Earth Day 2022

Female Pileated Woodpecker

Over the years I have taken time to explore a natural area on Earth Day, and in 2013 it also became the anniversary of Mom's passing. Mom always had faith in an eventual "new heaven and a new earth". Growing up in the 1960s during the Cold War, it wasn't hard to imagine that this earth was on the verge of destruction and that a time of tribulation was imminent. As a youth, I wondered why people continued to have children if the world was such a wretched place. These days I maintain hope for the future and want to act responsibly in caring for the earth so our children and grandchildren can enjoy the beauty of this planet. The conveniences of modern life, especially the ones we enjoy in first-world nations, have a significant impact on the environment. During my bicycle travels today, I saw too many discarded coffee cups, plastic bags and bottles, and styrofoam take-out containers littering the roadside. This is just one small sign of the wasteful over-consumption of our society

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)

My bird count for 2022 continues to grow and I was pleased to find some birds that were scarce last April. Today I explored a natural area close to our home which is now completely surrounded by new houses and a large industrial basin. 

The park is far busier as people from nearby homes walk their dogs and take their children to play in the open spaces. It is more difficult to find birds when there is a lot of human activity but it was good to see families outdoors enjoying nature. 

I found three different woodpecker species in close proximity including a female Pileated Woodpecker who was working on a nest, and the beautiful Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker on the right. The Flicker was high in a tree and I was facing the sun with my camera, making the yellow underwing feathers glow golden in the sunlight. There are two subspecies of Northern Flickers;- the Red-shafted which is more common west of the Rockies and the Yellow-shafted which is prevalent to the east and far north of the continent. All of the woodpeckers were vocalizing loudly and it was not hard to find them amongst the dead trees in a swampy area. 

Male Hooded Merganser

Some of the birds in the swamps and creeks were stealthy and more difficult to see as they blended in with the landscape. A pair of Hooded Mergansers swam in the reeds. Our city is gradually naturalizing local creeks that had previously been channelled into cement ditches and large steel water mains. 

This wetland has been divided into communicating ponds similar to the way beaver dams create ponds in streams. There used to be a beaver dam here but the beaver appears to have relocated. In between two factories, it is an ideal spot for water birds and I have seen Ospreys, Great Egrets and Red-necked Grebes here along with a variety of ducks.

Tree Swallow

I have not seen Eastern Bluebirds here for at least three years, and last year there were very few Tree Swallows using the nesting boxes. Today there were many Tree Swallows flying around and pairing off as they begin another breeding season. The weather has been very cold recently which creates problems for birds who are insect eaters. But the sun was warm and flying insects were starting to move about.

The pandemic set things back in reducing the use of single-use plastics. The amounts of waste generated in the hospital;- disposable gloves, masks. plastic containers of disinfectant and cleaning supplies, etcetera are enormous. But there are other things I can do on a personal level to reduce my environmental footprint. Enjoying a day like today motivates me to try harder to reduce waste, buy less, eat local and sustainable foods, and plan driving trips more carefully. 

My motivation!

New generations of children will depend on us to make positive changes for their future.

FOY birds seen today:

Pileated Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Chipping Sparrow

Tree Swallow