Observation post

A burrow of puffins surveys Sydney Bight from Hertford Island off Cape Dauphin in Cape Breton Friday afternoon.

From late May through early August, Hertford and nearby Ciboux — the Bird Islands — host vast flocks of razor-billed auks, black guillemots, Atlantic puffins, and black-legged kittiwakes, seabirds that spend the rest of their lives on the open ocean. The province designated the islands a protected wildlife management area last year. Regulations bar the the public from landing, but Bird Island Boat Tours offers close up views from twice-daily, two-and-a-half hour boat tours. (Joshua Barss Donham photo)