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.