Birding by canoe
By Heidi Rohard, 5 June 2012.
The rain started in the afternoon, but it was light and there was no wind, making it pleasant enough for 10 birders to meet at Lindsay Park. We walked around the park for a bit, but birds and other wildlife were pretty elusive except for some violet green swallows flitting about low over the water. After coordinating canoe spaces and meeting places, 6 of us took off in 3 canoes, the rest went by car to our first stop at the bird sanctuary. Access had been granted by prior permission from the parks department. We saw the turtle nesting beach, walked over to the entry to McFall Creek, and for a few minutes enjoyed these quiet, beautiful surroundings. We heard a yellow warbler in the treetop, and Andrew managed to see a common yellowthroat.
The Borden Place trailer park was our next stop, but access to the lake is limited, so it was a short one. A red-winged blackbird very loudly made its presence known in the bushes, defending its territory. We then met up at the boat launching area off Yukon Avenue. Betty remarked that the rain stopped only while we took a break, and resumed as soon as the canoe were set in motion. No wonder we had some dripping wet canoeists. Here we saw 7 Canada geese flying over our heads. At Liz’ place we admired her beautiful extensive garden, and at the shore were about 6 sticklebacks.
We were 8 at Barbara’s place for our pot-luck dinner which turned out to be a veritable feast with Heather’s excellent moussaka, Barbara’s baked salmon, Wes’ garden-fresh salad, and other goodies. The evening was very relaxed and pleasant. After this refreshing afternoon I would like to encourage everyone to not let a bit of rain stop you from enjoying this great nature around our town.
