Author Archives: KevinHHood

Birding Song Parodies by Young Birders

A couple of mornings ago, I came across the following ABA blog post by ABA president Jeff Gordon: Ladies and Gentlemen, LIVE from Camp Avocet…Pish & Twitch!!!. For anyone who likes birding and musical parodies it’s worth a listen (I missed breakfast and was almost late for a dentist appointment trying to make it through the YouTube links).

In a nutshell: Camp Avocet is an ABA run summer camp for young birders and Pish & Twitch is a musical duo newly formed by two of the campers Caleb and Brendan. Following a long tradition in song parody, they took well-known tunes and replaced the lyrics to poke fun at, in this case, birding and birders. Five songs were recorded and can be found on YouTube, through the links in Jeff’s article.

The first three songs (in posted order) used contemporary tunes the only one of which I recognized was their second song “Moves Like Jaeger” which was obviously a parody of the Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera hit “Moves Like Jagger”. The other two tunes were lifers for me once I made identifications with the help of my phone’s SoundHound app. The first song “Chase Me Maybe” about going after rare bird sightings, covered “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Japsen and the third tune, about night-time bird call identification, “Flight Calls”, used the melody (if you can call it that) from “Thrift Shop” by “Party DJ Rockerz”.

The final two songs were based on well known hits from my own youth. The first of these was “Migrants Go By” sung to the Don Mclean hit “American Pie”. Impressively, they covered the 8-plus-minute long version and not one of the shorter radio-friendly variants. And finally, the song, “Bill Stewart”, clearly aimed at all of the camp leaders, was sung to the Billy Joel hit “Piano Man”.

It wasn’t what you might call a ‘tight’ performance as they had obviously bitten off more than they had time to practice for but that did not seem to detract from the energy in the room. Besides, the hard part of a parody is crafting the lyrics and there they did some excellent work.

If you are a part or or even just familiar with birding culture then you will probably enjoy listening to Pish and Twitch.

Sandhill Crane Adventure at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary

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(for J & C – You know who you are!)

Last Sunday I went to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta BC. I spent about 3 hours wandering around watching birds and taking pictures of anything interesting. In the end, however, about two-thirds of the pictures were of Sandhill Cranes.

It wasn’t that there were hundreds or thousands of them and almost nothing else – in fact, there were only about a dozen or so I never saw more than 4 in a group. No, the real reasons that I took so many Sandhill Crane pictures were that:

Several of the cranes were relatively tame and did not fly away when I approached.
It is a lot easier to take pictures of a crane than a chickadee.
The cranes were in my way, blocking the path in the direction that I was going.

One quick side comment: During my visit I watched people feeding both cranes and chickadees right out of their hand (the chickadee had to land on the hand first which – obviously – the crane did not do). Personally, I would feel safer feeding the chickadee. Up close, a crane bill looks like it can deliver a pretty hard poke.

Anyways, when I showed up at the sanctuary, I didn’t really expect to see Sandhill Cranes at all. I had been there a week earlier with a photography group that I recently joined and we had only heard a single crane calling (which we didn’t even get to see). Imagine my surprise when, walking one of the paths through the middle of the sanctuary, I ran into a group of cranes along the path ahead of me. Here are two of them:

These two were but half of a posse of 4 adult birds blocking the path. Here are 3 of them checking me out. You can just see the fourth hidden behind the foliage on the right.

I must not have been very threatening as they proceeded to turn their backs and head back along the path in the direction that I was hoping to go (though I would have preferred a less leisurely pace).

I finally made it around the bend in the path.

Hey, nice ‘digs’!

Apparently they were squatting in one of the prettiest parts of the sanctuary.

All I needed to do was get past these three who did not appear to be paying me much attention. How about along the edge of the pond?

Hey! You’re not cranes! This story is supposed to be about cranes! Still, pretty cool. It was two mallards, one leucistic (missing some pigment making them look white – not albinism though).

Anyways, back to sneaking past the cranes…

Drat! Spotted!

They may seem tame but there’s no point in getting too close. Time to backtrack and go around.

I turned back and went up the North edge of the sanctuary past the viewing tower. I watched some Dowitchers and Yellowlegs on my way by one of the larger ponds and then headed South briefly spotting my nemesis bird, the Marsh Wren, who was no doubt sticking his tongue out at me as he dove into the long grass.

I had walked most of the way down the West edge of the sanctuary when I encountered 2 more cranes, even friendlier than the first 4. The crane on the left was cleaning up a spot on the ground where I suspect someone had dropped a handful of crane-food – some kind of coarse seed mixture. The crane on the right was keeping an eye out – whether for threats or treats was unclear.

What was obvious was that they were quite tame allowing me to get close – really close.

This must be a good snacking spot. At one point a trio of people showed up and one of them offered the cranes a handful of something – more crane kibble probably – that they seemed to like a lot as they took it straight out of the person’s hand.

I imagined the crane thinking: “A teensy nip, he drops the goods and no-one gets hurt” (or is that “hoit”?).

So maybe it was an ambush spot too! There we were, blocked by a pair of ruthless sandhills forcing all passers-by to empty their pockets.

There was no way that I was giving up my bag of cashews.

Lucky for me, there was a distraction – a group of three sandhills flew overhead heading out into the marsh that separated the sanctuary from the open water of the Strait of Georgia.

A short time later, a second group of 4 flying cranes appeared. This group, however, let out a group call as they passed overhead. I must say, these are pretty loud birds with quite a bit of lung-power behind their calls. It was clearly some kind of message because the two birds not 10 feet ahead squawked in return.

They got in a couple of rounds of noisy calls before the flying group were out of range. It was an award winning performance.

Envelope please!

… and the winner of the Squawky goes to …

The squawking was over and the people with crane-kibble in their pockets had left. I finally slipped by and headed for the exit and that was the end of my Sandhill Crane Adventure.

More on Sandhill Cranes at the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary has resident Sandhill Cranes that live there year round (and has had for about 30 years). While other groups of cranes will come and go, when the breeding season comes around only the resident pair will remain to nest and try to raise a family. Last year (2012) they had one chick that unfortunately died.

The sanctuary has lots more pictures and information on their Sandhill Cranes page.

Glorious Twelfth or a Hen Harrier’s Bad Day

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For some, August 12 is a special day in Great Britain. It is the start of the hunting season for the Red Grouse, king of the game birds, as fixed by parliament in the Game Act of 1773. The day proudly bears the title of the Glorious Twelfth and, unless the supply of birds runs out, the hunt continues until December 10 (November 30 in Northern Ireland).

Red Grouse – King of the Game Birds

Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) - geograph.org.uk - 446843

Red Grouse : Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

What gives the Red Grouse its royal title?

First, it is the only game bird that is endemic to the British Isles and can be found throughout Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern England with some territory extending into England’s southwest.

Second, a flushed Red Grouse bird can reach speeds of over 70 mph (I have seen 80 and even 90 mph used in different sources). The greater the speed, the greater the challenge to the hunter, particularly during the pinnacle of game hunting – the driven hunt.

In the driven game hunt, a row of 8 to 10 guns (the hunters) line up a certain distance apart, each in their own butt or stone box which provides some shelter, protection and concealment. The guns face in the direction from where a volley of Red Grouse, flushed by a line of beaters, will appear. The gun is now confronted by some number of birds, between a pigeon and a mallard in size (a typical weight is 600 g), coming at them usually low to the ground and fast enough to break the speed limit on any public road in Great Britain or Canada. The hunter’s task is to shoot as many of them as he can without injuring either beater or neighbouring gun. In principal, the hunt can continue in this manner all day long. Some historic hunts have seen enormous bags consisting of several thousand birds. There are reports of a single hunter shooting over 1000 birds in a single day. In today’s hunt, bags of 50 to 200 brace (1 brace = 2 birds) appear to be more typical for a line of 8 to 10 shooters during a day of driven hunting.

[A fascinating historic account of a driven hunt during the late Victorian Era can be found in the section on Grouse and Partridge Driving in the 1903 book Horses, Guns and Dogs.]

The hunters that come to the grouse moorlands for the challenge of shooting at these feathered-rockets make an important contribution to the economic activity of many communities where the appropriate conditions exist. The traditional grouse hunt that attracts the hunters has evolved a sophisticated management system that has the primary goal of maximizing the number of Red Grouse that are available for the shoot. There is much tradition and etiquette that comes with the today’s driven hunt, most of which are still run from private estates.

This year, the cost to participate in a driven hunt runs in the neighbourhood of £130 per brace with the expectation of a full day’s participation (I determined the cost from various sources including the Guns-on-Pegs web site which specializes in buying and selling shooting days). That works out to over C$100 per grouse. Because of the huge overhead required to hold a driven hunt (this article in the Journal of Applied Ecology gives a good accounting of this) they are very expensive to run and many estates are barely breaking even or losing money even in good years.

There is a second less expensive form of hunt referred to as the walked-up hunt in which a small group of hunters led by pointers, walk the heather shooting grouse as they are flushed by the dogs. Per brace, a walked-up hunt appears to cost roughly half that of a driven hunt.

Tradition and the Grouse Moorlands

Heather moorland near Tom Tallon's Crag - geograph.org.uk - 1508818

Heather moorland near Tom Tallon’s Crag (Andrew Curtis) / CC BY-SA 2.0
Much of the land here is managed as grouse moor as can be seen by the patchwork of areas on the far hillside where heather growth is regulated by controlled burning.

The Red Grouse does not lend itself to direct management through domestication as do other species such as partridge and pheasant. Instead, maintaining their populations is handled indirectly through the intensive management of the heather moorlands – also referred to as grouse moorlands or simply grouse moors. This lack of direct control means that the hunting season can vary in quality from year to year and location to location depending on weather conditions, predator populations, heather beetle infestations, and disease.

Managing the heather moorlands for grouse is very expensive and requires continuous attention. Gamekeepers will go to great lengths to ensure a large supply of healthy grouse, even walking the moors at night with a flashlight medicating any grouse that they find to help them fight or prevent disease. It should then come as no surprise that the same intensity is applied to managing the grouse’s predators. This usually means eradicating any predator that strays onto the grouse moors. The Red Fox may be hunted at night using lights and high-powered rifles or simply by using of snares. Widely acknowledged to be cruel and banned in most European countries, snares are also prone to catching and killing non-predators and protected species such as the badger (see for instance this 2004 article from Wales online).

Viewed from this side of the Atlantic, this ritualistic hunting supported by intense year-round management could seem odd, even barbaric. Long-standing traditions that are part of the fabric of a country’s cultural heritage can be very difficult to change. In some cases, however, change does occur. One example is the ending of the fox hunt in Scotland, England and Wales between 2004 and 2005.

Before passing judgement, consider some of the positive aspects of the grouse hunt as put forward by proponents of the hunt.

In Great Britain organizations such as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and others seem to play a similar role for game hunting as Ducks Unlimited does in North American in support of duck and goose populations. In the case of the grouse, they help promote and maintain the heather moorlands for the benefit of the game birds and for any other bird or animal that may benefit as well. This includes, for instance, regular burning of patches of heather to keep larger shrubs in check and to encourage younger, tender growth that appeals to the grouse. One of the biggest benefits to the moors is from the reduced number of predators. Several threatened migratory birds breed in the moorlands and in those areas without these predators they thrive with breeding success reportedly 2 to 5 times that on unmanaged moorlands (as most pro-hunt organizations are quick to note).

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust has the following goal on their web site:

We promote our work to conservationists, including farmers and landowners and offer an on-site advisory service on all aspects of game and wildlife management, so that Britain’s countryside and its wildlife are enhanced for the public benefit

I suspect that the public benefit they refer to is a select part of the population that benefits from the hunt (the hunters, land-owners and surrounding communities). The benefit to the migratory birds is a convenient side-effect. Meanwhile, those other animals, the predators, that were removed or killed are not mentioned except in so much as they are part of the problem being managed.

The Plight of the Hen Harrier

Hen Harrier (from the Wikimedia Commons)

An key part of grouse management involves predator management. According to research used by some of the shooting proponents, the survival of grouse and other species can be several times greater when predators are kept under control. For the unprotected predators such as the red fox, carrion crow, stoat or weasel this is a death sentence should they be caught on or near grouse lands.

A number of raptors also fall on a gamekeeper’s list of predators however most of these are protected species making it illegal to kill them or disturb them while nesting. With tradition, jobs and large sums of money on the line it is not surprising that the battle lines are drawn between the gamekeepers and other hunting proponents and the ‘raptor lobby’.

[Some interesting insight into the ‘Raptor Lobby’ can be obtained from the Raptor Persecution Scotland blog.]

When discussing Red Grouse management and raptors, one species that is frequently mentioned is the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus; the Northern Harrier in North America). The moorlands are a terrain well suited to their hunting and nesting behaviour yet, despite the laws intended to protect them they are disappearing in many areas of Britain particularly those areas near grouse moorlands. They and several other raptors including Golden Eagles and Buzzards are frequently shot or poisoned.

This year in England is especially ominous for the Hen Harrier. An August 9th article by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) entitled: Hen harrier on the brink of ‘extinction’ in England reports that this is the first year since the 1960’s that the Harrier has not successfully nested in England (they mean ‘extirpation’ not extinction of course). The Hen Harrier, once widespread in Britain, has been harassed by gamekeepers for centuries. It was previously extirpated around 1900 only to resettle mid-century. Despite the raptor protection laws, the return to England is proving to be short lived and its future status may be uncertain as long as the economic value of the grouse hunt remains high. Given the economic importance of the grouse hunt, it is hardly surprising that Harriers and other protected raptors are being persecuted.

On the side of the hunt, a 2009 article in the Journal of Applied Ecology, Hen harriers and red grouse: economic aspects of red grouse shooting and the implications for moorland conservation, presents ecological and economic arguments to justify keeping Harrier populations low. It provides good insight into the economics of the grouse hunting industry and the issues facing the Harrier and other grouse predators.

Other opposing research is not as quick to blame the Harrier and other predators but instead lays out a number of other reasons for long term and year-to-year declines in grouse populations including: conversion of heather moorlands to sheep pastures; deterioration in the heather quality that grouse rely on for survival; increased disease reducing survival rate; increased predation by foxes and crows attracted by increased sheep populations; afforestation; and so on.

In an effort to find real solutions, both sides of the debate have cooperated in some long term research projects to better understand the relationship between grouse populations and raptors such as the Hen Harrier. A Joint Raptor Study (JRS) was run from 1992 to 1997 to measure the scale of raptor predation on grouse and the effects that would be felt on the hunt. A new study called The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project started in 2008 and will last up to 10 years with the goal of finding solutions to solve the grouse-raptor issues.

I won’t go into all the details of these studies but one interesting thing that I did learn which shows some of the complexity of the problem, is that the Harrier’s main prey are voles and meadow pipits, not the grouse, and the availability of these influences where the Harriers decide to settle in the spring. It is only during the months that they are breeding that grouse chicks are at risk of being taken and diversionary feeding (providing carrion to the raptors) has shown the numbers of grouse chicks taken to drop by as much as 86%.

Watching the Magician’s Other Hand

One fact which nobody disputes is that grouse are good for the environment.

That’s a direct quote from an obviously pro-hunt 1996 article published in “The Independent” and accurately sums up the position taken by most pro-hunt organizations.

Having spent some time trying to understand the history, culture and economics surrounding the grouse hunt in Great Britain, I can’t help feeling like I am watching a magician doing an elaborate trick when trying to sort through the shooters’ arguments. While their main hand attempts to capture my attention with statements of environmental and economic goodness, there other hand is quietly doing whatever it takes to make sure the grouse are ready on August 12.

The arguments for and against the grouse hunt and predator management are many and, sitting on the other side of the Atlantic, I don’t feel qualified to mark the scorecard. Instead, I will direct my final thoughts in a different direction going back to what drew me to write this in the first place, the name given to the opening of the Red Grouse hunting season.

Introspection

They call it the Glorious Twelfth.

Being a long-time fan of Star Trek the word glorious makes me think of the Klingons, warriors with tradition and a code of honour, their battles gloriously fought against enemies that are, they hope, worthy adversaries. The grouse hunt certainly has its tradition, however I wonder if a Klingon would feel glorious standing in a box waiting for someone else find and deliver their quarry to them, killing wave after wave of them with no chance of the quarry fighting back, the biggest risk coming from a neighbouring hunter? I wonder if they would feel any honour participating in a sport for which so many foxes, crows, stoats, weasels, other predators and even innocent creatures that had been killed, sometimes cruelly, in order to ensure the maximum number of grouse for the final slaughter?

The Glorious Twelfth doesn’t really do the day justice. Perhaps, as suggested by the birder and blogger Alan Tilmouth from Northumberland, a better name would be Hen Harrier Day.

References and Other Interesting Links

Some of the interesting links that I found while researching this article are given below. Some were used directly for information while others are just interesting reading.

Glorious Twelfth

Wikipedia: The Glorious Twelfth
Shooting Times & Country Magazine (2011): The season’s final farewell
The Glorious Twelfth (Virginia: Firearms Training)

Hunting

Horses, Guns, And Dogs; 1903 by J. Otho Paget, George A. B. Dewar A. B. Portman, And A. Innes Shand; (See the section on Grouse And Partridge Driving.)
Wikipedia: Hunting in the United Kingdom
Wikipedia: Driven Grouse Shooting
Scotland regulations for moorland burning: Muirburn Code
Historic UK: Fox Hunting in Britain
Game Conservancy USA: Life is wild for our glorious grouse.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association: THE WILDLIFE AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT BILL – A SUMMARY OF CHANGES

Shooting Trip Providers

In the Press

Land Gazette (2009): Grouse mixed bag this season
Discotheque article: A commentary on the grouse hunt
theguardian.com: Letters: Nothing glorious about the twelfth
reuters.com (2011): Game over for grouse as UK shooting season begins
Wales online (2004): Snares ban demand after find at shoot

Game Conservation

Grouse, Hen Harriers and other Birds of Prey

Songbirds in the City

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The Smithsonian Institution is more than just a museum. According to their own information they consist of a total of 18 museum’s and galleries as well as the National Zoo. One of the organizations associated with the National Zoo is the Migratory Bird Center founded in 1991 with a goal of “fostering greater understanding, appreciation, and protection of the grand phenomenon of bird migration“.

In a recent posting (Smithsonian Scientists Discover That Urban Songbirds Adjust Their Melodies to Adapt to Various Elements of City Life), Sarah Bloom Leeds describes the results of some research carried out by scientists at the Migratory Bird Center on how songbirds adapt their songs and calls in a noisy urban environment.

Birds use sound to communicate and their survival often depends on it. Their songs, usually only given by the males during the breeding season, are used to find a mate and to define and defend territory. Calls allow a bird to communicate with other birds, usually of the same species. The alarm call, for instance, is an important way in which a bird seeing an approaching predator or other threat can quickly let all of their friends know.

In an urban environment, any person with a good sense of hearing knows how hard it can be to communicate over when noise levels are high. We adapt by changing our voice – usually just raising the volume. Birds, perhaps not surprisingly, have also learned to adapt their sounds to the noisy environment as well since their survival may depend on it. The level of adaptation is, species dependent.

The article goes on to describe how some birds will raise the pitch of their songs where there is a significant (low-frequency) background noise level. On the other hand they will lower their song frequency when reflections off of hard surfaces (e.g. buildings) distorts the sound, an effect more serious with higher frequency sound. Apparently when both effects are present, many birds can have a much harder time adapting.

It’s a fascinating article on bird behaviour and adaptation. The best part of Sarah’s post, however, are two sound recording links for a Carolina Wren from both an urban and a rural site. You can clearly hear that the bird singing in the urban setting has a much smaller dynamic range: the lowest urban frequency is about 700 Hz higher than the lowest rural frequency while the highest urban frequency is about 1600 Hz lower than the highest rural frequency.

For those wanting to know more, there is a link to the original research published in 2011 that can be downloaded for free in either HTML or PDF format.

Going Out “Loaded for Bird”

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A couple of days ago, I had a morning errand to run that was a short walk from our house. I put on my walking shoes and chose a path that would lead me through a section of nearby parkland that is one of my favourite local places to see a bit of nature. This time of year that can include bears and coyotes as well as various types of birds.

I had barely gone a few steps into the wooded area when I heard a strange call. It sounded like a Robin but with a twist that I had not heard before. I spent a couple of minutes listening and moving around to triangulate the sound before I finally found its source.

A juvenile Robin, still with fully spotted breast, was hidden in plain sight in the leaf litter a scant 8 or 10 feet away. The young bird seemed confident in its invisibility and was chirping away despite my presence. With my camera and recording equipment, I would have been able to take some good close-up pictures and one or two good clear bird-call recordings.

On my way home, I returned past the same location with the hope that the bird might still be around. I thought that I heard the same call further into the thick undergrowth however there was no chance of seeing the bird this time. To make matters worse, the previous quiet was now broken by the sounds of garbage truck, skill-saw, a small plane overhead and someone practicing the flute.

If you were looking for a moral to this story you might come up with: When nature offers up an opportunity for a good nature sighting, you had better be loaded for bear with all your technology by your side and ready to go. Mother Nature does not, after all, pass out many mulligans.

In my case, this would entail me packing my Canon binoculars, a Panasonic FZ200 camera and a digital voice recorder with a small shot-gun microphone. Unfortunately, my frustration at having left my gear at home led me to forget that I had my iPhone in my pocket which, in the current circumstances, would have taken an acceptable sound recording and, despite its lack of zoom, an acceptable picture of the young Robin. Abusing the previous metaphor: I may not have been loaded for bear, but I was certainly loaded for squirrel.

In many situations, however, the iPhone won’t cut it. The question then is what to have in the emergency birding kit? What do you throw in the glove-box or a knapsack or even a large pocket for those non-birding excursions, just in case?

Once upon a time the answer was easy: Binoculars. Cameras required film which cost real money and seeing the results could take several days unless you developed your own film. As digital technology improves and more people are collecting pictures and sound-recordings, there are other possibilities. My current kit consists of my FZ200 camera, one of the current generation of super-zoom or bridge cameras, and that’s pretty much it. They are lighter than my binoculars, about the same size and, with their 24x optical zoom, a reasonable substitute as well. The image stabilization is reasonably good so that a tripod is usually not required. Mind you, I frequently bring my sound recorder and microphone as well because of their small size.

I’ll get over the missed opportunity with the Robin. However, the next time I’m running out the door, I will consider more carefully whether or not to bring my emergency gear – just in case. If anyone asks why I’m carrying it, I’ll just tell them that I’m loaded for bird.

UBC Botanical Garden

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Sunday, July 28, 2013

JC had a Groupon for the Canopy Walk at the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research that was about to expire. So, without the dogs in tow, we hopped in the Jetta and headed west. If we arrived early (they open at 10:00) we figured that we could get in and do the canopy walk before any crowds arrived and lineups formed.

We followed the route provided by our iPad and iPhone devices which got us to the UBC campus without any problems. There was a triathlon being run that day resulting in road closures including the one indicated on the map. After a little angst and a quick check of the Garden’s website we found the parking lot and geared up.

The first thing that we noticed was a group of Bald Eagles, 1 or 2 adults and at least 4 immature birds, flying around, chasing each other and doing acrobatics. I assume that it was part of the learning process for the younger birds.
We watched them for a while, while I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to get some pictures of the fast flying birds.

After perhaps 10 minutes, we paid our entry fee and headed into the Garden.
Our first destination would be the Canopy Walk which was towards the southeast end of the Gardens.
Along the way there was lots of interesting plants to look at.

The Eagle Tree

We also passed the Eagle Tree, a 600 year old tree that the bald eagles liked to perch in. It was occupied most of the time that we were there but only by adult birds. Perhaps it should have been call the ‘boss eagle’ tree.

The Canopy Walk

The full name is the Greenheart Canopy Walkway and it provides the opportunity to see close up a west coast forest canopy ecosystem.

While it claims to be the only one of its kind in Canada, there is a another canopy walk that we have tried at Whistler. The Whistler canopy walk is more extensive and higher off the ground but it is more expensive and only available as a tour, since it requires a short bus ride to the start.

The Garden’s tree walk can be self-guided or part of an hourly tour. We chose to go with the self-guided tour.

A Glacial Erratic

At the exit from the canopy walk is a large rock that was picked up and dropped off by the glaciers 18,000 years earlier.

Flowers and Bees and Butterflies

We headed back to explore parts of the Garden that we had whizzed by on our way to the tree-walk. Seeing some bright flowers, bees and butterflies I decided to try out ‘macro’ mode on my camera with some nice results.

Through the Tunnel to the Other Side

We discovered a whole lot more garden on the other side of the road accessible through a tunnel. There were in fact several different garden themes. The first area we went through was a marshy area full of cattails that was part of the Carolinian Forest area.

Across the Great Lawn was the Alpine Garden where I got some good pictures of a sparrow and a Spotted Towhee hiding in a flowering bush (one of my favourite birds to photograph). It may have been the large stainless steel bird-bath that was attracting them to this part of the Garden.

B.C. Native Garden

The B.C. Native Garden had several sub-areas including a small wetland with a dabbling duck and duckling pair.

Food Garden

The Food Garden is a living demonstration of varieties and techniques for home gardening. More than 100 varieties of carefully trained fruit trees line the outer paths. Fruits and vegetables harvested by the Friends of the Garden are donated to local charities.

Wildflowers and the Physics Garden

Enclosed by a traditional yew hedge, the design of this small garden is based on a 16th century Dutch engraving. The 12 concentric beds encircling a sundial showcase traditional medicinal plants from medieval Europe.

Around the Garden Pavilion and the Physics Garden were lots of colourful flowers including giant thistles and lots of wildflowers.

The physics garden was our last stop after which we headed back to the parking lot, hopped in the Jetta and headed home.
A day that started as an effort to get some value out of a coupon before it expired had turned into a very enjoyable visit the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research.

We saw a few interesting birds as well resulting in a few good pictures.

We will definitely consider the Garden as a place to bring visitors when they come to visit us.

Vancouver to Toronto by Train Day 5: End of the Road

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Previous Day 4: Northern Ontario

We started the final day much as we had started the previous 4 days, by rising early and trying to get our bearings.
We were scheduled to arrive in Toronto on the morning of Tuesday, July 9 around 08:30. The original plan was for me to catch a GO bus back to Barrie to get picked up and taken to Collingwood. JC would go to the airport and rent a car for a 2 day detour to Kingston (300 km to the east) and eventually end up in Collingwood eventually as well.

We had already decided the day before that I would get off at Washago, saving hours of extra travel time. Washago sits at the northernmost point of Lake Couchiching, itself at the northernmost end of Lake Simcoe. The rail crew indicated that a “short stop” would not be a problem.

First we needed to confirm my change of plans that we had texted the night before. We soon discovered that our plans needed some additional changes as well.

The Toronto Storm

On the evening of Monday, July 8, Toronto had a rainstorm that broke rainfall records with over 120 mm of rain falling. The storm paralyzed much of the city including the rail system. As we learned of this early Tuesday morning it quickly became clear that going into Toronto was a bad idea for both of us. I was glad of my change of plans and now we needed to re-organize JC’s plans as well.

We quickly changed the car rental to a Barrie pickup and an airport drop-off and informed the train staff that both of use wold be detraining together. Eventually, with the train running 2-1/2 hours late, both JC and I got off the train at Washago.

Washago

Washago is part of the Ramara Township municipality that was formed in 1994 from around 50 once-separate communities. The total population of this Township is about 10,000.

Killdeer with Young

While waiting for our ride we wandered around the Washago train station and discovered a family of killdeer consisting of an adult and two juveniles.

Our vacation within a vacation was over and the Collingwood part was about to begin.

Vancouver to Toronto by Train Day 4: Northern Ontario

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Previous Day 3: Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Rivers and Lakes and Trees

We woke around 07:00 some 100 km or so to the east of Sioux Lookout. This was to be a day of a day of rivers, lakes and trees.

We made an early brief stop in a small spot called Savant Lake at the intersection with Highway 599 to drop off some passengers.

Anyone going south on 599 had a 150 km drive to Highway 17, the Trans-Canada. Anyone going north would be travelling through boreal wilderness with the only eventual options of turning back or continuing on by sea-plane.

The CN line continued eastward, passing north of Lake Nipigon towards the next station of Longlac some 300 km further on. It was 13:30 when we finally arrived.

Longlac is part of an amalgamated town called Greenstone with a 2011 census population of under 5000 people. It sits at the north end of Long Lake (one of dozens with the same name in Ontario) which stretches around 80 km towards Lake Superior with a width that is rarely more than 2 km.

The Endless Boreal Shield

When we moved out west from Kingston (Ontario) to Vancouver in 2009, we drove the Trans-Canada Highway that hugs the north shore of Lake Huron and Lake Superior. On that trip, the entire first 3 days of our trip were spent in Ontario. Even with multiple drivers travelling around the clock, we would have been hard-pressed to get out of the province in under 24 hours. Northern Ontario is big, the distances are great and the landscape does not change much.

The trip in the other direction was similar though it was taking an even more remote route. By the time we reached the end of our trip we would have been on the train at least 30 hours just in Ontario. If you were starting in Madrid, a trip of the same distance in Europe would take you roughly to Vienna with much more variation in scenery.

If you check the geography more closely, you will see that the entire area that we were travelling through was part of the Boreal Shield ecozone with its mixed forests and endless lakes and rivers. Unlike the previous day there would be much less evidence of development as the Boreal Shield was less amenable to agriculture and human settlement.

From Longlac, the CN tracks run south of the highway reaching the CN rail-town of HornePayne about 150 km further. We arrived around 16:30 and had our first opportunity of the day to leave the train.

Hornepayne

Hornepayne is a small township with a 2011 census population of 1050 people (down over 13% since 2006). On a map it appears to be in the middle of nowhere.

The nearest cities of substantial size are Thunder Bay 300 km to the southwest, Sault Ste. Marie 300 km to the south and Sudbury 400 km to the southeast. Hornepayne is an important stop on the CN line. It also supports an active timber industry, the region’s primary employer.

I mentioned the trees, rivers and lakes but did I mention the bugs? Northern Ontario is known for its bugs. In the spring it is the black flies which have a enough of a reputation that there has even been a Canadian folk song written about them.

Early July was probably near the end of their season but mosquitos were also on the menu (actually, it was probably us on theirs). We were concerned that our brief time off of the train would have us running from the little biters. Happily, there was a light breeze and neither critter was a big nuisance during our time off the train.

All Quiet on the Wildlife Front

Unlike the previous day, there was relatively little wildlife activity.
Early in the day we had our one and only moose sighting. It was briefly visible from the neck up as it was swimming away from us in a small lake. We also saw a total of three beavers one of which we managed to get “on film”.

On the bird front, there were several Cedar Waxwings spotted during one of our stops to let a freight-train pass. Lots of Loons were spotted in ones and twos on lakes that we passed and a lone merganser was seen near where we took our beaver pictures.

Changing Plans

My original plan to detrain in Toronto and then make my way back up to Collingwood changed sometime during the day and the plan that emerged was for me to get off the train at the CN stop in Washago (a small town north of Orillia) and have my ride pick me up there in the morning instead of later in the day in Barrie. JC’s plans remained unchanged: Get off the train in Toronto, rent a car and head off to Kingston for a couple of days before meeting up back in Collingwood.

There was almost no cell-phone coverage the entire day as we passed through North Ontario. However, before we hit the sack, we did manage to get a couple of emails and texts off to let the appropriate people know of our changed plans.

So ended Day 4.

The Black Fly Song

Written in 1949 by Wade Hemsworth, this song is something of a Canadian folk music classic. Here are the chorus lyrics and a YouTube recording of Wade singing the song:

And the black flies, the little black flies
Always the black fly no matter where you go
I’ll die with the black fly a-pickin’ my bones
In North Ontar-eye-o-eye-o, In North Ontar-eye-o

Vancouver to Toronto by Train Day 3: Saskatchewan and Manitoba

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Previous Day 2: Kamloops to Jasper

Unity

We slept through most of Alberta waking early somewhere near the Saskatchewan border. The early light revealed a landscape of low hills, grassy fields, patches of mixed forests and wetlands hidden by early morning mist.

As the light increased it became clear that this was not the traditional flat Saskatchewan with its golden fields of wheat. We saw lots pasture lands with grazing cattle but little evidence of crops.

We travelled a half-hour through similar landscape before seeing our first small prairie town, Unity, just as the first sunlight poked over the horizon.

Unity is a town of about 2400 residents and sits near an intersection of the CN and CP rail lines. Despite its small size, the town is a thriving prairie community as demonstrated by the 2 large farm equipment dealers that we passed on the way in.

According to the town’s website, agriculture is their largest industry. In addition to the equipment dealers, the town has 2 inland grain terminals and an ethanol plant. Other industries include a salt mining plant and some oil and gas.

With an arena, 5-sheet curling rink, swimming pool and many other facilities Unity is a good example of how judging a prairie town by its census population can be deceiving.

Unity also lays claim to being the home to at least 2 NHL hockey players.

Geography

A short geography lesson will help to explain the terrain that we were travelling through.

Saskatchewan is 435 km wide across the north and 630 km across the south. There are few areas that were not scoured by ice during the last period of glaciation almost 20000 years ago. Our path would take us on a rough diagonal from south of Lloydminster on the Alberta border south-east to a point south of Yorkton near the Manitoba border. The total distance travelled in the province would be, by my estimate, about 700 km.

Since the retreat of the glaciers, a number of different ecological zones, or ecozones, have evolved and our path, it turns out, roughly follows the border between 2 of these. To the south were the Prairies, originally consisting predominantly of mid-grass and short-grass prairie but now almost totally transformed into agricultural land including those traditional Saskatchewan fields of wheat. To the north, the Boreal Plains, a land of rolling hilly terrain and mixed forests, with cold winters and short summers.

The transition between the two ecozones, and Saskatchewan’s northern agricultural belt, is a narrow ecoregion referred to as Aspen Parklands where grasslands and mixed forests compete for dominance in a landscape of rolling hills dotted with numerous bodies of water. Both Edmonton and Saskatoon lie entirely within this Aspen Parklands ecoregion while Winnipeg sits at its southeastern edge. This ecoregion is sometimes considered to be part of the Prairies ecozone.

Besides supporting agriculture the Aspen Parklands also supports a large diversity of wildlife, particularly during the summer months when numerous species of birds were present having migrated from their southern wintering grounds to breed. This is the landscape that we would travel through most of the day.

References:

Canadian Biodiversity: Ecozones,

Ecological Framework of Canada: Ecozones and Ecoregions of Canada

Aspen Parkland (Wikipedia),

Aspen Parkland (Ecological Framework of Canada)

Water

One final diversion to talk about water. The importance of water on the prairies should not be understated.

About one eighth of the province’s 650,000 square kilometers is covered by fresh water. The landscape that we saw from the train certainly supported this and we were definitely impressed by the number of ponds big and small. This may, however, have been a wetter year than most.

Direct precipitation on the prairies can be highly variable from year to year and multi-year periods of lower rainfall can occur naturally. There is some evidence that the 20-th century was unusually wet and that a much drier climate would be more typical of the current post glacial period.

Because of a rain-shadow caused by the Rocky Mountains, precipitation also tends to be higher as you move further east. The many ponds provide an important storage mechanism to help maintain a supply through dry periods. Additional water flow comes from snowmelt in the mountains which is carried through the prairies by several river systems.

So what’s the point to this discussion on water? It is my attempt to highlight the fragility of the prairie ecosystems and, more specifically (as a birder), the breeding grounds for many species of avian fauna. The ponds that many birds choose for nesting are typically quite shallow and many would not exist in periods of extended drought or even in a drier than normal year.

Many of our migrating bird species may appear to have healthy populations now but their long term survival may be far from certain should there be long term decreases in surface water availability for breeding each summer. In light of increased concerns over climate change, we should be concerned.

A Land full of Ponds full of Birds

I like to watch birds (you should have figured this out by now).

So, here we were, travelling through Saskatchewan along a path that would take us through prime breeding territory for many species of birds in the middle of their breeding season. Had I known what to expect prior to the trip then I would have been more prepared.

Since I had not done my homework, discovering the quantity of ponds and birds was a surprise and a revelation that, if nothing else, underlined the importance of these breeding grounds to the survival of many bird species.

Unlike those birds that were nesting in the forests or the grasslands and which would be virtually invisible to us, those nesting in and around the wetlands were often easily seen from the moving train.

Arriving at a positive species identification, on the other hand, was not so easy.

Bird Identification from a Moving Train

As we attempted to identify some of the birds that we were seeing, a few problems became evident. First, with pond after pond flying by, the experience was more like a rapid-fire, bell-ringer quiz than a quiet Sunday morning at your favourite wetlands or park.

Using binoculars proved to be a challenge even with image stabilization. Once you spot and select a target bird, you have, at most a few seconds to study that bird before it disappears out of sight and, at least for me, just locating and focussing on a bird can take more time than that. At higher speeds the lateral motion of the train can also be pretty severe making viewing even trickier.

Using a camera is a little different. Tracking is just as difficult but if you can use a rapid shutter speed and actually take a picture before a target is out of sight, you have a chance of getting a reasonable shot that, while it might not be photo-album quality, it may help with bird identification.

In the end, we found that the best results were obtained without binoculars or camera, instead relying on the ability of human vision to track and identify moving objects. The camera was still useful for documenting our trip and the binoculars would still come out during train stops.

For the record, some of the species that we were able to identify from the train included: Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Rock Pigeon, Franklin’s Gull, Black Tern, American White Pelican, Northern Harrier, American Magpie, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, American Coot, Brown Headed Cowbird, America Crow, Lesser Scaup (the Greater Scaup breeds further north), Mourning Dove and Northern Pintail.

A number of unknown ducks, diving birds and shorebirds were also seen. Someone better at identification than me would have identified more species.

Saskatoon

Our first stop of the day had been in Saskatoon around 09:00 AM. The camera battery was out of juice so we did not take any pictures but we were able to wander around and stretch our legs while some Chipping Sparrows and a small flock of Franklin’s Gulls provided some entertainment.

Saskatoon is the largest city in Saskatchewan with a population of about 220,000 (260,000 in the metropolitan area). It is a hub of many of the key industries in the province including potash mining, oil and agriculture. Unfortunately, the train station was at the south end of the city and we did not see much of the city proper.

Melville

Our second stop was in Melville at around 14:00. With a population of just under 5000, Melville is, as of the 2011 census, the smallest official city in Saskatchewan.

Melville is one of the standard CN stops and the train crew took advantage of it to change engineers. Our stop was relatively short but we were permitted to get off the train and walk around.

Arrival in Manitoba

After Melville, there were no more planned stops before Winnipeg though a couple of times we ended up sitting on a siding waiting for a freight train to pass. Shortly after Melville we arrived at the Qu’Appelle Valley.
The Qu’Appelle is a fairly large valley, gouged out by glacial melt-waters, that stretches from Lake Diefenbaker northwest of Regina all the way to the border with Manitoba. The small Qu-Appelle River runs through the valley. Shortly after we crossed into Manitoba, the Qu-Appelle ended, flowing into the larger Assiniboine.

We followed the Assiniboine for a while but in the end we parted ways to continue on a more direct route towards Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg while the river took a detour southward through Brandon.

Happy Birthday Rivers!

About 80 km into Manitoba, we passed through a town call Rivers. I only found out later that Rivers was celebrating its 100-th anniversary in 2013 with the last day of celebrations being July 7, the day we passed through.

Happy Birthday Rivers!

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to stop and help them celebrate.

Crossing the Assiniboine

Around 20:30 we finally crossed the Assiniboine River and pulled into the main train station in Winnipeg. Our 90 minute stop provided enough time to explore the area called the Forks sitting on the north side of the Assiniboine where it meets the Red River.

Hard to miss was a music concert going on with a large crowd of onlookers watching and occasionally dancing to the music. Exploring further, we found some interesting art and eventually came across the Oodena Celebration Circle, an amphitheater built to celebrate 6000 years of aboriginal peoples in the area.

Surrounding the central amphitheater were 8 Oodena Constellations designed around different constellations and stars and their associations with the seasons and the cultures of different native peoples.

On our way back to the train station, we passed by the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, a new national museum slated to open in 2014.

Winnipeg is the home to many, perhaps most of the train staff. When we left Winnipeg it was with a new crew that would see us all the way to Toronto.

It wasn’t long until the sun had completely set and we had arrived at the end of our third day.

Vancouver to Toronto by Train Day 2: Kamloops to Jasper

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Previous post: Day 1: Sunset Departure

Arrival in Kamloops

We awoke extremely early (for me at least), before dawn even at around 04:00. With the curtains open we could watch the scenery go by without leaving the cabin. Soon it was light enough to start taking pictures.

We had clearly left the coast behind as the terrain was noticeably more arid. We quickly figured out that we were moving along the northern bank of Kamloops Lake which is effectively a bulge in the Thompson River which eventually joins with the Fraser.

Kamloops in fact lies at the intersection of the Thompson River flowing out of Kamloops to the West and the South Thompson and North Thompson Rivers both of which flow into Kamloops from the East and North respectively.

We crossed the North Thompson River and made a left turn into the North Kamloops train station where we would get our first opportunity to get off the train and get a bit of exercise. It was just before 06:00 when our feet hit the dirt.

There was the expected dawn wildlife activity. A number of noisy Western Kingbirds advertised their presence. On the other hand, a Yellow-bellied Marmot almost went unnoticed as it watched us quietly from behind a hill of earth.

One lesson that we learned at Kamloops was to make sure you know when you have to board, not just when the train is due to leave.

When we finally pulled showed up to re-board, all of the doors were closed and there were no conductors in sight. A check in the train station found someone who eventually got us back on the train – but not before remarking that there was no need to worry as there would be another train in 3 days.

Following the North Thompson River

By 07:30, we were back on board for the next leg of the trip that would take us on toward Jasper Alberta..

The CN tracks follow the North Thompson River for most of the way, eventually crossing the Continental Divide at the Alberta border.

Initially the river was wide and fairly slow flowing passing between hills covered in ‘snags’, a reminder of past forest fires. Grassy fields with browsing cattle and field full of round bales of hay were scattered along flat sections along the river.

The birding highlight of the day occurred about a half-hour out of Kamloops. On two separate occasions, a Lewis’s Woodpecker was seen flying close enough to the train to be identified with the red belly and grey/white collar easily seen. Our previous encounters with the Lewis’s Woodpecker occurred many years ago when we were living in Southern California.

If you check the breeding maps for the Lewis’s Woodpecker, you will see that this area of BC is pretty much at the northernmost part of their breeding range.

Other than the woodpecker sightings we saw relatively little animal activity.

A Stop in Blue River

As we continued up the North Thompson River, the geography became more mountainous, and the river ran a little faster. Around 10:30, we rolled in to a small town called Blue River.

According to my (web) sources, Blue River is both halfway between Kamloops and Jasper and halfway between Vancouver and Edmonton. We arrived around 10:30 and were stopped on the tracks for a quarter of an hour or so (waiting for a freight train to pass as I recall). It might have been a nice place to explore but we were kept on the train.

If you browse the Blue River Town Web-Page you will see that they refer to themselves as the Jewel of the Yellowhead – an outdoor destination for skiing and snowmobiling in the winter and cycling, hiking, camping and fishing in the summer.

The term Yellowhead appears in many geographical contexts in this part of BC. It appears to have originally referred to the blond hair of a metis trapper and is now attached to a number of geographical names including the Yellowhead Pass, which crosses the Great-Divide and separates British Columbia from Alberta, and The Yellowhead Highway (aka Highway 16) which runs from British Columbia, through the Yellowhead Pass, all the way to Manitoba. It represents the northern branch of the Trans-Canada Highway which the CN train was following more or less.

Mountains, the River and a Waterfall

The scenery at this point was pretty impressive. The North Thompson was flowing faster and had the lighter colour indicating a higher silt content. We saw less evidence of man made structures as we began to climb towards the Yellowhead Pass and the forests now contained mostly conifers.

About 30 km North of Blue River, the CN tracks go right in front of the Pyramid Creek Falls in a Provincial Park of the same name. In fact the train passes so close that for a few seconds, looking out the right side of the train, all you can see is a wall of falling water.

The climb up the East edge of the valley soon became obvious providing some nice views of the valley looking back to the South.

Approaching the Great Divide

As we approached the Yellowhead Pass, some of the larger mountains came into view. The mountain covered in clouds with a small section of snow-covered rock showing is, I believe, Mount Robson which is only clear of clouds a few days each year. Mount Robson is also the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

Some spectacular rock-faces were also seen along the way, some even seeming to glow in the early afternoon sunlight.

As at the lower altitudes, there were patches of mature forest with some large areas covered in gray snags indicating a fire in the not too distant past.

Birds and Bears

We only saw two raptors during the Kamloops to Jasper run. One was a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree and the other an Osprey flying overhead.

There were also a handful of ducks that we did not identify. A fair number of swallows, crows, pigeons and starlings were also seen.

On the other hand, there were two separate black bear sightings as we got closer to Jasper, one of which I captured with my camera as the train sped by (look for a black smudge at the base of a pine tree).

Jasper at Last

In Jasper we were given about 90 minutes to explore the town. We got the postcard-sending out of the way first (though it took a while to find a mail-box).

Our original objective was to find a trail where we could go on a short ‘wilderness’ hike. My own supplementary goal was to see some of the mountain bird species such as Boreal and Black-capped Chickadees, Stellar’s and Grey Jays, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Mountain Bluebirds, etc. None of these was seen or even heard unfortunately (surprisingly) as the Rock Pigeons, European Starlings and House Sparrows appeared to have taken control of the town.

There was a noticeable tourist presence as we checked out the town though not so much as to be oppressive.

Finally, our time was up and we boarded the train for the final run out of the mountains.

Out of the Mountains

We were moving again by about 16:15. Some of the rock formations seen as we moved out of the mountains were impressive. By 20:00 we were out of the mountains into the land of grassland and lakes.

It wasn’t much longer until we called Day 2 a wrap and went to bed.

More on Sandhill Cranes at the Sanctuary

Red Grouse – King of the Game Birds

Tradition and the Grouse Moorlands

The Plight of the Hen Harrier

Watching the Magician’s Other Hand

Introspection

References and Other Interesting Links

Glorious Twelfth

Hunting

Shooting Trip Providers

In the Press

Game Conservation

Grouse, Hen Harriers and other Birds of Prey

Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Eagle Tree

The Canopy Walk

A Glacial Erratic

Flowers and Bees and Butterflies

Through the Tunnel to the Other Side

B.C. Native Garden

Food Garden

Wildflowers and the Physics Garden

The Toronto Storm

Washago

Killdeer with Young

More Links

Rivers and Lakes and Trees

The Endless Boreal Shield

Hornepayne

All Quiet on the Wildlife Front

Changing Plans

The Black Fly Song

More Links

Unity

Geography

References:

Water

A Land full of Ponds full of Birds

Bird Identification from a Moving Train

Saskatoon

Melville

Arrival in Manitoba

Happy Birthday Rivers!

Crossing the Assiniboine

More Links

Arrival in Kamloops

Following the North Thompson River

A Stop in Blue River

Mountains, the River and a Waterfall

Approaching the Great Divide

Birds and Bears

Jasper at Last

Out of the Mountains

More Links