Eagles of Clark’s Pond

Bald Eagles of Prince Edward Island are putting on a world class show in locations such as Clark’s Pond.

The reason is the fish run. It started with smelt  

and now, the Gaspereau, a type of herring, have begun their journey from the sea through inland waterways to ponds where they spawn. The eagles gather, gorge when they are hungry and hang out afterwards as they digest their food.

The trees destroyed by the hurricane several years ago make great perches for the birds as they survey the area.

My husband and I visited the area recently to see the spectacle. The birds didn’t disappoint. The eagles had fed earlier and were lining the banks of the pond 

and filled the trees. 

We lost count at 30 eagles in just our proximity.

There were older birds 

but lots of juveniles of various ages.

It was interesting to see them flying over the pond 

or taking flight 

from a perch in the trees. 

And as you can see above, sometimes juveniles congregated together. 

Of course we are going back to the eagles of Clark’s Pond again this week.

A day with the swallows

At Canoe Cove on the island there is a beautiful park. We love to go there with our grandchildren, especially when low tide allows beach exploration. However, during the spring, no matter the tide, 

my husband and I have watched the Bank Swallows there and were eager to see the tiny avian speedsters again. The birds weren’t in the same location as before, but had moved their nests along the coastline. 

Erosion destroys many nests each year and it’s tough for the birds because they must dig new nests into the banks when they are tired after the long journey north. The Bank Swallows at Canoe Cove managed again this year.

We stayed inside the chained area away from the bank but patience paid off. The adults,

returning to the nests with food for the young, 

were fast but we were able to “capture” them. 

It was a thrill to watch them do their aerial acrobatics over the area.

While we had our picnic lunch, the sounds of the birds and their occasional passes overhead, provided entertainment unique to Canoe Cove. The view across the Cove shows a typical island scene for late May, fields of dandelion in full bloom. 

After lunch we drove back towards home, stopping at Cavendish Grove along the way. The Grove has changed a lot in the last month, 

the water in the pond having been replaced by reeds and grass. 

There were two geese still in residence and mallards as well but grackles and blackbirds were most prevalent. However, Tree Swallows glided and flitted overhead, a sight new to us at the Grove. It was impossible to take a photo of them in flight. I have one photo of a Tree Swallow on a wire which I took in North Rustico recently. 

Watching the swallows was an experience of natural magic provided by the island.

Ballet news

The following post I wrote over six years ago documenting some family history.

This past weekend, our eldest granddaughter appeared with Ballet Jörgen when the ballet company was in Summerside performing the ballet Anne of Green Gables. The story of Anne is based on the book of the same name by islander Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

This Prince Edward Island story was beautifully done by Ballet Jörgen and our granddaughter’s participation in the performance fulfills a prediction she made years ago.

Written in April 2016:

                                  

As part of our Christmas tradition when our daughter was young, we read the story of the Nutcracker. It was one of the books she kept over the years and brought into her own family. 

Her eldest wasn’t two when our daughter started reading the story of Clara and her Christmas dream/adventures. When she saw the video of the ballet, the little one was hooked. One day, as she watched, her grandfather attempted to engage her in conversation about the various characters and she commented, “I want to watch it by myself.” Poppy stopped talking!

She watched Angelina Ballerina as well and liked to do "ballet moves" as she called them, with the characters during each show. Our girl loved dance, especially ballet!

Her parents, wanting to encourage her interest, enrolled her in classes the year she turned three. She enjoyed them, with an enthusiasm that was infectious. Her younger sister started the ballet moves at an early age too and imitated her sister. 

The younger girl was heart broken every time her sister headed off to ballet class because she couldn’t go.

The elder girl especially enjoyed the year-end show, where she was on stage twice. 

She enjoyed every minute of the performance and is looking forward to this year's show when she is on stage three times. That girl has a flair for the dramatic as you can see.

Before Christmas last year, the family went to Moncton to see the local production of the Nutcracker and our girl was enchanted with everything about the show. Even the two year old, though a tad squirmy, was also fascinated with the performance.

Last weekend, their grandfather and I took the girls to see an afternoon performance of Sleeping Beauty by Ballet Jörgen at the local theatre. Tchaikovsky's music means ballet to the girls and when the curtain rose and the music started, they were enthralled. The older one was riveted for the whole performance while the younger checked in periodically. She was her three year old self for the two hour show. 

                                                         Ready for Sleeping Beauty

While I love ballet and classical music, my husband is a country music fan, but he wanted to experience the performance with the girls. Besides, one of us could take a misbehaving child out of the theatre while the other stayed. We joked about him needing to be the one who would have to be taken out. His love of his granddaughters outweighed his own reluctance to watch ballet.

The older girl has told her mother that she dances in her dreams and has performed the role of Clara from the Nutcracker. On this day, during the intermission, before the curtain went up again, she told me, “You know Nanny, I'm going to be up there one day." 

Who knows what Sylvie will do, what she will become? Her ability may not match her interest in ballet. I do know that for a five year old, she has an incredible attention span and interest in dance, especially ballet. We, her family, will continue to encourage her to follow her dreams. 

Next year, it's Swan Lake...without her grandfather!

 

Along the way 2022

Since my husband and I are back on the trails and beaches again, we see some unusual or interesting things along the way. On a recent trip to the Bonshaw Hills Park, a new bike station caught our eyes. 

The trials are frequented by mountain bikers and this station, with the hooks for holding the bike at eye level and the tools attached from strings would be helpful to any biker experiencing trouble.

At a cottage at Yankee Hill, near the New London Lighthouse, someone has collected the buoys washed ashore along the beach and gathered them along the driveway. They make a nice decoration, a great way to recycle and keep the beach clean.

This old metal piece is a curiosity hung from a tree along the boardwalk at North Rustico. Is it a symbol? Does anyone have any idea what is it or what it symbolizes?

Also at North Rustico, on a quiet Sunday morning, a man driving a ride-on mower pulled two young children in a cart along the road. The three were thoroughly enjoying the ride.

Closer to home, as I was cleaning windows recently, a Canadian Forces air craft flew over doing manoeuvres as they do periodically in the skies over Summerside. 

As I looked on, paratroopers released from the belly of the aircraft, floated down to earth. There wasn’t much free fall before the chutes deployed and it looked like a gentle descent. 

It made me think of Jan, a fellow blogger at 

who was a skydiver for years. I could only imagine that feeling of floating through the air as I watched, then turned back to cleaning windows. 

Sigh…   

On the beach

An overcast day with a slight cool breeze on the north shore of the Prince Edward Island made it comfortable for a walk on the boardwalk in North Rustico. 

Then my husband and I went to nearby Cavendish Grove for a picnic as the sun came out. By chance, we met Miriam and David, who had come back to visit the Grove. David is a fellow blogger and both birders visited PEI last week. It was great to catch up with them after some extended time on the island. Afterwards, my husband and I headed east to French River and beyond to the lighthouse at New London.

French River was in fine form with the lobster fishery underway and the boats tied up at the wharf or returning from the day’s work. 

Nearby a Lesser Yellowlegs, the first I’ve ever seen this time of year, was busy feeding. 

At the New London Lighthouse, the setting lived up to our expectations. 

Waves broke in the shallow water offshore, providing a white water backdrop for the remains of the old wharf. 

The grey weathered wood is a perch for birds but only one gull was in residence that day.

Fog rose from the channel and the houses in the distance became faint outlines. 

Mere metres in front of us, a small flock of gulls played in the breeze and dabbled in the sea. Eventually they formed a line in the falling tide as if playing follow the leader.

We didn’t stay long enough to see fishing boats pass on their way to and from port at French River, but we’ll have a picnic and a walk on the beach there later this week.

                                                             Never far from our thoughts

 

A day with friends

A blogging friend and his wife are visiting Prince Edward Island this spring and my husband and I met with them this week at Cavendish. Of course we had a picnic and Cavendish Grove was our meet and lunch location. David and Miriam brought good weather with them from Ontario and without any wind, it was a perfect day for birding.

David has been an avid birder since childhood and Miriam is a skilled birder who takes excellent photos. It was especially nice to spend time in nature with such birding enthusiasts.

The only way the Grove could have been better is if there had been goslings. The Canada Geese were swimming or flying around 

and arguing with each other in usual Geese fashion. 

Ducks such as Mallards, Gadwalls 

and Green-winged Teals dropped in while we watched. The Muskrat swam around the bulrushes and dived for tender shoots.

The National Park is a prime location for Bald Eagles on the island and we often see them when we visit the park. That day was no different and in honour of our visitors, the birds were in fine form. We saw one perched on a stump near the dunes 

and two adults and an immature eagle floated overhead on the breeze.

Elsewhere in the park, as per usual, an Osprey flew by.

We saw Golden-crowned Kinglets in a tree, tiny birds which I had never seen before. I didn’t manage a good photo, just a blur of flapping wings as one flew away.

It was a wonderful day with people who enjoy nature as much or more than we do. 

P.S.

I am leaving comments on blogs as I have always done and many aren’t posting. What is up with Blogger these days? Is there a fix for this?