A week around here

Family commitments kept us close to home this past week, so we kept our walking to the boardwalk. I finally finished spring cleaning and we bought the mulch we needed for the garden. My husband and I hope to get the work done outside this week. In between, there may be a picnic or two.

One day, the sun poked through the clouds to illuminate the far side of the lighthouse in Bedeque Bay. Cormorants were visible along the rocks and platform there.

The warblers have returned to Prince Edward Island and we saw a few this past week. Yellow Warblers serenaded walkers 

while this Yellow-rumped Warbler collected material for its nest.

The Black Duck grabbed our attention as it noisily made its way to the salt marsh. The other soon followed.

Great Blue Herons frequent the salt marsh. It looks like they can twist their long necks in a knot.

This male Mallard is without his mate now. She is probably on a nest these days while mister argues with the Black Ducks in the salt marsh. The fine pattern on the white feathers and the fluorescent colours on his head are evidence of nature’s artistry.

Muskrats, which were absent from the marsh last summer, have returned this spring. They are welcome additions!

In the woodland along the trail, Blue Jays find peanuts left by walkers 

before the chipmunks can get to the nutty treasures. 

In the field by the trail, this American Robin draws our attention due to the feathers on the front of its upper breast. 

Could this be the start of molting?

This Red Fox, photographed from a distance, proved it has beautiful teeth.

Finally, closer to home, these two male Northern Flickers landed on a backyard fence. 

The bird on the right mimicked the movement of the bird on the left. They stayed in the area for several minutes bobbing their heads and other movements, initiated by one and repeated by the other. 

The animals make any day more interesting.

Witness

We have stayed close to home this past week, keeping our walking to the familiar boardwalk and the trails of the Rotary Friendship Park. My husband and I walked every day between the raindrops, dressed for colder spring weather while summer stands waiting around the corner.

The beauty of nature does not escape us as we walk the familiar trails which have plants sprouting, growing and blooming on the forest floor. 

Patches of plants such as wild Lily of the Valley 

and bunchberry make us stop to look.

Meanwhile, some apple trees are in bloom still 

and juniper also known as larch or tamarack, has its needles again and is looking particularly pretty. 

The animals are tending their young these days and over the last month we’ve watched a family of foxes with four kits, play in the distance. Now down to three kits, the young foxes venture further from home and play with each other while the parents hunt. This one posed nicely one day, the fuzzy fur showing its youth.

In the salt marsh one day, we watched as the mother fox hunted among the bulrushes, stealthily searching for unsuspecting birds or their eggs. This area is home to a female Black duck who is a great mother to her five ducklings. She is on guard as the ducklings feed. 

This momma definitely has her ducks in a row. 

This 10 second  idea shows the ducklings keeping up with her. Here

Lupins are beginning to bloom now and will do so for the next few weeks. The first we’ve seen this year had a slug feasting on it.

Earlier that same day, we had seen a Song Sparrow with a slug in its beak, probably food for its young. 

Meanwhile, the salt marsh is recovering slowly from the damage from sub tropical storm Fiona as bulrushes are growing again after a slow start. The local Great Blue Heron enjoys the setting as much as we enjoy its company. 

Belted Kingfishers fish in the stream and along the shoreline, occasionally landing in a place where we can watch their activity.

The circle of life is evident all around us as we walk the trails. We are privileged to be its witnesses.

Spring around here

It is warming up with day time temperatures slightly above zero, longer daylight hours and the sun feeling warmer. We have kept our walks to the boardwalk where the signs of spring are more feeling than reality yet. Still that time in nature is precious and treasured amid the reality playing out in the world.

The bay is ice covered still though the ice looks more like sloppy snow now with a few areas of open water. Birds have found these openings on the bay with the American Black Ducks dividing their time between the freely flowing stream through the salt marsh and the bay.

One morning recently, fog shrouded the Confederation Bridge which is usually like a mirage in the distance.

Rafted ice in the Northumberland Strait looks ready to drop to icy depths.

The snow, plentiful along the edges of the pathway after storms, is retreating from the walkway, exposing the path we haven’t seen since last autumn.

Red Squirrels chase each other and chatter as mating season approaches.

Small birds such a Black-capped Chickadees, 

Tree Sparrows, 

Dark-Eyed Juncos 

and Song Sparrows 

join the ubiquitous Blue Jays foraging as they are wont to do. 

Around them the snow melts a bit more every day, a hopeful sign that spring will be more than a day on the calendar. For a few minutes everything is right with the world.

 

Birds birds everywhere

We are escapees, broken out of the house after the winter. My husband and I have had that first glass of wine on the patio and the first barbecue is on the horizon. The first picnic has already happened. The beach, heritage road and trail walks have begun. Meanwhile, our fascination with birds is on-going. They are everywhere we go these days.

From our patio, we watch a starling check out this bird house in the neighbour’s yard.

Gulls float around in Richmond Bay, having gorged on the fish which stir up the water around them.

Puddle ducks, including male and female mallards, swim around water accumulated beside a field. They waddle away as we leave the car. I bet they complain to each other about our interruption of their morning routine.

Canada geese take to the air as the car door closes.

Blue herons are back. Five of them have taken up residence in a pond near Malpeque. They wade in the water and dip their beaks in to grab food. Stately creatures, their movements are slow and deliberate.

Black ducks fit in anywhere, among the geese, the mallards or the blue herons. 

The male blackbirds are among the bulrushes again, their coloured wings obvious even at rest.

This song sparrow sings its happy notes along the trail to Cavendish Beach. 

Wouldn’t it be a sad world without birds?