April to May

Lobster season began recently and it draws us to the sea every spring. 

My husband and I went to the New London Lighthouse this year, 

one of our favourite places where boats are so close to land in the channel. 

One will always find Cormorants and Gulls in that area. One Cormorant flew off in front of a mussel boat which was headed to port.

We picnicked at Cavendish Grove that day, 

enjoying the beef stew I made for the occasion. Later we walked towards the coast, passing an Osprey nest which was occupied as its partner ate nearby.

Last week I saw my first Merlin, which was a thrill! However I have seen it since along the boardwalk and fear for the Song Sparrows in the area. Merlin’s can grab their prey right out of the sky.

One evening, my friend and I did another Owl Prowl without any luck. We did see lots of woodpeckers that evening near the Dunk River though. 

My friend and I will go another evening soon. The old dirt roads are waiting.

One morning, as my husband and I prepared for our walk, we saw a fox across the street. We don’t usually see them in the day, but this time of year, when foxes are feeding their young, we often see them hunting in the area in daylight. It was a foggy morning which affected the clarity of the photo but this fox has something in its mouth, probably food for its young.

Another day, when we arrived at the end of the boardwalk, two large hares were eating in the grass there. They were both brown except for their feet and lower legs which looked like white boots. Another walker with a dog scared them off before we could get better photos. 

It was a rainy day which required use of an iPhone for photos. Such circumstances almost guarantee we will see some interesting creature and struggle to take photos.

Finally today, I am struck with how adaptable seniors have to be to continue to have any quality of life. With diminishing senses and bodily functions, declining mental acuity and physical ability, life requires we adapt.

A friend told me recently she didn’t want to adapt. We talked about what she wanted for her life at this point in time. If she didn’t adapt, her life would get much smaller, confined to the house. By the next week, she had come to terms with the conditions she faces. She has adapted.

In some respects, we become invisible as we get older, an afterthought in society which bustles around us. However, we are here, adapting to life as it is for us at this stage. Just give us a few minutes!

The magic of Merlins

Every now and again as a birdwatcher, you happen upon a bird you haven’t seen before, referred to as a lifer among birdwatchers. This can be an exciting find and if you are lucky enough, a photo or two is the result. If you are exceptionally lucky, you can observe the bird for a time, which is rare indeed. Recently, my husband and I were fortunate enough to experience such an exception and we marvelled at the happenstance which brought us to the experience.

It was a average day on the boardwalk. The approaching low tide brought us down to the beach to search for shorebirds, however, none were around that morning. We headed along the boardwalk for some exercise when I spotted what I thought from a distance was a crow in a snag. As I approached the area, I realized this wasn’t a crow.

The bird moved to another branch and settled in there for a time, facing the boardwalk rather than the beach. This gave us the opportunity to take some photos from various angles. Later, I identified it as a Merlin, probably a female from the look of the chest and abdominal feathers. 

The bird with its hooked beak, the markings on the feathers and the orange feet was fascinating to observe. 

It scanned the area below but was turned away from the beach where its prey would have been. Like us, it knew there weren’t any small shorebirds on the beach that day.

Merlins are small falcons, once known as pigeon hawks since they resemble pigeons in flight. In the Middle Ages, they were used in falconry to catch Skylarks in flight as the ladies of the court watched. 

A close-up of the head shows the external nares, nostrils, on the upper part of the beak and those all-seeing eyes.

A look at the tail shows the small band of white which rims its feathers.

Two days later, we were back on the beach again, this time, small shorebirds were there too. 

I watched for sometime and heard the calls of raptors in the area. Scanning the trees, I spotted another Merlin, in an old snag bordering the beach.

It was focussed on the shoreline this time. It saw those tiny birds too. It flew to an nearby stand of trees as I watched.

A look at the tail feathers of this one makes me think this is a different bird from the last one we saw, maybe a male, with darker feathers. It looked smaller than the female as well.

I didn’t stay around to watch the Merlin pick the Plovers and Sandpipers out of the air when they flew off. It’s one thing to know about the possibility, another to actually witness it. It’s not realistic but I like to think they all survived.