Island beauty

It has been a windy week and the temperatures have been cool, which we enjoy. It was a busy week and we walked between the raindrops a few days. The grasses along the boardwalk bent to the wind and we held on to our hats.

The bay was busy this week as well with sailboats, pleasure boats and an occasional fishing boat.

In the salt marsh near the mouth of Bedeque Bay, two Green-winged Teals joined the regulars, 

Mallards and Black Ducks. The Teals are small compared to the regulars and camouflaged in the marsh. Can you see the two Teals in the picture?

One day, I discovered a male Northern Flicker 

among the trees as I watched the now former nest site of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

We spent some time at Cavendish with our friend, Helen, last week. Sadly, I had forgotten my camera’s card that morning. We did manage some photos with the cell phone, however. The Grove has the green glow these days and was the perfect place for our picnic.

It was a great day and Helen and her husband, Frank, are like family now. We hope Frank will be able to visit next year again.

A chipmunk ran up a nearby tree after lunch was over.

Along the trail, a dragonfly flitted about, stopping long enough to be photographed.

We stayed close to home with our bike riding last week due to the high winds. However, we hope to be back on the trails this week.

Despite the wind, the peonies 

survived the worst of the week. The blooms are huge 

and plentiful but short-lived.

This past Saturday, an airshow at nearby Slemon Park, meant we could watch the show from the front of our house. The airport was part of the Canadian Air Force Base which was established during World War 2 and closed in 1991. The airport is still in use, such as the night our first grandchild was born in distress and was airlifted to Halifax hospital within a few hours of her birth.

I took photos of the aircraft during the show. 

The best photos were of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds 

in their Tutor jets. 

The loudest was a Hornet which flew over the house, the sound following it at a distance. It was a reminder of the sounds which many people in the world hear today and fear as the sounds of war. However, in an age when drones are used in war too, some cannot be heard apparently. Is that better? 

As we watched, safe at our home on a pleasant afternoon, it was impossible not to think of others in less secure situations in various places around the world. It was a reminder of how fragile our peace can be and a thought for those suffering now.

Meanwhile, we are thankful for the peace we enjoy and the beauty around us. We will never take it for granted.

Our daughter took this photo of her husband bass fishing on Grand River last week. I wish everyone in this world such peace.

The sights and sounds of spring

While spring broke through the remnants of winter last week, my husband and I watched for the signs of spring we see every year as we walk the boardwalk in Summerside.

The bay was free of ice on the first day of spring and including the mouth of the bay, unlike two days earlier. This scene always reminds me how endangered the island is when it comes to rising sea levels.

At the mouth of the Wilmot River, we discovered the huge flock of Canada Geese we had seen overhead. The return of the geese in mid to late March is always a rite of spring.

The Song Sparrows returned to our garden last week. We have seen them around the yard and look forward to their serenade in the early morning when we can leave the windows open again. Meanwhile, we hadn’t heard them singing yet until one day, along the boardwalk where many sparrows nest, a hardy little bird was singing one of the first serenades of the year.

The robins are back and while others have seen them, we saw our first of the season yesterday.

A strong on-shore wind blew ice back into the bay this past weekend. The ice is diminished compared to the previous week and is mainly slushy now. Walking along by the shoreline however, one can hear pieces of ice cracking, a spring sound to anyone who is familiar with an icy sea.

The gulls have been raving about spring too, with their best calls to the sea, a sound that is music to my soul. 

March every year, Black Scoters, diving ducks which visit the island every winter, spend time feeding in the bay before they head north to breed. We saw the ducks and heard their whistles on Sunday. They are part of the symphony of spring.

Winter is holding on to the island, but the signs of spring around us keep us hopeful and eager to experience the season.

A rare day

We had a three day storm last weekend and it took another day to dig out. Here is western Prince Edward Island, the wind was the worst part of the storm. While we didn’t have as much snow as the remainder of the island, the high wind caused drifting and white-outs. 

It was Wednesday before we walked the boardwalk again, and we weren’t surprised to see that the wind, which had been out of the northeast during the storm, had blown off-shore much of the ice, except that at the head of the bay.

By Friday, slushy ice was forming over the bay again. 

Before long all of the bay would be frozen again.

However, Sunday was a sunny day with 3 degrees C and it provided the look and feel of spring.

A pair of Mallards floated by the bridge 

and a small flock of American Black Ducks lined the banks of the stream, enjoying the rare February day. 

The weather is turning cold again this week but the taste of spring this past weekend was lovely.

In the bay

The ice in the bay at Summerside broke up over the last few weeks and the wind takes it out of the bay one day and back in another depending on the wind direction. On days without wind, pans of ice, which Newfoundlanders call growlers, float around the harbour after an onshore wind.  A morning walk by the water on a calm day in spring is a treat for people of east coast Canadian islands.

On one calm, overcast morning, the lighthouse looked like the overseer of proceedings in the bay.

Close-ups of the growlers showed the shadows on the calm surface of the water.

Sometimes the gulls like to stop for a rest on one.

The next day, it was calm and overcast again as we headed to the boardwalk. However the sun found openings in the clouds and slowly the sky turned blue. The water reflected that blue and changed the scenes from the previous day. 

There were more birds on the growlers this second day, just enjoying the setting with friends. 

As we passed the Front Range Light, the blue of the scene highlighted the ice field in the distance.

 

Two days later, an off-shore wind took the ice into the Northumberland Strait again and we couldn’t see in on the horizon. Two more days and it was back. 

When we arrived at the end of the boardwalk that last day, a young eagle was perched on the ice off shore while two crows were courting in the air around it.

Land, sea, sky and creature provide much enjoyment in the bay by the boardwalk.

The bully in the marsh

Over the last several years, I have come to enjoy bird watching. The variety of niches they inhabit, colour, patterns and song I find fascinating. To sit on a rock by the bay and quietly blend into the environment so the shorebirds land there is exciting yet calming to my spirit. This time of year, with the shorebirds gone south, American Black Ducks in the salt marsh are interesting to watch. 

Much of the time these birds look like they are smiling. 

However, recently none of the birds had reason to smile since a bully was ruling the roost, or rather…marsh. One day we watched, the same male chased several birds across the water in the marsh, making an aggressive quacking sound as he went. 

The speed with which the birds could scuttle across the water almost made flight unnecessary. 

However, most of the pursued birds eventually took to wing and the bully did too. Both quickly returned to the water though.

He pursued one bird into the bulrushes where it stayed for a few minutes. 

Others decided to hang out amid the bulrushes and eventually the bully left them alone.

Meanwhile two birds were oblivious to the bully’s antics. They kept their heads in the marsh and left the other to his vices. He ignored them.

The next day, it was quieter in the marsh when we visited. 

However more recently, on a day when the marsh was flooded by gale force winds at high tide, one of the ducks, again a male, wasn’t playing nicely!

We always wonder, as we approach the gazebo, what the ducks are doing that day. As the marsh and later the bay freeze, the ducks will disappear from the area until spring break-up. Open water at the head of the bay will be their home for a few months. Meanwhile, we will enjoy their presence in the ever changing salt marsh.