Music to our ears

We returned to Cavendish Grove this past week. The area is often our first choice; a favourite place on the island for both of us.

My husband and I always enjoy a picnic at the Grove from spring to late fall before it closes. One year in mid November, we wiped snow off the picnic table before we had lunch. No snow last Saturday but too cold for a picnic.

As we walked to Cavendish Beach, the grey of early spring surrounded us, newly exposed after the snow melted. The weeks ahead provide rapid change as nature shifts into overdrive. 

The sun is a big part of these changes as the lengthening days trigger the processes which awaken nature.

On New Year’s Eve this year I photographed Cavendish Beach before noon. 

Below is a similar shot from Saturday past before noon. The long shadows are gone.

Many birds have migrated back to the island already. Song Sparrows, which you often hear before you see them, are among the smallest birds we enjoy over the coming months. They sing their hearts out, lifting their voices into the heavens with every fibre of their beings. I always pause to listen.

The Canada Geese are in v-formation overhead every day now, sending their honking calls long before one can pin point their location. Soon nesting will keep the occupied.

In the bay at Summerside and elsewhere in the waters around the island the Black Scoters, diving ducks which have a distinct call, are fishing off shore this spring. That haunting call is a part of the sounds of spring too.

As usual, we walked the boardwalk other days and enjoyed the animals we have come to love there. As I photographed these Mourning Doves, Blue Jay and Red Squirrel partially hidden in the grass, two Black-capped Chickadees fluttered around my head. 

The feeder nearby offered peanuts that day, much to the delight of the birds 

and squirrels.

Birders on the island are watching for the return of the Osprey between April 12-15. Sure enough, yesterday, the 13th, we saw a single Osprey in the nest by the boardwalk. I bet she wonders what happened to the nest in her absence.

I want to finish today by thanking all music teachers out there. You who teach music appreciation, instrument and band, train voices and teach choir, direct musicals and the myriad things you do every day…thank you.

Generations have come to know and love music and performing as you work hard to pass on the joy of music to new generations.

Our eldest granddaughter had the pleasure to perform in the musical SpongeBob put on by her school last week. It is something she will remember for a lifetime. Thank you especially to her school’s great music teacher. Your hard work and dedication shows and is appreciated. 

Not again!

Winter has been checking in with us this past week. Snow was gone then returned three times. Enough of that persistence! A week without snow isn’t too much to ask, is it? I much prefer a walk outside rather than the treadmill, but that wasn’t always possible last week.

One day, when we could walk the boardwalk, I watched an area where various species of birds like to gather. During a 15 minute period I saw a Grackle, Blue Jays, Crows, a Gull, Mourning Doves, 

Tree Sparrows, 

Black-eyed Juncos, 

and Black-capped Chickadees

Meanwhile, in the stream nearby Black Ducks and Mallards 

fed in the stream. Robins looked for food nearby as well.

On the way home another day, Canada Geese fed in a field near our house. The look of this vegetation is typical of our area this time of year. The snow must go for more than a day before everything starts to turn green.

On Saturday, we attended our granddaughter’s last gymnastics competition for this season. Over the last year, Granddaughter 2 has gained confidence and improved her skills tremendously. It is always a pleasure to watch her perform.

At the competition, I sat next to a man I believe to be a Ukrainian immigrant. His daughter was competing and performed well too. When Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 300,000 Ukrainians came to Canada and a number settled on Prince Edward Island. They left when an aggressor invaded their homeland, in an effort to acquire their land and all its resources. 

I can’t help but wonder how these new islanders feel about the prospect of the same thing happening to this country at the hands of a different aggressor. Do they take the rhetoric seriously? Many people do.

We live in sad times!

The cheeky one

This past week was a typical week in March in some ways. We started the week without snow on the ground or ice in the bay. Snow soon made an appearance again though and by Monday morning, everything was snow covered. Since then, the snow has disappeared and reappeared again, though not lasting long. 

Ice has not returned to the bay in the absence of a strong on-shore wind. We did have fog most days although it is not so common here in spite of our maritime location. March, the cheeky one,  plays with our desire for an early spring.

My husband and I had an interesting experience last week regarding our car keys. It started out as many days do. We headed to the store then he dropped me back home before he made another stop. On his return, we planned a walk on the boardwalk.

As I went in the house, the car started some kind of alarm. There are so many alarms on the vehicle, we find it hard to keep them straight. My husband ignored the alarm and went on his way. Mistake!

I was inside putting items away when the phone rang. My husband was stuck at the business without a key to start the car. I’d had my keys on me when he started the car at home but had taken them in the house. He was in the car which was still running, without keys, hence the alarm which he ignored. Then later, when he turned the car off before exiting, he couldn’t start it again.

I left home and walked in his direction with his keys and he walked towards me from his position. We met in the middle. Thankfully he was only about four kilometres away. We missed our usual walk that day. Lesson learned.

Oh for the simpler days when a key had to go in the ignition to start a vehicle!

That vehicle, a plug-in hybrid, was bought new in January 2024. We have used one full tank of gas and part of another on ten thousand kilometres of driving. Our hydro bill has increased but less than the cost of the gas we would have used. Now if we could only get all the alarms figured out!

Meanwhile, one day last week, someone left cracked corn along the bridge railing on the boardwalk. The Blue Jays 

and Red Squirrels enjoyed it immensely.

No alarms involved.

 

Perfect!

Synchronicity

It was a mild, late winter day, three days before the Vernal Equinox, when day and night are equal. Ice in Bedeque Bay was turning slushy. Carl Sandburg’s poem came to mind as we watched fog creep onto the shoreline on “little cat feet.” Sea and sky blended into one as the ice covered bay and fog greeted the morning light.

In the salt marsh ducks paired up, 

male and female partners enjoying each other’s company with spring in the air. They make handsome couples.

As I walked along the boardwalk, I was taken with the beauty of the deciduous trees. As the juices start flowing again with imminent spring, long winter sleep is over. Buds will start to grow as the days lengthen and by late May, leaves will appear. There is promise in this scene!

As the week progresses, the ice in the bay disappears significantly. 

By the equinox, the cloud cover is mirrored in a thin layer of ice. Summerside is open for spring.

By Sunday, the bay is free of ice after wind, rain and warmer temperatures. Sea and sky are one.

Song Sparrows are singing along the boardwalk once again 

and the two which nest in our hedge are serenading us in the mornings now. Robins watch everything as they tip their heads to see food and/or predators. 

The calendar and the nature are synchronized. Spring has arrived!

This was the scene at the end of March in 2019. Our granddaughters were riding along the boardwalk by Bedeque Bay which was ice and snow covered. Ice is disappearing earlier in more recent years. It is concerning since ice prevents erosion in the winter months.

Will there be an island for the girls to call home when they are older? It is a worry among the many of this time in history.

Spring on the horizon

The snow is melting and the temperature was above zero for a few days this past week. Even though the wind has been high, it feels like spring and we have a spring in our steps. My husband and I hope to have our first picnic later this month. 

The ice in the Northumberland Strait has broken up and in places blue water is a welcome sight after a winter of white.

The ice in Bedeque Bay is breaking up slowly. We need a strong northerly wind to take the ice out into the Strait. 

The ice conditions prompted public warnings to stay off the ice surrounding the island. However, this fat bike rider had everyone who saw him nervous and prepared to call 911 if he broke through the ice yesterday.

A male Downey Woodpecker caught my attention over several days last week. The splash of red adds to the beauty of the industrious little bird.

One day last week, we walked the boardwalk after a visit to the head of the bay and the mouth of the Wilmot River. There, pans of ice came into the river with the tide as the ice broke up in the head of the bay. 

Canada Geese which flew south last fall have returned although some stay around the island all year now. The honkers are a welcome sight and sound overhead again. They herald the start of spring every year.

Also at the head of the bay, American Wigeons, not usual residents of the area, float through the open water, enjoying the sun.

Black Ducks, which may be some of the part time residents of the salt marsh further along the coastline, look at home here near the river too.

Nature continues to provide solace and joy in these troubled times.

Encounter

The first week of March provided the usual conditions for this time of year. It felt like spring for a few days, then winter returned. Wind kept us home one day and I didn’t take my camera for two days due to falling snow, using my cell phone for photos instead.

The stream through the salt marsh was flowing again at the beginning of last week. Then the weather turned cold, the stream iced over and the flock of ducks disappeared again. The blue colour of the stream was remarkable that day.

A day later, it was mild again and the ducks were back. Fog in the bay added another element to the usual scene from the bridge.

Ducks were busy the rest of the week, flying around the marsh or chasing others in the stream. The male and female Mallards put on a show as we watched another day.

Along the walkway, I always stop in this area which has a lot of animal activity if it isn’t particularly windy. 

A favourite of the Red Squirrels 

and Bluejays, 

the feeder is filled regularly by walkers to the area.

A favourite photo of the week was a chance photo of a Downy Woodpecker diving from one tree to another in that area.

Meanwhile, on a calm day, the resident Mourning Doves gathered in a tree overlooking the bridge.

Another day, it looked like an American Crow in the foreground and a Common Raven beside it on the bridge railing eating seed. More expert birders can correct me if I’m wrong.

Sometimes the best stories are of the non-photo events. Yesterday, it was snowing again and I left my camera home, relying on my cell phone for photos instead. As I stood in the area near the feeder for my usual few minutes there, I was buzzed by Black-capped Chickadees. The tiny birds expect food from walkers who stop. I didn’t have food with me but they didn’t give up. I could hear their wings all around my head. 

As I held up the cell phone to take a photo, one of the birds landed on the top of my phone at eye level. No photos of course. Such an incredible experience looking into the face of that tiny creature about 30 centimetres away. 

The little bird stayed for mere seconds but I was happy not to have reacted negatively and scared it off. 

It was a memorable encounter and one I will talk about for some time.