Big Tancook Island NS, Animals and Birds

Our first night on Big Tancook Island, we watched this eagle soar and float over the shoreline, hunting for food in the out-going tides.

The neighbour had chickens running free 

around his yard and sometimes, 

they came over into ours to visit.

This young deer had unusual markings and seemed always 

to be by herself, at the edge of the graveyards and fields.

This deer had many fast-moving companions 

but stopped long enough for me to capture her photo.

The cat-tail marsh was full of red-winged blackbirds.

They searched the lawns for food 

and returned to the cat-tail marsh to feed babies,

hidden in cup-shaped nests made of rushes.

And one herring gull made it his business...

to patrol the roof edge, whenever we barbecued.

We shooed him away many times, as we cooked.

Diving ducks floated in circles on the out-going tides,

disappearing under the water for food.  

I wasn't able to get close enough

to identify them.

On calm evenings, we watched and heard loons, 

at the water's edge.  The evening light looked like stripes 

on the water's surface.

Big Tancook Island, off the coast of Chester in Nova Scotia, has white-tail deer, muskrats, mice, rabbits, snakes and many birds. Walking the trails or the shorelines, we were often rewarded with encounters with the natural world.

It was a pleasure visiting Big Tancook Island, a beautiful, peaceful place of heart's ease.

For more information about the Big Tancook Island area, click here.

A Perfect Rainy Monday

Raining...again…today.  I wanted to be outside raking winter’s debris from the yard, but it’s raining again today.  I look out the window and can see work, which needs to be done.  I can’t see past my list: rake, trim, stake and repair.  The list nags at my brain.

My internal critic wants me to be out there getting stuff done; ticking off another chore from the list.  It’s not a good way to begin the day.

But, what’s this in my yard?  

A pair of mallard ducks have landed.  They waddle up the gravel path to the paved driveway.  It, too, needs work, as the frost has pushed and heaved the driveway into humps and depressions where puddles of rainwater pool.  I wonder if the ducks are looking for a drink from a puddle, but no.

They are looking for something else, necks outstretched and clearly searching.  Ah, they’ve found it, but what?  I can’t see anything but dark pavement, but they are rushing to a flat spot near the puddles. They appear to be eating something.   Heads down, heads up and shake. 

I can’t see anything from inside and know if I open the door to get closer, they’ll fly.  I grab the camera and wind the lens out and watch.  Worms.  Thin pink earthworms are lying on the pavement after the hard rains.  And the ducks are eating them, bending down and sucking up the worms, like children sucking up spaghetti noodles, one at a time.  

I hear myself laughing. What a delight!

I laugh at the ducks.  And at myself for fretting over my list.  Everything has its time and its purpose. The world does not end because I can’t rake today.  

This day is already perfect, just as it is full of rain and worms.  The ducks are relishing the opportunities this day offers, just as it is. 

I will too.

words and photos are ©copyright 2009-2014 Carol Steel

What We See in the Yard

 

Each day in winter, we feed the ducks.

  When the snow is too deep for them to forage on the river marsh,

it is essential to remember to throw

the cracked corn out for them.

Our biggest problem is to avoid attracting pigeons.

 

 

However, for the ducks, the larger issue

is avoiding becoming lunch.

 

 

In the past week, hungry Bald Eagles have patrolled

the tallest evergreens near our home.

 

 

We don't always see them as their heads

look like snow in the trees and their dark bodies blend

with the branches.  Can you see two?

 

 

Once we spotted them and began to take photos,

the eagles moved to another tree. 

We'll stay inside from now on;

we don't wish to disturb them.

 

 

We feel lucky to live in a place where we can enjoy

 such magnificent birds from our kitchen windows.

 

 

I wonder if we could entice the eagles

to eat the pigeons.

 

I can live with that.

Common Mergansers

Common Mergansers

The river awakens.  Her belly hungry,

she swallows the ice floes

and gurgles with melt.

The wind whirls a dance

with stray leaves left behind

by runaway snow.

Wild ducks, the mergansers

fly low, arrow-straight,

splash in and float.

The sleek divers call out

in harsh notes, like the twangs

of guitar,  songs of fishing

in spring.

 

Words and photos are copyright ©Carol Steel.

Red Sky in the Morning

 

 

 

First this

 

 

then this.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday.

Another Snowy Sunday

We have snow and more snow from another stormy Sunday in February.  The power was off and now is on.  The driveway way was clear but is no more; yet will be again.

The only constant are the redpolls and ducks, the chickadees and pheasants that show up to be fed.   We feed them in the blizzard, in the dark and in the storms.  We've perfected the art of throwing food out the windows when we can't get to them otherwise. 

We can't stop feeding them just because it becomes a challenge.

A Clear Day

 

 

A Clear Day

Wind and rain have eaten the snow.  Splotches of ice on dead grass, ducks feeding on cracked corn and a plastic shopping bag bouncing over the rotting snow are all that is left.  The temperature has dropped; the air bites my skin as I lean out to retrieve the newspaper. 

 

 

The sky is limitless without cloud or haze.  From here, I can see the hills behind the city.  The air is so clear that the edges of buildings, the bark on the trees and even the ice cakes in the river have distinct outlines.  The world is freshly washed and shining.

 



 

I appreciate this crisp mid-winter day and the clarity it offers.

 

 

Words and photos are copyright Carol Steel.

Sackville Waterfowl Park #2

The Sackville Waterfowl Park was established in 1988 as a joint venture of the Town of Sackville and Ducks Unlimited Canada.  The cooperation of Mount Allison University, the province of New Brunswick, the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada, together with corporate and individual supporters
made this park possible. 

Have you been there yet?  Admission is free.

Though we could have chosen a guided tour, we did not. 

 Instead, we began our walk at the Anglican Church

on Main Street, Sackville and guided ourselves.

A map of the Sackville Waterfowl Park is available

showing the pathways

 and each of the entrances to the park. 

To see the map, click here.

In addition to ducks, we saw Red-Winged Blackbirds

and this Tree Swallow who sat for a photo.

Most of the time, the Tree Swallows swooped over our heads,

flitting to and from their nest boxes.

This pair of Canada Geese took time to rest with their 5 goslings,

on a board floating in the water.

When the babies were ready to go again,

they swam off in a protected line.

We noticed a muskrat lodge hidden in the cattails and grasses.

 

And later saw the muskrat.

More about the Sackville Waterfowl Park tomorrow...

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All photos are mine.

Sackville Waterfowl Park

Have you walked through the Sackville Waterfowl Park yet? 

For the price of the gas to travel to Sackville, New Brunswick,
the park is yours to enjoy. 

Admission is free.

The Sackville Waterfowl Park is 55 acres in the heart of Sackville. It is managed by the Town of Sackville

with the help of a voluntary

Waterfowl Park Advisory Committee.

The park has 3.5 kilometers of trails

and boardwalks that pass through shallow fresh water wetlands

and low uplands.

We stepped onto the path

and before we had walked two minutes,

I was taking photos.

 

I couldn't resist the beauty, the birds, muskrats,

wild flowers, alders and birches,

so much to enjoy at each curve in the path.

I took many pictures, so many that I will spread

them out over several blogs.

The walk was amazing.  You'll see.

And more photos to come...

Shediac River NB

We saw Common Mergansers and Bald Eagles at the Shediac River last Sunday. 

As we sat watching pairs of Common Mergansers swimming and diving on the river, we noticed an immature Bald Eagle land in a tree near the water’s edge.

The immature Bald Eagle sat and watched the ducks, and watched us watching the ducks.   Shortly after it landed, a mature Bald Eagle flew overhead, perhaps the parent.

The mature bird captivated us with an aerial display, swooping and diving and floating…the acrobatics on air looked effortless.

The eagles stayed for 15 minutes, then disappeared as quietly as they had arrived.   The ducks kept up their activities undisturbed.  

We continued watching, with nothing more exciting to view than ice melting...the last of it, we hope.

It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon at the river, breathing Spring.

Photos are mine.

Northern Goshawk and Ducks

The Northern Goshawk took a Mallard duck in our yard, over the weekend; the hawk is still around.  We've seen it sitting in the maple waiting for ducks to appear.

Dwayne Biggar, who writes a column in the Times & Transcript every Saturday, lists identifying characteristics of a mature Northern Goshawk:  brilliant red eyes, fairly distinctive plumage and a tail that extends below the folded wind tips.  He identified this one from our photos.  (Dwayne's email:  thebirdgarden@rogers.com )

Dwayne says that Mallards are expanding exponentially and will potentially cause problems for other ducks, like the Blacks.  He says that the Hawk picks out the weakest, possibly a sick bird, so he's helping the rest of the flock. 

Dwayne linked to my blog entry of March 3, 2012 for Birding New Brunswick, to share the photos.

The ducks do not seem to be upset by this not-too-common backyard visitor, or perhaps they have short memories.

Nelson Poirier of Nature Moncton commented upon the rarity of seeing a Goshawk up close.  Nelson also writes a Saturday column for the Times and Transcript.  He describes himself as a "veterinarian by trade and a naturalist by nature" and can be contacted at  nelson@nb.sympatico.ca.  Bob Childs, of Nature Moncton, posted our Northern Goshawk photos on their website.  http://naturemoncton.org/hotshots.htm

Thanks to each person who supported our hawk sighting and shared our photos.  As you can see, the ducks continue to come, undeterred by the Goshawk.  Perhaps he is passing through on his migration route, as we haven't seen him this afternoon.

All photos are mine. 

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