The Other Side of Sixty-Five

Spring birds Past and Present

80 years ago this month

Grandma D. put this card in a scrapbook, a memory of a picnic birthday party on May 12, 1944. She celebrated her 48th birthday that year. Birthday picnics at the farm on 5th Concession Whitchurch, later the 5th Concession Stouffville, were yearly events. By 1956, when my cousin Sandra was born, we celebrated four family birthdays between May 5th and May 10th. Mom was 12 on May 5th, 1944 and undoubtedly attended this picnic where bird watching was on the agenda for the day. I don't know if it was a group activity or an individual contest. I can see them now with their binoculars and slip-on gum rubber boots walking through the bush, around the quicksand, across the apple orchard, and up to the pines and meadows at the farm. The picnic would be at the log cabin by the barn.

Grandma counted the following species:

Song Sparrow*
White-throated Sparrow*
Vesper Sparrow
Chickadee*
Wood Thrush
Veery
Partridge
American Redstart
Canada Warbler
Northern Parula*
Magnolia Warbler
Black and white Warbler*
Chestnut-sided Warbler*
Bay-breasted Warbler
Marsh hawk
Mourning Dove*
Great-crested Flycatcher
Blackburnian Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Water Thrush
Oven Bird

* on my May 1, 2024 list

I am impressed with the list and know it would be difficult to replicate in the same location today. Since 1970, there has been an estimated loss of 2.9 billion adult birds in all North American biomes including forests and grasslands. Loss of habitat in breeding and migration routes, skyscraper window strikes, pesticides, and climate change are just some of the hazards migrating birds face today. In the past fifteen years, I have noticed decreasing bird numbers.

There was a "warbler drop" in a nearby park this week after overnight inclement weather landed several species of migrating birds. On my way home from work on the afternoon on May 1, 2024, I got off my bike and saw more warblers in one spot than I had seen in a long time.

Northern Parula*

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler)

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow Warbler (breeds locally)

Black and White Warbler * (breeds locally)

Warbling Vireo- A small, rather plain songbird with a big, beautiful voice

I also saw a Wilson's Warbler and a Chestnut-sided Warbler but did not get photos. Other species counted included Northern Flicker, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Mallard Duck, Canada Goose, Baltimore Oriole, Common Grackle, Grey Catbird, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee.

I counted twenty-eight native bird species in less than two hours. I went back the next morning but many Warblers had moved on overnight as it was clear with a steady south wind to assist their flight north. Grandma did not benefit from improved binoculars, a super-zoom camera and a phone app that identifies birds by sound and picture. Her count in 1944 would have been higher with the technology available today. True birders do not need cameras and apps. It is enough to be outdoors, observing, documenting, and gaining an understanding of the natural world around us.

Painted Turtles- More to see at the park than birds

May Backyard Sparrows

White-crowned Sparrow by the Pulmonaria plant I took from Grandma D's garden in the 1980s

Migrant birds have travelled north earlier and faster than usual this year. This week I had the pleasure of watching White-throated Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows in our backyard. They rarely arrive together as the White-crowned Sparrows usually appear about two weeks after the White-throated Sparrows. I will clean up the flower beds once they are gone as they love to forage on the ground and eat seeds from last year's flowers.

White-throated Sparrow by a Flowering Almond shrub. It has yellow lores on its face.

White-throated Sparrows have a beautiful song and share their music during the few weeks they are here each spring and fall. They will continue to move north for the breeding season.

Chipping Sparrow

Another recent arrival is the Chipping Sparrow. It breeds here and we enjoy the chipping trill all summer. They have a distinctive chestnut cap and are relatively smaller than many sparrows.

Male House Sparrow with nesting material

The House Sparrow is a non-native bird that stays around all year. It came from Europe and has adapted well to urban environments in North America. A pair nest in a cavity in the street light in front of our house and they like to visit the bird bath and feeder. Most people try to ignore their harsh chatter and messy ways but they are resilient and ever-present in parking lots and shopping areas.

Dark-eyed Junco

The Dark-eyed Junco is a sparrow that overwinters in southern Ontario. Most have headed back north but one was still in the garden this week. Their call is similar to the Chipping Sparrow to my ear and they are more vocal in the spring than in the winter. American Tree Sparrows also spend winters here but I haven't seen one since mid-April. Fox Sparrows move through to northern nesting grounds and sometimes stop in our yard for a day or two.

Several other sparrows are found in meadows and woodlands rather than suburban backyards. I will see Song Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows and more in parks and rural areas throughout the summer. "Little brown birds", like most people, are not flashy but are diverse and interesting when you get to know them.

Sakura Blossoms and the Arrival of Spring

York University, Keele Campus

Sakura cherry trees are found in several locations within driving distance of home. They bloom between the third week of April and the second week of May and the fully opened flowers last less than a week on average. Last year they peaked in the Toronto area on May 9th. This year they were in full bloom on April 22. I had time to go to Toronto on April 24th and enjoyed the cherry blossoms at two different locations. York University has 250 cherry trees scattered around various campuses. The trees in the photo, planted in 2003, are at Arboretum Lane at the Keele Street campus.

There are over 200 species of "sakura" in Japan. The word refers to cherry blossoms, the national flower of the country. They welcome the arrival of spring and also symbolize human mortality. The brief blooming period of Sakura is a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Washington DC has a Cherry Blossom Festival that commemorates the gift of approximately 3,000 cherry trees from the Mayor of Tokyo to the United States in 1912. Mom and Dad were married on April 4, 1953, and went to Washington DC for their honeymoon during the festival.

Sakura at Edwards Gardens

After lunch with my friend, I went to Edwards Gardens to see the mature cherry trees at the Bridle Path entrance to the park. The skies cleared and the pink-flowered trees were stunning in the sunshine. I had decided to come to Edwards Gardens rather than the more popular High Park which was a good decision as there were few people here on a mid-week afternoon.

Naturalized landscape at Edwards Gardens

I wanted to see Edwards Gardens to recall my childhood visits here. When we lived in Aurora after returning to Canada from South Africa, Grandma D. gave my brother Nathan and me a membership to the Junior Field Naturalists, a division of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. We received a monthly magazine which I loved reading and there were meetings for young naturalists at Edwards Gardens in the Toronto Botanical Garden buildings. Grandma drove us here, and we enjoyed interactive activities, the details of which I cannot remember. But I do know that my love of nature was instilled at an early age. Children's nature programs are still available along with regular activities for adults.

Edwards Gardens is a city park that was once an estate garden. It is located on Wilket Creek, one of the tributaries of the Don River. The creek runs through a ravine that divides the park and the trails descend and ascend steep hills. The grounds are generally naturalized rather than featuring formal plantings. Spring shrubs and perennials were blooming and willows lined the creek's banks.

Toronto Botanical Garden

The Toronto Botanical Garden is adjacent to the city park and more formal gardens and buildings are found here at the Lawrence Avenue entrance. The botanical garden and the city park share continuous trails through the accessible upper level and the ravine. Bicycles, dogs, sports activities and picnics are not allowed at the botanical gardens but bike trails pass through the city park. I didn't see any dogs or bicycles but the trails are very steep for recreational cycling.

I spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering through the park and garden. It was very peaceful with plenty of benches overlooking gorgeous views. I must remember to detour here more often when I come to the city!

Remembering a Mother's Love

Mom fully expected to live at least as long as her mother who died just before her 94th birthday. She always cared for her physical body and had a dynamic personality. She would have celebrated her 92nd birthday on May 5 this year. I have very few pictures taken with my mom in the days before digital cameras and smartphones. The picture on the left was taken after my graduation as a physiotherapist in 1975. I was 20 years old and Mom had just turned 43. As is the case in some families, we could have been sisters within that age gap. After all, there were 18 years between the oldest and youngest child in my husband's family. I think about this often now as in about 11 years I will be the same age as Mom was when she died.

Morbid thoughts? Definitely not, but I am reminded of the importance of living each day fully and without regret. I am reading Toshikazu Kawaguchi's book Before the Coffee Gets Cold which explores the question; what would you change if you could travel back in time? (The people who travel to the past in the café cannot change the present or the future.) If I had a few more minutes with Mom, would I ask a burning question or tell her how much she was loved? The book is fictional but reminds the reader to pursue honesty, love and forgiveness in the present. We cannot change the past but we can influence the future.

I like that the liturgical church calendar celebrates Easter for the forty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. There is plenty of time for scriptural reflection on the meaning of the resurrection and our hope of eternal life. Recent readings have been from 1 John 3. 1 John 3:2 begins by saying,

"Dear friends, now we are children of God,

and what we will be has not yet been made known."

We don't know what the other side of death looks like but the rest of the verse says.

"But we know that when Christ appears,

we shall be like him,

for we shall see him as he is."

Our grandchildren planted seeds in plaster planters in Sunday School on Easter Sunday. The seeds have sprouted and they were excited to show me the growing shoots. I asked one of them, "What did you plant?" They didn't know the answer. We will have to wait and see as the plant matures.

...what we will be has not yet been made known

We are imperfect, a work in progress at any age, but hopefully with signs of increasing maturity as the years add up.

Today is the 11th anniversary of Mom's death. I do not envision my mother as a guardian angel or a spirit I can conjure up for a consultation. I miss her and would love to confide in her again. My task is to carry her love for God, her family and others allowing it to grow and overflow in my life.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another,

God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:12

What's in a Name?

Eastern Phoebe- April 10, 2024

I biked through the nearby nature area last week and saw several spring arrivals including this very vocal Eastern Phoebe. It says its name in a loud, buzzy call making it easy to locate even though its plumage is modest and the bird blends in with the tree branches. Phoebes are flycatchers and I see them most frequently at the edge of a pond or creek. They like to build nests under bridges or eaves. This bird is one of the few I remember from my inattentive birding outings with Grandma D.

As a girl, I fancied being called Phoebe. Mom picked out the name Priscilla for her next girl and told me she would call her Prisca. The name seemed fancier than my own single-syllable name. The four babies Mom had after me were all boys so the name was never used. I could still pretend I was Phoebe (with jet-black hair) with my little sister Prisca.

I have a collection of name tags in my top drawer including one labelled Phoebe. I volunteered at a girls' club for several years and had to choose a name other than mine. I became Phoebe to the girls in my group and enjoyed my fantasy name every Wednesday evening.

My old name tags take me through my career, courses taken, trips travelled and events attended. When I started working in 1975, my name was preceded by "Mrs" which sounds outdated now. My current name badge does not have my surname as personal privacy for staff is important these days. I can choose whether or not to share my full name with patients and their families.

I saw my first warbler of the year as it flitted around the Eastern Phoebe. I got a fuzzy documental picture that shows the reason for the bird's name. The Yellow-rumped Warbler or "butter-butt" as it is nicknamed, is the most widespread warbler in North America. In 1973 the American Ornithological Society lumped the western Audobon Warbler and eastern Myrtle Warbler sub-species together and came up with the name Yellow-rumped Warbler. The same society announced plans last year to rename dozens of birds currently named after people. My friend sent me an article from The Toronto Star that listed a few of the Canadian birds that will have a name change including the
Say’s phoebe, Cooper’s hawk, Steller’s jay, Clark’s grebe, Baird’s sandpiper, Wilson’s snipe, Lincoln’s sparrow, Sprague’s pipit, Clark’s nutcracker, and Lewis’s woodpecker. In the project's initial phase, 70-80 North American birds will get new names. I will have to start a new bird list!

I made other discoveries as I explored the swamp, a beaver pond, the woods and a meadow. Great Blue Herons built a nest in the swamp last year for the first time; this year there is a second nest. Herons usually nest in colonies, so there may be more in the future. Woodpeckers were very active and I saw four species including a Pileated Woodpecker, a Northern Flicker, a Red-breasted Woodpecker and a Downy Woodpecker. At least none of these birds will be renamed.

Great Blue Herons in the air and on their nest, Northern Flicker

The Total Eclipse, a Killdeer and the Power of a Crowd

Port Burwell Lighthouse and sky-gazers at the time of totality

Monday, April 8, 2024, dawned cloudy with scattered showers in our part of the world. The weather forecast provided hope of clearing skies by afternoon along the north shore of Lake Erie. We travelled south-west to Port Burwell, a small beach community in the path of totality. We arrived at noon, just as the cloud cover moved east. Some people had camped overnight on the beach but a handful of parking spots remained within walking distance of the lake. It was a perfect location with free parking, free bathrooms, a picturesque setting, and a friendly crowd of people.

We walked to the end of the pier and met a lady handing out free eclipse glasses and NASA stickers. People were setting up cameras and a couple beside us with a telescope invited children and adults to look through the lens.

We cut across an island of grass dividing the entrance and exit of the parking lot and flushed out a nesting Kildeer. The pair of birds were getting very anxious about the crowds of people walking near their nest. The beachfront has few visitors most years until at least the end of May. My daughter and I decided to set up our chairs and camera tripod on either side of the nest to offer a little protection for the eggs. Ground nests appear very vulnerable but the eggs were close to a pile of rocks that offered some protection and camouflage. Eventually, the Killdeer returned to the nest after recognizing we were not predators.

Four Killdeer Eggs

The location was excellent for viewing the sun and was somewhat protected from the cool east wind. My daughter took all the eclipse photos as I watched the birds and the crowd.

The children and their mom allowed me to take pictures of the creative masks attached to their solar glasses. The eclipse progressed quickly holding the interest of even the youngest observers. Totality lasted 2 minutes and 55 seconds at this location. When totality arrived there were loud cheers, clapping and an air of excitement that is very hard to describe. This was not a winning sports team or an outdoor music concert but a human response to an amazing celestial event. It gave me goosebumps and was one of the most amazing things I have observed in my lifetime.

Looking south at Lake Erie during totality

Becka took pictures on my Canon SX70 point-and-shoot camera that we had fitted with a solar filter. She had to take the solar filter off during totality to get enough light for a photograph. We could view the sun safely at this time without eye protection. The collage below contains some of her photos and shows the progression of the eclipse from the beginning to shortly after totality.

From start to finish, it was an absolutely perfect day!

Preparing for the Total Solar Eclipse

Midafternoon sun on April 5, 2024

This afternoon, we prepared for the upcoming solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024. I bought a sheet of Solar Shield film and made filters for my camera and binoculars. I have taken many pictures of the moon and sunrises but have little experience photographing the afternoon sun.

Annular solar eclipse June 10, 2021

The last solar eclipse in our area was an annular eclipse at dawn on June 10, 2021. The sun rose at 5:35 AM and I took this picture at 5:41 AM. The sun was too bright within ten minutes to see the moon's shadow.

Partial Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017

On August 21, 2017, a partial solar eclipse was seen in our part of Canada. We were on the edge of a total solar eclipse that spanned the continental United States from coast to coast. We watched as the moon covered about 75% of the sun. I was at work that day and my coworkers took turns using the eclipse glasses to watch the eclipse through the hospital windows. A total eclipse was coming in 2024 so I kept the glasses even though the date seemed far in the future. Much has happened in the almost seven years since August 2017 but it seems like yesterday.

So we prepare for a total solar eclipse and if we are fortunate, the skies will be clear enough to see the entire event. We plan to drive to the north shore of Lake Erie where totality will last about three minutes. I am sure it will be one of the most documented eclipses in history!

End of March Birding Observations

Bald Eagle

I finally saw a Bald Eagle at the local eyrie on March 28th. This nest was well established before I first found it in 2014. Bald Eagles take five years to reach maturity and live an average of 20 years in the wild. I assumed that the same pair of birds have occupied this nest for the past ten-plus years but they may be nearing the end of their reproductive cycle. I have yet to see an eagle sitting on the nest this year which is unusual. Time will tell if there will be young eagles here this season. In the meantime, this Bald Eagle presides over the river from a high perch like a judge on a bench.

I had time last month to drive to the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area to see the expected staging of thousands of Tundra Swans migrating from Chesapeake Bay to the Arctic. On March 10th this year, a peak of 386 swans were counted compared to 4,300 on the same day in 2023. The final total of swans was 2,351 by March 27, 2024, compared to 37,000 last year. There are several possible explanations for the lack of birds this year with the unusually warm winter weather being at the root of most theories. Perhaps the numbers will return to "normal" next year. I decided not to make the trip this year as no swans were there for several days in March.

Eastern Meadowlark

I am enjoying the Merlin Bird ID app on my phone. I can record bird songs and the app identifies the singers. Birds generally have more than one call, especially during the nesting season, so the app is useful for unfamiliar sounds. After the birds are identified by their call, I can look for them in earnest. I knew several Eastern Meadowlarks were in the field, but they generally stay on the ground and are difficult to see from a distance. I saw a pair fly up in a mating ritual and then one landed on a nearby fence and began to sing loudly. Our North American Meadowlarks are not true Larks but are beautiful relatives of blackbirds, cowbirds, grackles and orioles. Sadly, their numbers have decreased by over 75% in the past 50 years due to the loss of meadowlands from changes in farming practices. I think of this every time I see field after field of corn and soybeans in the summer, much of it used for livestock feed.

Male Hooded Merganser (hood down)

This is the time of year to see local and migrating water birds. A lady approached me as I looked for birds at a small reservoir and asked if I had seen any Mallards. They are the most familiar duck and were they not so common, we would admire the spring plumage of the male. I was focused on Hooded Megansers and Bufflehead ducks in the distance. They are diving ducks and are seldom seen near the shore where dabbling ducks like Mallards crowd around people who offer them bits of bread or grain.

Song Sparrow

Spring is a great time to watch for a variety of Sparrows. Shy, "little brown birds" do not attract many photographers with big lenses. I enjoy hearing Song Sparrows again and look forward to the arrival of White-throated Sparrows and their "O-Sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada" call. While I looked at the distant Mergansers, this little Song Sparrow hopped in the grass at the water's edge.

Male and Female Hooded Mergansers

The silliest bird behaviour I saw involved a pair of Canada Geese and an Osprey. Osprey platforms have been built along the Grand River and several Canada Geese have been spotted nesting on the platforms. I wonder how young goslings could safely leave such a high nest after hatching? I saw two geese in the nest but before I could get a close-up photo, an Osprey evicted the squatters with one swoop. Ospreys have just returned to their nesting areas and as aggressive as Canada Geese can be, they will be no match for a pair of Osprey. It reminded me of how easy it can be for unqualified people to get positions in high places, but that is an entirely new discussion!

April and May will bring more bird activity and I am ready to enjoy this season.

Osprey platform and the rightful Osprey tenant

Addendum April 2, 2024

A photographer from our local newspaper took this photo of the geese squatters I mentioned in the post. This is from today's paper.

Servant Song

Pascal Moonrise March 2024

The full Pascal moon rose at dusk this weekend, the first full moon after the Spring equinox and thus the marker of the Easter season. This year it came the evening of Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week.

This year's weekly Wednesday Lenten services focused on the last Servant Song in Isaiah 52:13 through the end of the 53rd chapter. I memorized Isaiah 53 as a nine-year-old to win a prize in Sunday School. The language of the King James Bible obscured the full meaning at the time but the words stayed with me.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:2b-4 NIV

We still turn our heads away from human pain and suffering and look with pity, even horror on those with visible disabilities. Just as people consider the Suffering Servant "punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted", we look for reasons to blame people who have pain, weakness, deformity, mental illness, social disadvantage, and relational issues. In John 3, the story is told about the man who was born blind. The disciples asked Jesus,

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus,

"but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

Throughout my career, I have worked with people who suffer injury and disability. Physical and Occupational therapists work together to help patients reduce their disability in a society which values beauty, strength, high functional performance, emotional stability and financial independence. Christian churches that preach a prosperity gospel, including physical healing, imply that a lack of faith or spiritual inferiority prevents a person from being fully restored. A "gospel" that offers health and wealth is more appealing than the gospel that invites us to share in the sufferings of Christ. In truth, this teaching offers an excuse to diminish the value of and discriminate against a person with a disability. Suffering eventually comes to everyone as bodies fail with age. We can become bitter, or learn compassion and generosity of spirit through our own loss and pain so that the works of God can be displayed in us. I love the verses in 2 Corinthians 1: 3-5 that read,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble

with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ,

so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

I have learned much from people who have suffered physically and emotionally. They often offer authentic strength of spirit and wisdom from their experiences in a society that discriminates against imperfection. Physically intact people are not necessarily whole in mind and spirit or relationally. Pride needs pain to learn humility. I have enjoyed good health and functional ability and recognize my prideful tendency to judge others less fortunate than myself. I must be a servant rather than a judge, striving to see each person as the compassionate and merciful God sees them.

As we observe the death and resurrection of Jesus this week, I will remind myself of Paul's instructions in the ancient hymn quoted in Philippians 2:5-8.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Each year I read the devotional Seeking God's Face: Praying with the Bible through the year. This is the prayer for today, Palm Sunday.

Mighty God, we look for salvation and security in many different places. We confess we're tempted to seek out a pumped-up Saviour of power who would flex rippling muscles. Prepare our hearts to welcome our humble servant King, Jesus, finding in him all we need for our salvation. Amen (Heidelberg Catechism 30)

Fossilized or Alive and Growing?

The Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa ON

We visited the Nature Museum in Ottawa, Canada at the beginning of the month with our grandchildren and daughters. The beautiful structure was the first building in Canada specifically designed to house a national museum. The Victoria Memorial Museum opened to the public in 1912. The first fossil gallery in Canada featuring the fossilized dinosaur bones of a hadrosaur named Edmontosaurus regalis opened in 1913. One mile away, The Canadian parliament buildings burned in 1916 and the Victoria Museum became the Canadian government's emergency headquarters for the next four years. The building was named the Canadian Museum of Nature in 1990 and it houses eight permanent galleries and various temporary exhibitions.

Interactive dinosaur room, Extinct Passenger Pigeon, Fossilized dinosaurs, mounted Broad-winged Hawk

My grandson's favourite exhibit was called Bugs Alive and he wanted to visit it twice. Our granddaughter loved the Arctic Gallery where large chunks of ice are displayed on a chilled floor. I was excited to see the Bird Gallery and the 500-mounted bird specimens arranged in interactive stations. I saw a mounted Passenger Pigeon which became extinct around the time the museum was built.

We rushed through most of the other displays as we had a time deadline, but it would be easy to spend at least four hours or more here. I enjoyed the Owls Rendevous, a special outdoor area featuring live owls and a Bald Eagle. All the birds have been rescued and cannot be released in the wild.

Alive! Bald Eagle, 6-year-old girl under ice, Goliath Stick Insect, Barred Owl

It is interesting to see things from the ancient past and near past. I do love history! Our world has changed in every era and continues to do so today. Our grandchildren liked the live displays best, the bugs, the ice, the live birds. I was surprised that they were not that interested in dinosaurs. As we age, we can become sentimentally enamoured with the past, losing interest in the present and resisting change.

Grandma D. died peacefully 34 years ago today, just before her 94th birthday. She never became "fossilized" and maintained an active interest in the lives of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She seldom talked about herself but was a gifted conversationalist, getting others to share their stories and interests. She travelled widely and brought us souvenirs and books from around the world, stimulating our interest in other cultures and places.

I am reading two books this month that explore our relationships with the past. Jewish theologian Abraham J. Heschel writes about religion in his book God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism,

"When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit;

when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendour of the past;

when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain;

when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion—

its message becomes meaningless."

Kate Bowler writes less philosophically about ordinary life in her book Have a Beautiful Terrible Day!,

"Lord, I couldn’t bear to lose any more than what’s already gone.

But then, God, the children wiggle out of favourite clothes with each passing year,

and there are boxes of Grandma’s things in the attic.

He left, and she’s gone, and my closets are stuffed to the ceiling with reminders:

we are losing the life we knew; we are gaining a life we didn’t imagine.

We are picking up and putting down.

So let’s take the china out of the cupboard, the baseball gloves out of the garage,

or whatever tells our story. And tell it.

We will not be lost. We will never be lost."

I think about Grandma daily and try to pass on the love and the life lessons we shared during our times together. My brothers and I always wanted to spend time with her. She set the standard for me now that I am a grandmother. I am also grateful for my current part-time job and good relationships with considerably younger co-workers. I see patients who have aged well, engaged and curious about the present and others who became more and more isolated as they got older. As Kate Bowler said well in verse, "...we are losing the life we knew; we are gaining a life we didn’t imagine,"...as long as we are not afraid of change.

Early March Nature Observations

FOY Great Blue Heron

At this time last year, I walked along the trail at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers and stepped carefully through the snow and ice that still covered the ground. Spring is definitely early this year compared to last and the birds and plants are aware of this too. Yesterday, at midday, I briefly checked three of my favourite birding spots in the region.

Carolina Wren- A year-round resident here unlike its cousin the House Wren

I found one Carolina Wren a few years ago on the shoreline of Burlington Bay and haven't seen one since. Walking a local trail yesterday, I heard one singing but could not spot it in the trees. A few minutes later it landed close to me and sang its heart out. Wrens have big voices that are way out of proportion to their size and the Carolina Wren has a distinctive and more melodious song compared to the House Wren. I heard another loud bird song that I did not recognize and after recording it on the Merlin Bird ID app, discovered it was a Tufted Titmouse. The Tufted Titmouse is not widespread in our area but there are several in this park. Other birders and photographers had left seeds on the posts of the boardwalk, attracting the usual winter birds such as Juncos, American Tree Sparrows, Chickadees, Nuthatches and Northern Cardinals.

Red-bellied Woodpecker- another non-migrating species

I noticed another bird in a pine tree and when it came into the open, it was a beautiful Red-bellied Woodpecker. Its belly was more yellow than others I have seen. These three birds;- the Tufted Titmouse, the Carolina Wren, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker- are birds of the Carolinian Forest that have gradually extended their territories northward over the past few decades. Ontario has Carolinian Forests along the northern shores of Lake Ontario and Erie, as well as the southeast shore of Lake Huron. The Tufted Titmouse moved into our region in the past couple of years and has been nesting successfully.

L-R, top to bottom: Skunk Cabbage, Red Maple flowers, Crocus, Snowdrops, Pussywillow, Snowdrops

I checked out early spring flowers which are blooming about three weeks earlier than last year. Skunk Cabbage blooms were emerging out of the swamp and a Pussy Willow bush hid an American Tree Sparrow. Red Maple trees are in full bloom. Driving home I spotted clumps of Snowdrops (Galanthus) and Crocuses which are not native North American plants but have become harbingers of spring.

Spring and winter usually battle for supremacy in March and April but clearly, spring is a winner this year. We will undoubtedly see more snow, but I hope there are no dry frosts during the crucial budding season of our fruit trees. The ground is very dry and today's rains are most welcome.

Birds seen or heard: I did not count prevalent birds like Canada Geese, Mallards, Starlings, Crows, etc.

FOY: OTHER:

Turkey Vulture American Robin

Song Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird

Carolina Wren Great Blue Heron

Common Grackle Bald Eagle

Eastern Bluebird American Tree Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Tufted Titmouse (very loud calls)

Northern Cardinal

White-breasted Nuthatch

Junco