Notes

The items on this page are a collection of updates and reports on Sable-related events and activities, and short accounts about selected features of the island’s natural and human history, operations, and cultural life. Some predate the establishment of the Sable Island National Park Reserve in 2013, and of these a number were previously published in the website of the Friends of the Green Horse Society.

The items here are not organized by subject and/or by date of occurrence. They are presented in this page only in the order of publication (i.e., date of publication in this website). Some of the articles are “news”, while others provide some background details about people, projects, programs and operations both on and off the island—all slices of life and times of Sable Island.

  • A Sable Island Institute fundraising raffle for seats on a helicopter day-trip to Sable Island in early October 2023.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    12 March, 2023

  • 5th Annual Writing Contest. Prizes for stories about Sable Island! If you live in Nova Scotia, are 10 - 13 or 14 - 17, and are interested in the island, you could be a winner! Entries due April 14, 2023.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    06 February, 2023

  • Arts, science, and news about Sable Island and the Sable Island Institute. This public meeting continues the popular series of updates held at Saint Mary’s University. Admission is free.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    08 November, 2022

  • Announcing the winners! Thanks to everyone who submitted stories and essays, and to the team and supporters who made it a success. Watch for the next contest in January 2023!

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    16 June, 2022

  • The winning tickets have been drawn for the Sable Island Institute's raffle for a trip to the island by helicopter with Kattuk Expeditions. The visit is planned for October 6, 2022.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    04 May, 2022

  • The SII plans to develop a program of engaging and responsive online opportunities for people to connect with the island, and we begin with this StoryMap project, a collaboration with COGS.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    22 April, 2022

  • The book Pit Pony, written by Joyce Barkhouse, is about a young coal miner and his companion, a Sable Island horse. Joyce won many awards for her writing, and Pit Pony is the most beloved of all her works.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    15 February, 2022

  • Prizes for creative prose about Sable Island! If you live in Nova Scotia, are 10 to 13 or 14 to 17, and are interested in the island, you could be a winner! Entries due by April 15, 2022.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    08 February, 2022

  • Announcing the winners! Thanks to everyone who submitted stories and essays, and to the team and supporters who made it a success. The number of entries tripled this year. We’ll do it again!

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    07 May, 2021

  • Since 1801 Sable Island has provided safe haven for shipwreck victims, and during the past six decades, has served as an emergency landing and/or refuelling site for helicopters, including SAR.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    12 April, 2021

  • The Sable Island Institute hosted a raffle for a Trip for Two with Kattuk Expeditions to the Sable Island National Park Reserve in early October 2021.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    02 April, 2021

  • Prizes for creative prose about Sable Island! If you live in Nova Scotia, are 10 to 13 or 14 to 17, and are interested in the island, you could be a winner! Entries due by March 12, 2021.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    30 December, 2020

  • I imagined it as it was when we lived here: the beacon slowly turning, grey wooden swings, clothes flapping on lines, chickens in the yard, and adults busy with chores while children played in the sand.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    28 December, 2020

  • A year late, but this September they finally made it to Sable Island! Their visit, originally scheduled for 2019, had to be postponed due to poor weather and beach landing conditions.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    29 October, 2020

  • Moth larvae, which may have an ecological role on the island far bigger than their tiny size suggests, will be the focus of the Sable Island Institute’s first major terrestrial research program on the isla

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    28 July, 2020

  • In a study of life stages and survival, researchers are banding sparrows on Sable Island and on the Delmarva Peninsula with combinations of coloured plastic leg bands that identify individual birds.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    03 June, 2020

  • Since I was on the island when the national parks were closed, I was able to stay and continue work on some of the Institute’s projects. For the island itself, it has been a mostly normal spring so far.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    10 May, 2020

  • Announcing the winners! Thanks to everyone who submitted stories to the contest. All were interesting to read, and each provided unique perspectives and insights, and some surprises. We’ll do this again!

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    24 April, 2020

  • Three watercolour paintings by 12-year-old Laurie illustrate features of the island’s landscape and wildlife, expressing a sense of the energy of sand dunes, waves, grey seals, ponds and horses.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    14 January, 2020

  • This writing contest ended on March 13th. Submissions are now being reviewed, and the winners will be announced on April 24th. Thank you to all who entered!

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    02 January, 2020

  • Arts, science, news, and an introduction to the Sable Island Institute. This public meeting relaunches the popular series of annual updates held at Saint Mary’s University. Admission is free.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    10 October, 2019

  • This program of illustrated talks about ecology and research, and the island’s role as an inspiration and subject in the arts, is open to the public. All are welcome, and there is no charge for this event.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    23 September, 2019

  • The station’s last balloon and radiosonde were launched at 8:15 pm on August 20th 2019. As the balloon went quietly up into the dark on a foggy night, so ended Sable Island’s upper air program.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    26 August, 2019

  • A roll cloud is a rare, and often spectacular, meteorological phenomenon. Since 1976, there have been six reports of roll clouds passing over the island. The most recent was this summer, on July 9th.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    26 July, 2019

  • On Sable Island, the remains of old stations, communication towers and other activities, discontinued for many decades or longer, are exposed as wind scours sand away from previously buried infrastructure.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    07 July, 2019

  • The Sable Island Institute hosted a raffle for a Trip for Two to the Sable Island National Park Reserve in mid-September 2019. The winning ticket was drawn on July 20th.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    23 May, 2019

  • All the submissions have been reviewed and the two winners selected. We are encouraged by both the number and quality of entries, and the interest and enthusiasm of everyone who sent in stories and essays.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    22 April, 2019

  • The Institute is presently headquartered in a building with an intriguing history, the Gatekeeper’s Lodge in Point Pleasant Park, built in 1896 and modelled after Wycombe Lodge in Buckinghamshire, England.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    19 April, 2019

  • Roger works outdoors to capture the spontaneity of nature’s light and shadow. As fog rolls in or clouds blow over the landscape, patterns of light alter and shift, changing colours and reshaping landforms.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    04 April, 2019

  • Occasionally odd and interesting manmade items have washed ashore on Sable Island. The origin and/or purpose of most can be identified, but some are puzzling, such as miniature boats and wooden barrels.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    02 April, 2019

  • This year the spring equinox (also called the vernal equinox) occurred during early evening on March 20th. The first full day of spring for 2019, March 21st, dawned clear and cool on Sable Island.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    26 March, 2019

  • Shoreline surveys for marine litter, entangled seals, oiled seabirds, tar balls, and beached cetaceans can provide a wealth of information about environmental trends and the impacts of marine pollution.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    16 February, 2019

  • The Gatekeeper's Lodge was last used as the park superintendent’s residence in 1996. Since spring 2017, the house has been base of operations for the Institute during the first phase of its development.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    10 February, 2019

  • The Sable Island Institute invites children living in Nova Scotia to research a Sable Island topic of their choice and write 500-1000 words of creative prose. Entries must be submitted by March 15, 2019.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    13 January, 2019

  • The 3rd Annual Salute to Sable Island, hosted by the White Point Beach Resort, will feature speakers from the Sable Island Institute, Parks Canada, and the arts community, with a focus on the Sable horses.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    22 December, 2018

  • The Sable Island Institute wishes all Sable Island’s personnel, friends, and supporters the very best for a happy and healthy winter 2018-2019.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    20 December, 2018

  • To really understand animals, we need to know them as individuals. Bird legs provide a flagpole for coloured bands that can be seen from many metres away and enable researchers to track individual birds.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    18 November, 2018

  • During autumn, the island’s landscape becomes a tapestry of silvery-white, pale yellow, tan, amber, buffy, sienna, orange, red and purple, with the bright greens of juniper and crowberry woven throughout.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    20 October, 2018

  • Although the island is not as fouled as many other locations, marine debris is abundant, with some plastic containers originating in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, France, and Russia.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    30 September, 2018

  • An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from Canadian Forces Base Shearwater arrived on Sable Island to dispose of a few years worth of beached, and potentially dangerous, Marine Location Markers (MLMs).

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    31 August, 2018

  • Many people in Nova Scotia have small collections of Sable Island curios, but much of Herb’s appreciation and joy in his collection is the opportunity to share the items and their stories with visitors.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    18 August, 2018

  • On a clear night Wayne Broomfield set up his tripod and took a series of photos. Later, when he examined the images, he saw a shape like a spinning top glowing in the sky above the Sable Island Station.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    17 August, 2018

  • On summer solstice, samples of ocean water containing millions of microbes were collected from >100 sites worldwide in an international study of marine microbes and their key roles in ocean ecosystems.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    23 July, 2018

  • Leach’s Storm-petrels were first recorded nesting on Sable Island in July 1994. Their vocalizations are now part of the nighttime soundscape of summer as petrels circle and swoop bat-like in the dark.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    13 July, 2018

  • Many dead herons and egrets—Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, and Great Blue Heron—found during May, were likely part of an unusual mortality event on Sable Island in early spring.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    21 June, 2018

  • On June 20th (Wednesday) 6:30-8:30 pm, Argyle Fine Art will host a free talk with artist Briana Corr Scott and marine biologist Nell den Heyer about their experiences in art and science on Sable Island.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    15 June, 2018

  • The Sable Island Institute and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s ArtsSmarts Nova Scotia program visited Atlantic View Elementary school in Lawrencetown for a fun day of Sable Island-themed art-making.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    19 April, 2018

  • In late January 2018, White Point Beach Resort hosted the 2nd Annual Salute to Sable Island Weekend - a fundraiser for the Sable Island Institute, and a special 'Sable experience' for all.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    01 March, 2018

  • None of us ever know what is around the corner, or what can change our life’s work. In 2007, I was contacted by Red Deer Press about illustrating Free as the Wind: Saving the horses of Sable Island.

    Author ImageSable Island Institute
    20 January, 2018

  • In summer 2009, between long hours of field work, copying field data and preparing labels, Janet kept a journal of the feelings, sensations, images, and mysteries of her Sable Island experience—poetry.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    15 January, 2018

  • The visitor experience was well organized, and Adventure Canada staff were quick to help people have a great time. For many it was the trip of a lifetime, "a lifelong dream” fulfilled.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    01 July, 2016

  • In late October 2012, after an 18-hour sail from Country Harbour, Nova Scotia, the Dominion Victory and a barge loaded with equipment and supplies arrived at Sable Island to begin a sealift.

    Author ImageZoe Lucas
    01 October, 2012