons, and the common tern. From the midway point, a tern kept hovering above the water before it dived-bombed into the sea catching small fish. In fact, Canada’s largest tern colony nested within the national park. Birds like sandpipers and sanderlings combed the mudflats and beaches searching for food.