Among the birches

It is a short section of trail though a pretty one. It runs for eleven kilometres or so from Kinkora to Borden Carlton. Back in the days when the railway ran this route, Borden had a ferry across to New Brunswick in the location where the Confederation Bridge is today. This section of track would have been busy transporting people and goods to and from the ferry.

This route has an area lined with coniferous trees. There are some different birds in such an area from the usual ones I see on the Trail, like this Yellow-rumped Warbler. 

I was thrilled to see it and stopped to watch for a few minutes. My husband and I enjoyed riding into and out of the shadows on this section of trail.

Further along, this male Mallard was on his own swimming around in what wasn’t much more than a mud puddle.

Two small horses were interested in the senior stopped to take their photo. Smile! And I did.

The trail is beginning to bloom with dandelions now, some sections further along in the bloom than others. 

We rode to the end of the Confederation Trail, an area where the highway was busy with transport trucks coming from and going to the bridge. We turned back rather than cross the busy highway to a local trail.

Along the way, we watched for an ideal picnic place. There were several picnic areas but one was nestled among a stand of birches. It was a perfect spot away from the wind and the trees enveloped us. We sat on the end of the bench in the sun and had lunch.

Recently, for lunch we’ve taken a fancy to quinoa with roasted vegetables, dried fruit, nuts and seeds and olives for my husband. We make a dressing with mayo, Dijon and a flavoured balsamic vinegar. A few cold packs keep everything safe. Apples and tea round out the menu.

While we ate, it sounded like a lumberjack was working nearby. A woodpecker was busy in the trees and the sound carried through the budding trees. Of course I had to look for it after lunch. It took several minutes but eventually I discovered the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker busy around a hole it had carved out of a tree. 

Periodically the bird dipped into the hole to retrieve sap or insects stuck there. 

I couldn’t see the front of the bird. Could this have been a juvenile, without the red markings? You can see it has another hole ready. The holes must be deep according to how far the bird disappears into one.

On the way back, we could see St. Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church across the fields in the distance, its spire towering over the countryside. It is a testament to the importance of faith to the people of the land and sea.

The birches in this area will bring us back to this section of trail time and again. 

Notes:

Some people commented about fieldstone. The rock on Prince Edward Island is chiefly sandstone which isn’t hard and breaks easily. Revetments and breakwaters are made of rock imported from the other Maritime provinces. The fieldstone in the train station at Alberton may have been imported as well, unless the fields had such stone a century ago. 

An old barn we watched deteriorate over the last few years was demolished last autumn. The owners dug the area for a garden and raked the rocks, five or six small rocks scraped from the rich red soil. It is the same everywhere we’ve been.

Someone was curious about the toilet facilities along the Confederation Trail. We have seen two such facilities. Also, the trail goes through communities where services exist. However, with so few people using the trail, it is never a problem to do what one has to do.

Finally, Piping Plovers are nesting on the island this time of year. The At Risk Species nests in the sand along beaches in areas of the national park. People can’t bring dogs on the beaches where areas are condoned off for the plovers. We have see signs about the plovers at Savage Harbour along the northeast coast of the island as well. We have never seen these rare birds.