Return to Clark’s Pond

We vowed to return to Clark’s Pond to see the Bald Eagles again during the Gaspereau run. The birds know where and when to gather for a Gaspereau buffet. This time we met with Helen and Frank, Australians visiting family on the island. Helen is a fellow blogger I had met on-line two years previously.

We started in Cavendish Grove, our favourite place on the island and made our way towards Clark’s Pond. Along the way now, wildflowers line the trail, the most appropriately named, Forget-Me-Nots, always catch my eye. 

The centres of the tiny blooms are white or yellow and tiny pink flowers are the last to open. 

It was a beautiful sunny day but the wind was high which usually means fewer birds. While there were some of the large raptors in the area,

they weren’t in the numbers we had seen the previous week. The younger birds have yet to achieve the unique feather pattern of the mature Bald Eagle.

We walked to the beach through the campgrounds down to where the stream enters the Gulf. 

Here the Gaspereau make their way from the Gulf of St. Lawrence into the pond, a short journey through the sand dunes. 

The sea was rough and the sound of the rolling waves filled the senses. The air was fresh and cool. We could see birds on the far side of the stream as they floated just above the beach.

Several juvenile birds rested atop the trees around the pond, including one which exhibited spiky feathers in the breeze. 

It stayed there the entire time we lingered.

The remains of a tree, against the sea and sky, shows how such beauty can be devastating.

Back at the Grove, the leaves have burst forth for those few warm sun-lit weeks again and the apple trees are in bloom. 

We had a picnic with our friends and enjoyed every minute in nature’s garden. 

Perfect.

Notes from the island

The sun is rising earlier everyday for another few weeks and light lingers in the western sky well after 10 p.m. every evening. These glorious days of expanding light are my favourite time of year even though nature is never sure what temperature to provide with them. While it’s been colder than average for a few weeks, the new green of spring has finally erupted from the buds and the glade at the Grove is in fine form again. Yay!

It’s been an interesting few months around the island as the pandemic guidelines and regulations have eased and tourist season approaches. Life is feeling more like the pre pandemic normal now though many seniors, besides me, continue to wear masks in the grocery store, theatre etc. My husband and I had the second booster last week and will continue to take boosters as long as they are recommended.

We have delayed gardening and some painting outside this spring until this past week when it was colder and we stayed closer to home. While weeding and mulching are complete, planting in the vegetable patch is delayed for another week at least as is the painting, both requiring warmer days.

This past month, we reconnected with David and Miriam. David is a blogger from Ontario I have followed for several years. My husband and I met them when they came to Prince Edward Island last September and again last month. David’s blog is at   https://travelswithbirds.blogspot.com

Last week, we met with Helen and her husband, Frank. Helen is a blogger from Australia. They have family here on the island and are visiting after more than two long years away from their family because of Covid. Helen’s blog is at   http://outandabout3.blogspot.com

When we met with David and then Helen, we had a picnic and a walk at Cavendish Grove each time. It is wonderful to be able to share our favourite places with visitors to the island and to get to know fellow bloggers better. It is amazing though that by the time I meet another blogger personally, it’s as if I know them already. Blogging expands one’s life in many wonderful ways. Meeting a fellow blogger is probably what it was like to meet a pen pal when letter writing was the way we communicated.

We may be able to connect with another blogger next weekend if the weather and time permit. It is good to be living a “normal” life again.

In the neighbourhood

Last weekend, our neighbour had fence posts removed, leaving huge holes along the property line for a few hours. Looking through the kitchen window, I noticed a neighbourhood crow looking into a hole, maneuvering around it, as if attempting to get in there. 

My husband and I guessed there was food below.

The crow gave up and when I looked in the hole, a fat little mouse was down there, stranded. 

We felt bad for it and despite our best efforts to rescue it via a shovel, then a stick plastered with peanut butter, hoping it would climb the stick, the mouse died. I had dropped in cheese for the poor creature, giving it a last meal at least. Poor thing. A quick death from the crow might have been better.

A slug somehow made its way into the hole as well 

and while we watched the area, another mouse went by the hole without falling in. An area Song Sparrow, probably one of those who greets me every morning at dawn, stopped by the stick for a look around. 

The mouse was not alone at the end.

We took the peanut butter stick out of the hole and left it on the patio and before we could wipe off the peanut butter, a crow discovered it and pecked it off the stick. 

The crow did a good job cleaning the stick!  

Starlings live in our neighbourhood and nesting is underway. One day last week, we noticed a neighbour putting a grate over one of the back vents on his house. The next day, two starlings were noisy and posturing on the roof of the house. 

We saw each land on the grate and call out as it did. The two continued the behaviour for hours, possibly because their nest was destroyed or made inaccessible by the grate.

The neighbourhood animals include numerous birds besides Crows, Starlings and Sparrows, such as Tree Swallows, Robins, Blue Jays, and Flickers. Foxes have stopped by as well as several predatory felines. Unlike the cats, neighbourhood dogs are confined to their yards, but we hear them greeting others often.

You know, there is a children’s story featuring the neighbourhood animals waiting to be told here. Even if that never happens though, the animals sure keep us entertained.

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…