I went to the Eastern Townships for Labour Day weekend to get a good hike in at Mont Mégantic (I also visited Lac Mégantic for one of their evening benefit shows at Musi-Café, the bar that was blown up during the train derailment in August). This was the view, in the distance, of the nearby village Nôtre-Dame-des-Bois from a lookout point on the way up Mont St. Joseph. The road seen is the access road to the park.
In La Patrie, where I was staying, the bunnies decided the most familiar and comfortable place to hang out was under my car.
Look at that relaxed rabbit. Just look at her. Punk.
In a Sherbrooke parking lot, this lovely plant was blooming and a bumble bee was fertilizing all of its flowers. I would love to know what the name of it is, and I’d like to get some seeds (I later was given the plant. The bees loved it, and it took over my backyard, but I was able to remove it all ).
Back in Stanstead, cows doing what hippos do, in an over-fertilized pond. Don’t drink that water, girls!
After taking the Vermont route through Derby Line and Newport up to the Quebec border at Mansonville, I finally got to the big Brome Fair at Knowlton.
I took many pictures of the home canning, gardens, baking and crafts section, but here is one category I would like to enter in next year: the mixed garden basket.
I would also like to enter the category for best Jamiroquai chicken, but chickens are not allowed in Montreal (except Rosemont) and I’ve already got my hands full with the aforementioned punks. Here are a few pics I took, but I have to say, the photo quality is terrible, and you really ought to see them in person.
Some more birds I’d like to be in possession of, especially with my miniscule woods-and-pond:
I’d like to enter the punks in next year in the general “Rabbits and guinea pigs” category, just because I can, but I don’t think they’d like it very much. I found a very very large and sleepy Holland Lop. Now I know what breed Elizabeth is at least half of!
When I was a girl on the farm, we once got some fertilized eggs for our pet goose. She hatched three white geese and three African geese, like these:
The sheep section was interesting to see — some in full wool, some recently shorn. Some so recently shorn, they had to wear little suits to be comfortable and protected. Here’s a sheep with a very relaxed demeanor:
And two more, a different breed, who look quite curious (or hungry and waiting. Please keep your hands out of their pen. Management not responsible for nom-nom injuries.)
Here’s a cow and calf from a Charolais beef farm:
And finally, an Ayrshire from a dairy farm. I find it interesting that the cartography of her spots seem to depict the limits of the sovereign seas!
I’m not that much of a birder, but I do like to take on a birding challenge once in a while. I used to recognize fewer than 20 species of birds, but now it’s somewhere between 50–80.
Two years ago, in 2011, I took my first trip to Point Pelee National Park, where thousands of us flock to see migrants come in at this time of year. I submitted a trip report for publication, but since it was rejected, I’m free to share it with you:
On Tuesday, May 17th, several BPQ members converged upon Point Pelee in time for the annual Spring Migration. This was the first time for me, so I have to make some kind of trip report (without a checklist of total species seen).
The first night was cold and rainy when I pulled in at 10 PM, so I quickly made a cozy sleeping platform out of a picnic table in the dining shelter. It was so comfortable, in fact, that I slept right through not one but two teams of birders as they came in for an early breakfast prior to birding at the tip of the park, where all the birds come in to land after crossing Lake Ontario.
Indeed, the first day continued being cold and rainy, and we had the misfortune of seeing many birds succumb to a week of this weather, some keeping low to the ground, exhausted from their long flight over Erie and hungry for the insects that were late to emerge. Our camp became a haven for many pairs of Scarlet Tanagers, one pair in particular becoming “pets” to our shelter until nightfall.
We also saw a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in the flowering bushes by the shelter, as well as many warblers. I saw my first Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, along with Baltimore Orioles, a Black and White Warbler, and a Chipping Sparrow stealing crumbs left behind by birders at the Visitor’s Centre café.
On the Woodland Trail, I interrupted pursuit of a very adorable Eastern Mole, which crossed my path and swam through the swamp to safety, with a very small ferret making its dash for cover shortly after. And out on Western Beach in the evening, I saw a flock of Common Mergansers.
Thursday was thankfully much warmer, and the birds arrived in droves at the Tip, staying higher in the trees (except those foraging for bugs amongst the rocks on the beach). I pointed out some brown bats to the Mennonite children who came by (there’s a large Mennonite community in the area of Leamington). Back in the woods, I identified my first Common Yellowthroat. At the marsh, I got to appreciate the Barn Swallows up close and personal, and I finally learned to identify female Red-Winged Blackbirds, whose noisy and very recognizable partners were perched on reeds every 3 m as far as the eye could see, in every direction.
I saw a wild turkey stop traffic to cross the road. Someone had put food out for them at Sleepy Hollow, where I encountered two Quebec nature photographers taking advantage of the opportunity to snap pictures of the lured birds: a Lincoln’s Sparrow, many Blue Jays, several pairs of Indigo Buntings, and I also became familiar with the territorial soundings of the male cowbird, shepherding his mate through many other cowbirds browsing on the ground. Back at the campsite, my favourite bird of the day was a Prothonotary Warbler, who was flitting between perching on the passenger-side rear-view mirror of a minivan and the top of the passenger door, with the occasional side-trip to the windshield wiper. After about 15 minutes of waiting for the little twit to stop uselessly expending his energy on his own offending reflection, I threw a towel over it to encourage him on his way.
At dusk, on my walk back from a noted Common Nighthawk roost (where I came up dry), I found a female bird nesting at just above eye-level in the young trees just off Centennial Trail. I resolved to find and identify her again the next day.
On Friday morning, I identified her as a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. I then experienced the giddiness of watching two male turkeys doing their lek display at the beach volleyball court next door at Camp Henry. Later that afternoon, I saw both males and females creeping through the bush down near the Tip, where I had seen a Bay-Breasted Warbler and also a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.
In the woods, I saw a fledgling American Robin being accompanied by his dad, and also a very bold and active Red-Headed Woodpecker. I finally identified a Catbird, which I’d seen everywhere, but couldn’t figure out until I saw its red undertail coverts. At the marsh, I took the board walk and was rewarded by spotting an elusive pair of Wood Ducks, as well as a noisy committee (for lack of having the proper noun of a group of them!) of Black Terns.
Saturday was the last opportunity for me to see some surf birds for a while, so I went to the Tip and saw Bonaparte’s, Herring, and Ring-billed gulls. I probably saw more, but until I can identify the birds by myself, then it just doesn’t count.
After Pelee, my journey continued on to Detroit — and then into the heartland of the America, all the way down to Nebraska, taking Amtrak’s California Zephyr from Chicago. I saw Sandhill Cranes on the way down, and I saw what I presume was a Western Meadowlark in the field (in Nebraska, you can find both Eastern and Western). I also saw Cattle Egrets, Prairie Chickens, and a soaring eagle — though you can see those in Quebec, if you know where to look. And as my summer stretched on from that trip, I got further opportunities to improve my birding on the Rideau Lakes between Kingston and Ottawa. Notably, we lived near a family of loons, and regularly saw ospreys, and I even saw a Caspian Tern.
This year, I visited Point Pelee again. Point Pelee is the southernmost part of Canada. It is the heart of Carolinian Canada, representative of an endangered ecotone – a region of similar ecology, with populations of hallmark species that interact in an ecological community. Much of the Carolinian and Mixed broadleaf forest in Canada has been needlessly destroyed by agriculture and urban development. The swath of land between Windsor and Toronto — with pockets all the way to Montreal — is heavily populated and what remains of this ecotone are only small patches and vestiges.
In the woods, wherever you go, you’ll see all kinds of creatures, from snakes to the aforementioned moles to deer. Deer paths can be identified as being used enough to not be an illusion, but not enough to be created by humans.
This lovely white flower is a white violet, which I happen to have in patches in my front yard, I’ve also encouraged to grow in my backyard where there’s less light and traffic.
But here, there are also purple violets, and also a different species of yellow violet!
Off a woodland path, a young cottontail rabbit hid in the foliage until I stayed quiet for long enough that it came out. It browsed the small plants growing at the edge of the path, until it darted across to safety when newcomers came along.
I found a very large fungus, shaped like a cone, on a snaggy tree on a low-traffic seasonal footpath. Looking this up later, I found it is called Dryad’s Saddle. What a fanciful name! A dryad is a tree nymph or spirit in Greek mythology.
This prickly pear cactus is one of two populations found in Canada. It grows in the open savannah.
I’d like to be involved in landscape restoration work, as a botanist/ecologist and simply as a person who likes mucking about planting things. It’s also something we need to do within our cities, not just “unproductive” agricultural field or pasture or land lying “disused.” But on a plus note: land lying disused will revert to ecological use!
We also saw a Kirtland’s warbler, a real “lifer” — a bird rare enough to get birders coming from all over to see it.
And on the last morning, this mother robin was feeding a brood of four chicks in a nest she made in a sign on a park building:
Big Days — my Point Pelee bird list
I had my first Big Day ever, where I saw more than 100 birds, thanks to having an excellent birder, Andrew, volunteer guide me on one of those mornings. I couldn’t have done it without his help. Here’s the list of the birds I saw on this trip just as I wrote them down (any white space between list items doesn’t mean anything):
14 –15th May, 2013
Black throated blue Rose breasted grosbeak House wren Yellow warbler Veery Catbird Baltimore Oriole Carolina or house wren Marsh / swamp sparrow Tree swallow Barn swallow Black tern Canada goose Eastern kingbird Cormorant Turkey vultures Cape May warbler Blackburnian Downy woodpecker Red breasted chat
Orchard oriole
(Don’t forget the grey beige warbler!)
Mourning dove Baltimore oriole House wren White crowned sparrow Another kind of sparrow (white throat tan form?)
Turkey (male)
Redwing blackbird
Grackle Barn swallow Palm warbler Kingbird
…
Tree swallows
Little grey-beige warbler (Nashville?)
Merganser Redheaded woodpecker Bonaparte gull
Ring billed gull
Blackburnian
Cormorant Scarlet tanager
House wren Ruby crowned kinglet
Yellow warbler
Downy woodpecker
Grey catbird
Cowbird Great Blue Heron Turkey vulture Mute swan Egret American coot
Canada goose American black duck Killdeer Black bellied plover Dunlin Semi palmated plover Blue jay Possible chestnut-sided warbler
Kirtland’s warbler Cape May warbler Solitary sandpiper Black tern Common yellowthroat Swamp sparrow Ruby throated hummingbird Northern parula Blue grey gnatcatcher Black Capped chickadee Warbling vireo Veery Rose-breasted grosbeak Crow Robin Starling
Big Day with Andrew – 16th May
Blackburnian warbler
Palm warbler Yellow rumped warbler
Least flycatcher
Orchard oriole
Baltimore oriole
Rose breasted grosbeak Grackle Heron Kingbird
Killdeer Hummingbird Turkey Redwing blackbird Barn swallows Black-throated blue warbler Eastern wood peewee
Black throated green
Magnolia warbler
Chestnut sided warbler Forster’s tern Great black backed gull
Ruddy turnstones
Cormorant
Wood duck Cowbird Blue jay White crowned sparrow Redstart
Warbling vireos
Caspian tern
Black tern
Little gull
Dunlin
Bonaparte’s
Ringbilled
Tree swallows Robin Yellow warbler Red breasted nuthatch Red headed woodpecker
Yellow bellied flycatcher Common yellowthroat Blackpoll Scarlet tanager female
Catbird
Magnolia warbler
Female Purple finch
House wren
Tennessee warbler
Red-eyed vireo Cape May warbler
Turkey vultures
Eastern screech owl
Canada warbler
Northern parula (male)
Chipping sparrow
Whip-poor-will
Black and white warbler Oven bird Orange crowned warbler
Come New Year’s, I always ask people what their resolutions are. (It’s more than just being polite because I want to tell them one of mine.) Most people say “None, resolutions are only made to be broken,” but I disagree; that’s all-or-nothing thinking. But some people surprise me with something ambitious or unusual that they want to do. Last year, I did some resolutions and goal work with a friend, and she accomplished more than she thought she would. This graphic (above) from 13 Rules for Realizing Your Creative Vision was what she found most helpful.
This is a long-running “lifestyle” blog about the pleasures of living like a farm kid in an urban context. There’s a big focus on ecology and wildlife because this has brought me joy – and this is also the greatest potential we have of restoring some balance to nature where we live.
I write practical content for people to do little projects that basically make things beautiful, but also support climate readiness (energy efficiency, heat reduction, drought tolerance, flood prevention, and more). I’m a relentlless promoter of having a live-and-let-live attitude towards biodiversity.
Comments and questions are welcome! And if you’re anywhere near the Montreal region, you can also use my “Rewilding” service to landscape your property using native plants, convert to a green driveway, and prevent your windows from killing birds.