Spring hardly seems to happen. The cold weather hangs on and on and then suddenly, it’s summer. It has been said that summer and fall on the island are wonderful, winter is hard and spring is rotten.

Most kinds of wildlife in Nova Scotia can be found on Cape Breton Island except for two animals—skunks and porcupines. The Mi’kmaq, who lived in Cape Breton for thousands of years before Europeans arrived, tried to bring porcupines to the island. They used porcupine quills in their crafts. They didn’t want to have to go to Nova Scotia to get them. However, the porcupine never survived on Cape Breton Island.

Black bears, beavers, bobcats, chipmunks, otters and snowshoe hares are common on the island, along with white-tailed deer. Moose and caribou roam the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The island does have two kinds of animals that are hard to find on mainland Nova Scotia. The lynx still lives in wooded parts of the island. The marten, known for its thick fur, does well on Cape Breton Island, though it is extinct in Nova Scotia.

Cape Breton Island has many birds such as blue jays, yellow finches and chickadees, ducks and herring gulls, but it’s most famous bird is the bald eagle. This symbol of the United States is hard to find there. However, it can be spotted in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and on the shores of the Bras d’Or.