Sable Island National Park Reserve

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Sable Island National Park Reserve An official Parks Canada page. Francais: https://www.facebook.com/RPNIledeSable

Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of year on Sable Island. The days cool, the grass goes to seed, and the island...
10/10/2026

Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of year on Sable Island. The days cool, the grass goes to seed, and the island lights up with migratory birds. Pictured here: a hudsonian whimbrel.

Sable Island has been a Migratory Bird Sanctuary since 1977! The island provides a place for migrating birds to rest, feed and sometimes nest.

📷 K. Solar

October 1st is Treaty Day in Nova Scotia, and the beginning of Mi'kmaq History Month. Treaty Day commemorates the signin...
10/01/2026

October 1st is Treaty Day in Nova Scotia, and the beginning of Mi'kmaq History Month. Treaty Day commemorates the signing of treaties and celebrates the culture and contributions of Mi'kmaq people.

On June 4, the 300th anniversary of the signing of the Peace and Friendship Treaty at 1726 was commemorated at Fort Anne National Historic Site. The treaty, signed on the grounds of what is now Fort Anne, was the first treaty between Indigenous Peoples and any European state in the region that would become the Canadian Maritimes.

The treaty served as the basis for future negotiations and Peace and Friendship Treaties and laid the foundation for Crown-Indigenous relations in what is now Eastern Canada.

Learn more: https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/traite-1726-treaty

📷 Riley Smith

Today, September 30, is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.By wearing orange today, we h...
09/30/2026

Today, September 30, is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.

By wearing orange today, we honour the children who were lost in the residential school system and the Survivors from whom we continue to learn. 🧡

In 2020, the former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia was designated as a national historic site. Learn about how Survivors and their communities have chosen to commemorate the story of this site and others: https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/pensionnat-residential.

09/28/2026

Sable Island is home to hundreds of wild horses who forage on the plants on the island. What is the relationship between the plant species and the horse population? 🌾

In a recent study, Parks Canada and the Sable Island Institute used fenced exclosures to study this question, and more!

➡️ Check out our new four-part video series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOkBGkvoJZQE


09/22/2026

How do the sand dunes of Sable Island form, and do the hundreds of wild horses living on the island influence how the dunes form? 🐴

The recent Fences in the Sand study by Parks Canada and the Sable Island Institute used fenced exclosures to study how wild horses influence the dune ecosystems of Sable Island.

👉 Learn more about the study in our new four-part video series.


It's ! 💧Under the surface of Sable Island is a "freshwater lens", a layer of freshwater floating on top of the dense sa...
09/18/2026

It's ! 💧

Under the surface of Sable Island is a "freshwater lens", a layer of freshwater floating on top of the dense saltwater. Sable Island has no bedrock, so all rain, fog and snowmelt seeps directly into the sand. Where the freshwater lens is exposed, the island's freshwater ponds are formed.

Parks Canada staff use several monitoring wells to monitor changes in the level and temperature of the freshwater lens. A small floating logger tracks data, which is downloaded several times a year.

This initiative helps us know more about the island's freshwater, which supports much of the life on Sable Island: marram grass, horses, freshwater fish and insects, and humans!

09/16/2026

For hundreds of years, Sable Island has been home to a population of wild horses. How do the horses influence the dune ecosystems of this small, remote island?

A recent study by Parks Canada and the Sable Island Institute investigated this question. 🐎

Discover the Fences in the Sand study in our new four-part video series! 📺
Watch all four videos now: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOkBGkvoJZQE

Sable Island is a very foggy place, but a "fog bow", like this one spotted over Main Station, is a rare sight! 🌈 These s...
09/11/2026

Sable Island is a very foggy place, but a "fog bow", like this one spotted over Main Station, is a rare sight! 🌈

These special weather phenomena are sometimes referred to as white rainbows. Like a rainbow, they form when sunlight hits droplets of water in the air.

📷: Z. Clark

Keep reading for another exclusive mini-interview with a Sable Island horse researcher, Victoria Crozier! 🐎Victoria is a...
08/31/2026

Keep reading for another exclusive mini-interview with a Sable Island horse researcher, Victoria Crozier! 🐎

Victoria is a PhD candidate at the University of Saskatchewan. She is originally from Montreal and has been studying the Sable Island horses since 2023.

📝 Q: How would you describe your research goals? What kind of data are you collecting to answer your questions?
A: I want to know why there are so many more horses on the island than 60 years ago, what changed? Could it be related to the increase in seals around the same time? I’m collecting location data on all of the horses, to see if there are more horses in places where, during the winter, more seals “fertilize” the island and allow more plants to grow.

🛬 Q: When you first arrived on the island, what was your first impression of Sable?
A: It’s so small but also feels so big; on a clear day you can see the entire island from north beach, but on a foggy day the island seems to stretch on forever.

🦭 Q: If you could study any other animal on Sable, what would it be? Why?
A: The seals, I’ve always found marine mammals super interesting and almost mysterious with the way they disappear into the ocean (and they’re so cute!)

📷 L. Cousineau

(This post was written by summer student Zoe C. and scheduled in advance)

🐝Hello Sable friends! Zoe C. here, signing off for the 2026 visitor season!🐞 It feels like my 10 weeks on the island hav...
08/27/2026

🐝Hello Sable friends! Zoe C. here, signing off for the 2026 visitor season!

🐞 It feels like my 10 weeks on the island have just flown by, but the time has come for me to return to the mainland and finish my studies back in Halifax. I can’t even begin to describe how privileged I feel to have spent my summer in such a magical place.

🌞 During my time on the island, I have had the opportunity to connect with so many inspiring scientists and kind visitors. Dinners with tern biologists, long hikes, Bald Dune at sunrise, the constant chorus of birds, wind, and waves, and the enthusiasm that visitors have brought to every tour will be some of the many highlights of my summer here.

🌈 I’ll be leaving the island with a full camera roll, and an even fuller heart! Thanks for following along on my journey this summer!

Address

Sable Island National Park Reserve
Reserve, SK

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19024261500

Website

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