Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Do you stand tall and proud for the Canadian National Anthem? Do you sing it out with a sense of pride in your country? If you are wearing a hat, do you remove it? Apparently we are living in a time when many people not only avoid singing the anthem, some don’t even know all the words or melody!
According to a study conducted by the University of Victoria in B.C., 30 per cent of choir students polled did not know all of the words; 46 per cent had the melody incorrect. And these were choir students! Perhaps this disheartening situation is a result of high schools choosing not to sing the anthem each day. Perhaps it is because music specialists are no longer valued in our educational system. Or, even worse, maybe we just don’t feel the patriotism. By the way, Newfoundland scored the best in the national anthem survey. Good for them!

View of a new Canadian
If I were a new Canadian, depending on my country of origin, I might be heard to say, “I am so happy and proud to become a Canadian citizen. Life in the old country was so hard. No jobs, no democracy, oppression everywhere. Canada is the answer to all my prayers. It is the best country in the world! I am so grateful and feel such a deep emotion toward her flag and her anthem. I am so proud to stand up tall and sing it out loud!”

View of war veteran
If I were a Canadian war veteran, I might be heard to say, “I am deeply saddened that our young people do not show respect to the Canadian flag and the national anthem. If it had not been for my fellow veterans, in all areas of the military, Canada would be a terrible place to live. Thousands upon thousands of Canadians gave their lives to protect us from the supreme evil; they fought tooth and nail for our freedom, for peace, and for democracy. Because of them, we live in the best country in the world! Many of my brothers and sisters who have gone before would be so sad and disappointed if they knew our youth didn’t care about our national anthem and had no sense of pride in their country. I think maybe they do know, and are rolling over in their graves. Something must be done to stop the ignorance and the sense of entitlement many of our young people seem to possess!”

Perhaps we could pause and take some advice from a truly great Canadian, none other than Stompin’ Tom Connors. The lyrics from the chorus of his song Canada Day say it all:

O Canada, standing tall together.
We’ll raise our hands and hail our flag,
THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER!!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

In early March, while visiting Fort Rose Maple Company, I spied a horned lark from my perch on the hay wagon. It was skittering across the expanse of diamond-crusted snow, and at first glance the bird’s black collar suggested it might be a meadowlark. This idea was quickly dismissed when I realized it was sparrow-sized; too small for the meadowlark, which isn’t even a lark. Editor Casey Lessard had recently mentioned some sightings of horned larks in the Grand Bend area, and so this species has become the topic of the April column.

The horned lark (Eremophila alpestris) is one of the most widespread birds in North America. It is a brown ground bird, seven to eight inches in length, with black sideburns and two small black horns on the top of its head. These, of course, are feathered tufts and only resemble horns. It sports a black bill, black bib, and pale yellow to white throat. The back and rump are tawny brown, and the tail is black with white outer feathers. All features combine to create a most handsome appearance. The female appears similar but is duller and lacks the black crown. The white underparts of both genders are noticeable in flight. The feet are black and the rear toe is quite elongated.
Behaviours
The horned lark forages on the ground, preferring open fields, golf courses, prairies, and tundra, etc. They sometimes group with snow buntings on graveled shoulders of the roadside. The lark walks and runs, as opposed to hopping, and is often found in agricultural areas.
Food mainly consists of seeds, grains, insects and small mollusks. The song of the horned lark, given from high circling flight, is a series of bell-like tones (tsee-tete, or zeet).
The nest is a shallow depression in a grassy meadow, either natural, or dug by the female and lined with feathers and other soft materials, and is often near clumps of dirt or animal manure. The female lays two to five gray or greenish eggs dotted with brown. The young stay in the nest nine to 12 days, brooded by the female and fed by both sexes. These young are classed as altricial, which means they are born naked and helpless, like most of our songbirds. This contrasts with another ground nester, the killdeer, whose young are precocial; this means baby killdeer are born fully feathered and ready to run off within a few hours.
The population of the horned lark is common and the eastern range has expanded because of agricultural development. Keep your eyes sharp for the black collar and the little black horns of this most attractive songbird in our area.
Recent Sightings:
– A bald eagle (just north of Ailsa Craig)
– Red-bellied woodpecker (both at the feeder and on roadside trees)

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Have you ever met someone who makes you wonder at his or her energy and enthusiasm? Someone who is passionate about something and follows through on this passion with unremitting effort? When these people share their enthusiasm with others, they can really make a positive difference in society.
One such individual is Ron Walker of Ailsa Craig. Ron is the founder, past chair, and now manager of operations and collections of the Ailsa Craig and District Historical Society. However, Ron is far more than a history buff. He grew up listening to the stories told by his grandfather, Elmer Walker (1906-1999), a man who genuinely cared about the value of history and the importance of understanding what has gone before. Like Ron, he believed that it is essential to understand your past in order to know where you are going. Ron embraced his grandfather’s stories and made it his business to ask questions of older community members. He has delved into the local community’s past for his entire life. As a result, Ron has become somewhat of an expert in the field of our community history.
Since the founding of ACDHS in 1996, the organization has grown to include two properties: the former Trinity Anglican and Ailsa Craig Baptist churches. These buildings house museum artifacts, archives, and the Marg and Leroy Walker Research Room (named for Ron’s benefactor parents). Multiple annual events serve to celebrate our heritage and to educate our young people.

Connecting with youth
Ron is the main impetus behind this society. He reaches out to the community by giving historic talks at local schools. Ron has the most amazing old postcard slide presentation; the pictures include everything from buildings and streetscapes, to bridges and other landmarks or landscapes. The kicker is that Ron knows the background of each picture in the greatest of detail and can go off on a tangent, sharing anecdotes about events that occurred 100 years ago and more. It is both fascinating and entertaining.
Ron came to East Williams Memorial Public School in Nairn on Wednesday, February 17 to present his slideshow of local history. One of the pictures he showed was of ‘Temperance House’, which later became the Pinewood Restaurant in Ailsa Craig. Coincidentally, two days after the presentation, that historic 1860 structure burned to the ground. The fact that Ron had shown that postcard on his recent visit to the school had a great impact on the students. They were able to understand a link to the town’s heritage far more easily because of that slide presentation.

At the end of his talk, Ron made two key suggestions:
- talk to your grandparents and elders, and ask them questions before they are no longer here; and,
- take pictures of local buildings, bridges and other landmarks

One Grade 8 student, Blake, approached Ron following the presentation and said, “Mr. Walker, would you like me to take pictures of some bridges? I have my own camera.” It was clear that Ron’s passion for history had made a difference in this young man’s mind. Even if Blake was the only student who took the idea of embracing the past seriously, it is likely that he will look at older buildings and structures with new eyes from now on. Ron makes a difference. For some it could be a life-changing experience.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

While cross-country skiing in the field behind our property, I have frequently been treated to the majestic sight of a soaring rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus). During summer, they can be regularly seen in their flight patterns over farm country and can be easily mistaken for a red-tailed hawk, golden eagle or even a turkey vulture. Unless the distinctive markings can be seen (which often depends on the light), identification can be tricky.
Both the common and scientific names refer to the fact that this hawk’s legs are feathered all the way down to its toes. The only other known birds to sport this feature are the ferruginous hawk and the golden eagle. The rough-legged hawk is 19 inches in length and has a wingspan of 52 inches. The beak is hooked (handy for ripping flesh) and it has long, broad, rounded wings. In flight, the underside of the wings shows large black patches at the wrists. The broad tail is white at the base with a dark terminal band. Adult hawks occur in both dark and light phases of colour.

Durable relationships
Rough-legged hawks are monogamous; pairs have been observed together over a period of many years. They breed in the Arctic tundra and taiga regions of Canada and Europe. There is one brood annually with a clutch of 2-7 eggs, depending on the availability of food for the nesting pair. Nests are built on the edges of cliffs or in the tops of trees. Some have been found to have the bones of caribou amongst the nesting sticks.
The hawk’s diet consists of small mammals, fresh roadkill, rodents, and large insects. It hovers over its prey like a kestrel, and then plummets toward it feet first. Puppies and kittens beware! The hawks love the open country and are frequently seen riding the air currents over the agricultural fields of Middlesex County. Fortunately, this species is not listed with any particular concern either in Canada or the United States. At one time, however, enormous numbers were shot in the U.S. because of the tame behaviour of the species. Numbers have increased in recent years as a result of more stringent hunting guidelines and regulations. The rough-legged hawk is also vulnerable while feeding on roadkill on local roads and highways. Just recently I was disappointed to see a red-tailed hawk that had succumbed to that same fate on county road 81.

Recent sightings
Keep your wits about you as you travel throughout the region. The bald eagle is definitely making a strong comeback. If you think you are seeing a large hawk, look again more carefully and you just may see the distinctive white head and tail of the bald eagle. I have been treated to several such sights near Ailsa Craig over the past few months.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

What’s wrong with a little memory work anyway? In past decades, a requirement of learning English in Canadian elementary schools was a certain amount of memory work. It usually was in the form of poetry. One would be asked to choose a poem and commit it to memory; the teacher would dutifully record the number of lines memorized in her special record book. There was normally a prize for the person with the most lines memorized at the end of each term.
It seems to me that a certain amount of rote memory exercise is helpful to the learning process. We are, after all, still tested for some exams on our ability to recall thoughts and ideas. But poetry gives the memory experience a whole other dimension.
Webster’s defines poetry as “an imaginative awareness of experience, expressed through sounds and rhythmic language” – or – “an artistic representation of what it feels like to experience the emotions of a human being”. Robert Frost once wrote, A poem begins with a lump in the throat. Something would be missing in my everyday life if I could not call to mind a few lines of poetry, memorized long ago, when I find myself in certain situations.

While walking in woods on a summer’s day, to recall the words of Joyce Kilmer’s poem ‘Trees’ seems most uplifting. Here is an excerpt.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair.
Or in autumn, while in the meadow with Fergus the Lab, the ability to quote from Wilfred Campbell’s ‘Indian Summer’ adds to the tranquility of the experience.
Along the line of smoky hills
The crimson forest stands.
And all the day the blue jay calls
Throughout the autumn lands.

In the depths of winter, I call upon the words of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ to enhance the sensory experience of silent snow.
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

The foregoing excerpts are only a few of the poems that often come to mind.
Even to be able to quote a bit of Shakespeare when words of wisdom are needed can be fun. Lines like “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark” (Hamlet), “Brevity is the soul of wit” (Hamlet), or “Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep” (Henry IV), bring metaphorical depth to certain situations.

On the very day my father passed on to eternity, Dad and I were able to recite together our favourite lyric by Robert Frost, ‘The Pasture’. It is a moment in time I will forever cherish. I was thankful that he had instilled in me the desire to both read, appreciate, and to memorize so many wonderful poems.
Our sons have been raised to be lifelong learners and have caught the same bug of using quotes in many situations. Our younger son, Andrew, recently took it to another level while he was outside on a very snowy day in early January. He carefully observed the behaviour of a white-breasted nuthatch for several minutes and subsequently found himself inspired to create the following poem that captures a beautiful snapshot of the little bird.

The Nuthatch
By Andrew Appleton

Oh little Nuthatch, upon the tree
His feathery throat ruffled by the breeze.
A proud pointed tail and little black hood.
With a slate grey back like the Maple tree’s wood.
His upside’s his downside.
While on the tree-side’s lea side
He sits inverted and safe
From the wintery wind.

For what he awaits
I’m not quite sure.
But the winter is sweet
And his heart is pure.

Recalling and creating poetry can definitely be ‘food for the soul’.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The back section of our three-acre property is an expanse of wonderful thickets, shrubs, and hedgerows. In late October, while walking just before dusk, Fergus the Lab managed to flush up a stocky, short-bodied bird with a very long beak. I knew immediately that it must be an American woodcock (Scolopax minor). It flew about 100 meters and landed in the dense brush. A little research renewed my knowledge of and interest in this most unique of game birds.
The American woodcock is nicknamed the timberdoodle. It is very similar to the common snipe, which is also classed as a game bird. I would think that there would be some very slim pickin’s if you wanted to make a meal of one of these birds, which weigh in at well under half a pound. The woodcock’s population is relatively common and its behaviour migratory.

Appearance
The American woodcock has a short, dumpy body, is short-tailed and robin-sized. The plumage is a patterned cinnamon on top and on its back, beautifully camouflaging it against the dead leaves of the forest floor. It is brown underneath and has black and brown barring on the crown of the head. The legs are short and pinkish and the bill is very long and also pinkish. Its eyes are located high in the head, affording it a visual field of 360 degrees in the horizontal plane and 180 degrees in the vertical plane. It is certainly adapted to seeing predators coming from overhead.

Breeding
During courtship, the male will circle in flight as high as 90 meters, hovering, chirping and then gliding in a zigzag pattern toward earth. The feathers make a sort of whistling sound during this courtship display. The woodcock female lays a clutch of one to four eggs, which are creamy buff with brown spots. The nest is on the ground (similar to the killdeer) in an open wooded location. Also like the killdeer, the young are precocial, which means they are fully fledged and ready to leave the nest almost immediately. They are dependent on the mother for the first week for food and begin probing for worms after three or four days.

A strange perambulation
When I was in grade school back in the ’60s, my father was the local public school inspector. A few times a year he would end up in my classroom to ‘inspect’ what the teacher and students were up to; much to the chagrin of the teacher. Usually I was delighted by his entertaining visits, but one visit sticks out in my mind as simply mortifying.
Dad was a naturalist and birder, and on this particular day he was talking about the American woodcock. He took it upon himself to demonstrate the unusual walk of the stocky little bird. My father would plant one foot firmly on the floor ahead of him at the front of the classroom, and then proceed to bend his knees and wiggle himself forward and backward. He would then proceed to do it all over again with the other leg in the forward position. He looked completely ridiculous up there in his three piece suit demonstrating the American woodcock’s silly antics. My classmates found it hilarious as I was trying to slide myself under my desk and out of sight. However, I have learned through my current research the reason why the woodcock elicits this behaviour.

A feeding strategy
The woodcock eats mainly earthworms and arthropods, and sometimes plant material. Its long bill is somewhat flexible and acts like a pair of tweezers. In order to procure its meal of earthworms, the woodcock will step heavily on the ground with one foot forward (possibly causing earthworms to move). It then rocks its body back and forth without moving its head. This may make the worms move around in the soil and make it easier for the bird to probe around and catch the worms in its tweezer-like bill. So the antics of the woodcock (and my father) have a purpose after all. Watch for this interesting bird at dawn or dusk near thickets and young forests.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

October 31 is upon us. The shops have had their Hallowe’en wares on display for weeks now, and the children are beginning to make their plans for costumes and trick-or-treat destinations. Heaven help us parents, grandparents, and teachers alike!
Hallowe’en is a wonderful time for people of all ages to indulge in the luxury of just plain fun. October 31, or All Hallows’ Eve, gives us a legitimate excuse to dress in costume and pretend to be something we are not. Even the Appleton boys, well into their 20s, celebrate the occasion with some highly creative costuming, and perhaps a little tipping of the elbow along Richmond Row in London.
And now to the children. Hallowe’en is perhaps even more exciting than Christmas to some! Turning out the lights and listening to a scary (but not too scary) ghost story, dressing up as their favourite character and wearing the costume at school, going out for trick-or-treat and bringing home all that candy! All that candy can often present problems for the most diligent and organized parents. Perhaps we worry too much about the amount of sugar that our children consume at this spooky time of year.

Sugar and hyperactivity
Sugar has had a bad rap for decades. It seems to have begun back in the ‘70s when the Feingold Diet proclaimed that food additives were the main culprits in contributing to hyperactive behaviour in children. Certain food colourings and preservatives can certainly cause erratic behaviour, but is sugar also responsible for the same actions? According to some studies in the 1990s, sugar does not affect behaviour. Let us not forget that sugar is a natural product; its source is either sugar cane or sugar beets. The fact that it is refined simply makes it more readily absorbed into the blood. However, this may not mean that a child is going to behave in a hyperactive manner.
When children finish dessert and finally get to leave the table after a family gathering, all the running and expending of pent-up energy may be simply that they have been sitting too long. The sweet dessert takes the blame for the ensuing behaviour. One study explained that a group was given foods containing real refined sugars and the other group was given a placebo (no sugar ingredients). Both groups consistently reported hyper behaviour after the consumption of the foods. The conclusion was that the placebo group of parents had the expectation that their children would be hyper and that expectation influenced how they interpreted what they saw.

Caffeine, chocolate and cola
Cola beverages, hot chocolate, chocolate bars, etc. not only contain high levels of refined sugar, but also high levels of caffeine. The latter is the more likely culprit for any hyperactivity following consumption. Kids often associate soda beverages with a party atmosphere and will act accordingly. In support of this theory, I have seen many groups of very hyper children in a social situation who have not consumed any sugars at all.

Tips for Hallowe’en Survival
You can either suffer through your child eating their Hallowe’en candy within the first few days, or you can have them ration it into Zip-loc bags and stretch it out over a longer period of time. Either way, they are not getting enough of the right kind of foods if the focus is on the sweets.
Your dentist would likely rather that they eat it all at once. That way they will not be subjecting their teeth to multiple acid/sugar attacks which could result in many more cavities. Having it over and done with, then brushing well, is better for their teeth.

The Bottom Line
When all is said and done, children should be eating a balanced diet and consuming only a small percentage of refined sugars. While the sugar may not be responsible for the hyperactivity, it is most certainly responsible for much of the obesity, diabetes and heart disease so prevalent in our society today.
Happy Hallowe’en!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The leaves are beginning to change with each passing day. It brings to mind some lines of poetry from my youth.

Now by the brook the maple leans
In all his glory spread.
And all the sumachs on the hills
Have turned their green to red.
Excerpt by Wilfred Campbell of Kitchener

The nights are chilly and the misty mornings bring the sounds of migrating geese and the barbwire fence screeching of Mr. Blue Jay. The sugar maple in our back yard is quickly turning its foliage to a glorious crimson.
What is the cause of all this colour change in our trees and forests? It all gets down to two key components: pigments and chlorophyll.
We associate autumn with reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. All of these pigments exist within the deciduous leaves. However, they remain unseen because of the presence of chlorophyll, which is green.

How it works
Leaves are food factories for trees. The leaves take on water from the roots of the tree, and also carbon dioxide from the air. The tree then uses sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose, or sugar, through photosynthesis. Chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. As long as it is present, the leaves remain green.
In autumn, as the days grow shorter and the temperature begins to drop, mother nature helps the trees to take time out for a rest.
As the trees begin to shut down their food factories, the green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. This in turn allows the other coloured pigments to shine through and give us our beautiful autumn palette.
If the weather is cold and rainy, the colours tend to show mainly yellow and brown hues. On the other hand, if it is warm and sunny with crisp nights, the brilliant reds and oranges are more prevalent.
Evergreens and the like
In autumn you may notice changes in our coniferous (evergreen) trees as well. If needles have been on the pines or spruces for two to three years, they no longer receive as much light. The tree will withdraw the chlorophyll from the needles, which in turn will change to a yellowish hue and eventually be shed from the tree. The remaining needles will stay on the tree through the winter. New needles will grow in spring. Some trees like the tamarack and European larch will shed their needles every fall and are not a true evergreen.
So, get out for a walk in the autumn vistas. It will undoubtedly calm your nerves and lift your spirits!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Algonquin Park beckons us each year; we have just returned from our 21st camping trip. And I mean camping. No RV, no pop-up camper. Sleeping in a real tent on the ground with a little help from an eggshell mattress and Thermarest.
You can hear everything from within a tent. Some of us have to get up in the middle of the night when nature calls. Standing in the bushes (as if anyone could possibly be watching you at 4 a.m.), you can detect snoring from just about everyone’s tent in the campground. I could even hear the steady drone of a camper about five sites away from ours. I’m sure his sleeping partner was thrilled.
Of course I cannot leave out the sound of zippers. Yes, I said zippers. In order to get out of a tent you have to zip-zip at least three times; one for the sleeping bag, one for the tent door and the last one for the tent porch. Then you have to do it all over again when you return to your resting place. That’s a lot of zipping.
Our son Andrew was two when we began camping with him and his older brother Tommy. They loved it from the start. As a result, they have continued to pursue this annual camping trip ever since. Now that Tommy is the proud father of a baby boy, he had no intention of missing this year’s trip. Yes, you can camp with a six-week-old baby. As a matter of fact, it worked out really well.
Oscar Thomas Henry Appleton was born on June 29th of this year. That makes us grandparents, if you hadn’t already figured that out. Oscar’s mother Sonja also shares a love of camping and was very enthusiastic about preparing for this year’s sojourn. Oscar’s sleeping accommodation was a red laundry basket lined with a bed pillow. He was swaddled up in a bunting bag each night around the campfire and went to sleep willingly in the laundry basket. He was shifted into the tent when his mommy went to bed and would proceed to sleep soundly, five nights in a row, until around 6 a.m. At that point Sonja would feed him and he would return to his slumber until well after 8:30 a.m. Must have been the fresh air. I would be up making coffee and starting breakfast long before Oscar thought it was time to awaken.
So, you can camp with an infant. Who knew? The benefits of camping the old-fashioned way far outweigh the hassles of the packing, and pitching of tents. A good cook tent or dining shelter goes a long way as well. So give it some consideration if you haven’t already made the plunge. Your family memories will be worth it.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

During the summer months, plenty of hawks and falcons are on the prowl for rodents and smaller birds. Red-tailed hawks, the rough-legged hawk and goshawks are seen perched in dead limbs, on wires, or soaring over the fields. To identify a rough-legged hawk in flight, look for a large, dark patch on the underside of each of its wings. The red-tailed is very easy to identify because of its large size and the distinctive rusty tail feathers that stand out against its white underbelly. I have actually witnessed a red-tailed hawk swoop down on an unsuspecting black squirrel perched in a maple tree. The hawk then proceeded to sail away into the distance, squirrel in talons. You’ll also see Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks visiting back yards in hope of scooping up an unsuspecting songbird.

Giving the sparrow hawk a bad name
The smallest hawk in our area is the sparrow hawk, or American kestrel (Falco sparverius). The name is actually a misnomer because it is neither a hawk, nor does it consume very many sparrows. The sparrow hawk is actually a member of the falcon family. The American kestrel is a mere 9-12 inches in length, or about the size of a blue jay. It is the only small hawk with a rufous back and tail. The combination of the blue-jay wings and rust back makes for a very attractive bird. Both male and female have a moustached black-and-white face pattern. The little falcon would fit nicely into the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe or other medieval lore.
I often see kestrels perched on roadside hydro wires. They hover for prey on rapidly beating wings, much like a kingfisher. The voice is a rapid high “klee-klee-klee!” Foods include rodents, insects, bats, small birds, small reptiles and frogs.
The kestrel is a solitary nester and will readily nest in bird boxes built especially for them. During breeding season and courtship, the male gathers food and feeds the female in the air. Both parents nurture their single yearly brood, which consists of three to seven creamy to pale pink eggs, which are heavily blotched with brown, and measure 3.6 cm in length. Their population is common throughout North America. You can spot the American kestrel throughout the year in our region, but most likely in spring and summer months.
The fact that we have so many hawks and falcons in our region suggests that they are well fed. Therefore, the rodent population would appear to be in good shape as well.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

‘A change is as good as a rest’. The old adage carries much truth. A short getaway during the summer months can be just what the doctor ordered. Whether you choose a local day trip, or a few days in or out of province, the benefits can be outstanding.
In July, my better half took me on a five-day trip to Quebec City. It was an experience not to be missed. We felt as if we were transported to some European town, without the hassle of passports or overseas flights. The people were welcoming, friendly, and helpful. Our attempts to order meals in French were greatly appreciated, but all of the employees were equally fluent in both official languages, a claim that we could not make about ourselves.
A daily highlight was sitting in a café, at a table by the open window (no screens) watching the people and bicycles passing by. The horses clip-clopping on cobbled streets pulling calèches (open carriages) full of happy tourists added to the old European charm.
The place is steeped in Canadian history. Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain were the first Europeans to discover the narrowing of the St. Lawrence River where Quebec City now stands. A tour of the Plains of Abraham, where the great Battle of 1759 was fought, helped us to visualize what really happened during the line battle between the English and French troops, led by Generals Wolfe and Montcalm. Both generals perished as a result of the battle and the English claimed victory.
The Citadel is an active military base situated on Cap Diamant (Cape Diamond), Quebec City’s highest point. It has an obvious vantage point for anyone who might be looking down the St. Lawrence for approaching enemy ships, as the French did during the 17th and 18th centuries. Possession of the city was tossed back and forth between the French and English several times during those years, ending up in the hands of the British Empire. Quebec City truly is the birthplace of this great country of Canada.
Today, a French-speaking regiment occupies the Citadel. This is none other than the famous Vingt-Deux (nicknamed Van Doos by their Anglophone comrades during WWI). They are the 22nd Regiment of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This group may speak French, but they dress in the red coats of the British, complete with the tall bearskin hats you would see at Buckingham Palace. The Vingt-Deux were originally formed as the 22nd French Canadian Infantry Battalion and went to France in WWI as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade. They have fought in every war since and are currently serving in Afghanistan.
Each morning at 10 a.m., they perform the changing of the guard, complete with their mascot, a white goat descended from a goat gifted by Queen Victoria. Following this ceremony the soldiers return to their combat uniforms to go about the business of being a Canadian soldier. They are proud to be in a position to protect and serve our country. The tour guide explained to us the importance of keeping alive the French language and culture of the 22nd Regiment. It is their very essence, and it makes them stand out as the unique group they are today. The motto on their coat of arms is “Je me souviens” (I remember).
The inhabitants of Quebec are proud to be Canadian but wish to maintain their individuality of language and culture. The Quebec experience commands a great deal of respect and admiration, from both an historical and human perspective.
It can be said that if you understand your history, you may have a better chance of knowing where you are going. Our excursion to La Belle Province has certainly helped us to understand better how our country came to be. You really don’t have to leave it to be both enriched and entertained.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

(The following is a justifiable divergence from the usual topic of ‘our feathered friends’.)
As a member and co-director of the Ailsa Craig and District Historical Society, it was recently my turn to open the museum and attend to any tourists who might happen by during an afternoon. The museum, also known as the Donald Hughes Annex, was originally the Ailsa Craig Baptist Church, erected in 1871. Now, lovingly restored as a tribute to local heritage, it houses a myriad of artifacts, antiques and objects of interest. It is readily found on George Street. Just follow the signs as you come into town from any direction.
It turned out to be a slow day – actually nobody came – perhaps due to a pending thunderstorm. To pass the time, my first hour was spent enjoying some showcases and displays, including quilts, clothing, kitchen supplies, old sales receipts, ledgers, cameras, furniture, etc., from well over a hundred years ago. A look through some scrapbooks of local community events, along with some high school yearbooks, proved to be highly entertaining.
Then it began to rain. Hard. Really, really hard. When it rains like that I get nervous. What to do? Aha! I had brought along my current knitting project. I seated myself near the front door of the old church and began to knit. As my nerves calmed, it dawned on me that I was sitting in a 19th century building, surrounded by objects from a simpler way of life, doing exactly what a woman from the 1800s would likely do. My needles weren’t wooden, but the knitting process had not changed. My ball of wool was not cooperating as I demanded more yarn, so I put it into the bowl of a 1930s cream separator, which happened to be beside my chair. It worked, simply and effectively.
After about an hour of rain pounding on the church roof, my husband burst through the front door, soaking wet. He said he had come to see what I was up to. “I had to shut down my computer because of the storm,” he announced. I smiled and continued with my knitting while my only ‘tourist’ for the day took a half hour away from the computer to observe the legacy of a much simpler era. And he really enjoyed it.
If you’re wondering where the connection to my usual birdy topics is, when you visit you’ll notice there is pigeon poop on the front porch of the church. They live in the belfry.
Summer hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, or:
To arrange a tour, call (519) 293-9388 or email acdhs [at] hotmail.com

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The killdeer Charadrius vociferous, a member of the plover family, is named for its piercing call. On a leisurely walk at the back of our property, I heard the familiar “kill-dee!” and noted a female killdeer sprinting away from her nest. In an effort to divert my attention, she went into the usual broken wing act, crying in a pitiful voice. Treading carefully, I finally located the nest; a shallow scrape in the gravel, beautifully camouflaged and endowed with four brown speckled eggs. When I glanced away toward the frantic mother, it was very hard to relocate the nest when I looked back, although I had not moved an inch. I took a quick photo and promptly left the mother in peace.

Born at last
For several weeks Fergus (the Lab) and I would wander past the little nest. I would marvel at the fact that they were still intact. Finally, on one sunny afternoon, I managed to distract Fergus away from the area by saying the word ‘bunny’. After he had bolted into the bush, I checked the nest to find four beautiful, fuzzy, killdeer infants, soaking up the sun’s rays. I left quickly, accompanied by the screams of the concerned parents.
The next day they were gone; all evidence that they had ever been there had disappeared. I wondered if something had found and eaten them. However, a little research revealed that once the babies leave the nest, the parents clean up every scrap of eggshell. If these babies had succumbed to the ravages of a predator, certainly there would been some remains of the nest’s contents. Minutes later I heard the killdeer parents calling their young. I can only assume that all was well with the baby birds.

Precocial indeed
The killdeer offspring are among the cutest of baby birds. Fluffy replicas of their parents, they come out of the egg running and with eyes open. These ‘precocial’ babies are much closer to independence than most newborn birds. They are incubated longer and so are further developed at birth. Camouflage aids in their survival rate after hatching. One of the first lessons is to teach the chicks to ‘freeze’ on signal from the parents. The fact that the offspring are so cute is often an attraction for curious onlookers, especially children. Parents need to make their own offspring aware of the importance of leaving things in nature as they found them. A curious human intruder can seriously disturb a family of killdeers or other birds, sometimes causing the death of the baby birds.
The killdeer is very helpful to farmers because of the large numbers of insect pests which they consume. Unfortunately, they are quite vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. The use of these chemicals has a very negative impact on the entire food chain. I don’t need to see a “pesticide use” sign to know when the stuff has been sprayed. The odour lingers for a couple of days. Any birds which eat insects or worms are affected, along with countless other species. Thank goodness recent legislation has dispensed with the residential use of such poisons. It is the least we can do to help repair some of the damage toward nature we have caused.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

East Williams Memorial School (where I teach) has been moving forward in an eco-friendly way for some time. We were excited to learn just this week that we will be certified as a bona fide Ontario Eco-School in June of this year.
One of the six components of becoming a recognized Ontario Eco-School is to have an ongoing ‘greening project’. This means there must be an area on the school property which provides shade, nurtures vegetation, and encourages students to be involved in its creation and maintenance.
From the time of the forming of our Peaceful Schools Committee six years ago, to the present Peaceful/Healthy Schools Committee, there has been a vision to create a Peace Garden. Our answer came in early March of this year when Mr. Chris Redfearn, one of our parents, proposed a donation of $1000 (through a Union Gas community grant) toward an outdoor school improvement project. East Williams had to apply for the validity of the grant and consequently won the bid. Principal Vivienne Bell-McKaig embraced the idea with enthusiasm, along with the Eco-Schools Committee.
Once the ball started rolling, the community came together for this project. Students began to design blueprint-type plans for our peace garden. The final design was created from the blueprint by Emily Morse. Grade 5 student Adam Galloway won the naming contest, calling it the “Peaceful Eagles’ Nest” to reflect the school’s spirit name, the East Williams Eagles. Families jumped aboard the project with support, hundreds of donations including: plants, topsoil, mulch, lumber, birdhouses, birdseed, and a tree, along with a great deal of physical labour. Entire families, from ages three to 43, spent many hours digging, raking, hoeing, and planting to implement the framework of the new peace garden. As the project’s core contributors, the Whitmore, Morse, Gregory, Redfearn, Helloway, Baker, and Waht families have been omnipresent during this effort.
Shannon Waht, a local woodworker, constructed a beautiful arbour for the entryway to the space. Carved letters proclaim ‘PEACE’ along the header. Carved eagles adorn the exit side of the arbour. The Kim family donated a birdbath. Every class in the school is well represented by generous donations of their parents to enhance the beauty of the project. Each class has a friendship garden bordering the periphery of the space, which is theirs to maintain into the future.

What does it look like?
The square plot of land sits at the front of the school outside the Grade 1 and kindergarten classes. Each side of the garden is bordered with a substantial burm of topsoil, mulch and a multitude of plants (hostas, petunias, impatiens, day lilies, etc.) The focal point is a raised peace symbol. In each section of the symbol, petunias have been planted in school colours; one section white, one red and one blue. Sturdy benches are being constructed from recycled hydro poles and will be installed shortly. Then the students will be able to come and sit to appreciate the fruits of their labours. Passes will be issued to two students from each class on a daily basis to be able to enter the Peaceful Eagles’ Nest.

Bravo to a great community in the little village of Nairn!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Our children have a vested interest in their collective future. In my experience, they are not only interested in how their future will play out, but also care enough to try to make a difference in the outcome.
My students at East Williams Public School range in age from 10 to 12 years. They have embraced the environmental studies curriculum right from the start. Tell a child they are going to do a research project on an endangered animal and they jump in with both feet! They have enthusiastically adopted the theory that ‘if each one of us is prepared to make small changes toward conservation, the ultimate impact will be enormous’. Hence, each student has made the decision to reduce his/her personal ecological footprint.
Knowledge is power. One of our major projects this year has been to increase the awareness within the school and community that disposable water bottles are extremely harmful to the environment. Following several shared reading sessions on the facts about plastic water bottles, my students were shocked, even angered, about their negative impact. Did you know that:

• it takes millions of barrels of oil annually to manufacture plastic bottles? (and the CO2 emissions to go with it?)
• it takes 3L of water in the filling process for 1L of bottled water?
• 15% of bottles get recycled; the rest end up in the landfill or ocean?
• bottled water is rarely tested, whereas tap water is regularly and stringently tested?
• it takes 82 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade?

As a result of this newfound knowledge, the children learned how to write a meaningful business letter. They expressed their thoughts intelligently and their letters were then sent to Thames Valley District School Board Trustee Peggy Sattler, who has been lobbying against the bottles for some time. In spite of her efforts, the Thames Valley Board has compromised by encouraging the “reduction” of bottled water in our schools. My students think that is simply not good enough. And so, they chose to ban water bottles in our classroom and to spread the message to others within their reach. Most of them now own stainless steel re-usable water bottles. Bravo!
When the students were asked how they had recently reduced their personal ecological footprint, they responded decisively. Here is what some of them had to say:

• We got in the van, stopped at ditches and picked up litter. (Michael Beattie)
• Last weekend I used a china plate when everyone else was using styrofoam. (Matthew Grace)
• I walk or bike to school instead of being driven. (Sara Doerr)
• I asked my Mom not to buy plastic water bottles. Now I have a 500 mL re-usable bottle on my desk. (Daryn O’Neilll)
• I unplug the Play Station and VCR. (Kyle Hemming)
• I had a second hot chocolate and asked the waiter to fill up the old paper cup. (Taylor Davies)
• I turned off computers, lights and TVs. (Kody Munn)
• Last weekend we went with my cousins to Toronto. We carpooled. (Jordan Van Dyk)
• When I have to feed the pigs at the other barn, I bike there. (Matt Bannister)
• My mom told my brother and sister to get a plastic water bottle for gymnastics. I told them to get a reusable one. (Maddy Cocksworth)

So…listen to the children. The future of Planet Earth may well depend upon it.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

On the last Saturday in March at 8:30 p.m., people around the world will be turning off their lights, computers, TV’s, etc. for 60 minutes. Why, you may ask? This eco-friendly gesture shows a global awareness of the importance of saving energy. The goal for Earth Hour 2009 is for a billion people in over 1,000 cities to turn out their lights at the same time, demonstrating solidarity of caring for our planet. Imagine cities like Toronto, New York, or Tokyo; lights out in thousands of skyscrapers, malls, businesses and homes. Imagine families playing interactive board games instead of electronic ones; or having meaningful conversations; some of them may even include discussions about the eco-system or the future of the planet.
Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million homes and businesses took part. In 2008, over 50 million people participated. Lights were out on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House, and the Coca Cola Billboard in Times Square, to name a few.
To learn more about Earth Hour, or to sign up, you can do a Google search for “Earth Hour 2009” to find several websites. This year, the idea is that your light switch in the off position is a vote for Planet Earth. Leaving it on is a vote for global warming. Back in the 1970s, the slogan was ‘If we each save a little, we’ll all save a lot.’ Too bad not many people paid attention to the idea then. We might be in better shape now if they had!

Sure signs of spring
(Sightings in the first week of March)

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Snow, snow, and… more snow! Long stretches of intense cold! Sounds like a good old-fashioned Canadian winter, just as the Farmer’s Almanac predicted. However, it can be hard on people and animals alike.
In mid January, during one of the cold snaps, I was outside shoveling snow – no surprise there. I kept hearing a pathetic “meowing” sound and finally located a small cat crouched beneath the front porch. In the twilight I must have looked like a shadowy figure because when I reached out to pet it, ‘Kitty’ took off and disappeared into the dusk.
I surmised that it was likely a barn cat and hoped it would go back to where it belonged. That night the thermometer plunged to a bone-chilling -20 degrees Celsius. The next morning, as I walked past the porch with Fergus the Lab, I was disappointed to hear the soft meowing once again. I finished up the short jaunt with the dog and deposited him into the house (he doesn’t get along with cats very well). I went to the fridge and found a piece of turkey. Back outside, I carefully approached the cat, who I could now see had tiger-like markings and was a little on the small side, yet fully grown. I extended my meat offering carefully, and the cold kitty gingerly bit into it. That was when I grabbed him (her?) by the scruff of the neck and clutched him to my chest. He snuggled in and kept munching the turkey as I walked him two doors north to the neighbour’s horse barn. I lifted the latch and entered the comfortable space where plenty of felines were gathered, well fed and watered. The horses provided plenty of warmth. What a relief! Now I could proceed to work with a clear conscience. Thankfully, I have not seen Kitty since. It is amazing how tough animals can be; however, I doubt this cat would have survived much more of the biting cold.

Animal adaptations
There are two main ways wild critters adapt in winter. One category is the ‘nappers and snackers’. These are animals that are not true hibernators: squirrels, chipmunks, bears, skunks, beavers and badgers. They will sleep much of the time, but get up and forage for food when the weather is good. Raccoons, skunks, bears, and badgers will actually enter a state of torpor during intense cold and live off their own fat for a while.
The true hibernators appear to be dead because the heart rate is so slow and body temperature drops dramatically. They must eat a lot of food in the fall before going to sleep. True hibernators include: bats, groundhogs, ground squirrel, frogs, snakes, etc.

White-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer have had it rough this winter. Deep snow makes it difficult to negotiate movement and the long cold periods mean more energy is required. The deer continue to forage on any plants, twigs, and buds they can get at, including cedar trees and the bark of many other types of trees. In spite of the deep snow, any of the deer Fergus and I have spotted in the back field have appeared to be relatively healthy.
So… was Wiarton Willie correct in his prediction of six more weeks of winter when he was awakened from his winter sleep on February 2? The deer certainly hope not!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Indeed the crow is common, but never underestimate its abilities. The correct name is American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), and it is entirely black except for its brown eyes. Studies of these very intelligent birds show that they can actually count, solve simple puzzles, learn symbols and retain information. They also hoard treasures like shells, coloured pebbles and shiny objects. They enjoy eating snails and cleverly break the mollusks’ shells by dropping them on rocks from above.
Ernest Thompson Seton wrote an amazing, true tale about a crow named ‘Silverspot’ in his anthology, “Wild Animals I Have Known”. In the late 19th century, Silverspot (so named for a nickel-sized white patch on one cheek) resided on a pine-clad hill near Toronto’s Castle Frank for more than twenty years! According to Seton, the crow was ‘always on duty’ and ‘ready for the attack’.
One day the author was out walking along the railroad track when he noticed an approaching flock of crows, with Silverspot in the lead. When they were quite near, Seton raised his closed umbrella slightly. Silverspot gave a quick “Caw!” and the flock rose immediately out of gun range. This scene was repeated on several occasions. Soon the crows were wise to the trick and began to ignore Seton. However, when he changed the umbrella to a rifle, the effect was instant as the flock swooped to greater heights. Seton states that a crow can tell who is more dangerous; the farmer’s son or his daughter. Obviously, the son is more likely to be wielding a gun.
Crows take great pleasure in harassing large predators like hawks and owls. A lead crow will call gangs together, sometimes numbering up to two hundred, to chase and pester the larger birds, subsequently driving them from their own territory.
Fergus the yellow Labrador and I were on an early morning meander at the back of our property during the Christmas holidays. From the edge of the deciduous forest I heard a raucous low-pitched “caw!” immediately followed by a higher-pitched “caw, caw-caw!” from some distance away. Then I spotted the red-tailed hawk, minding his own business as he soared loftily over our heads. He was likely hunting for mice or bunnies. Suddenly one of the marauding crows came in from behind like a jet fighter zeroing in on its target. The second attacker plummeted from above, causing the hawk to dodge and weave to escape the two pests, who had obviously planned their little game at the expense of the unsuspecting raptor. The last I saw of them was three tiny specks disappearing into the distance at the horizon.
Night brings a new threat to the crow. They do not see well in the dark and can fall prey to the sharp-eyed owl. Ernest Thompson Seton knew old Silverspot for twenty years. His clever feathered friend came to a sad end one night when a great-horned owl dragged him off his perch as he slept. Seton found the bloody remains the next morning. He knew it was Silverspot when he turned over the head to reveal the white patch on the cheek. The tell-tale double-toed tracks of a great-horned owl were scattered in the turf.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

We are all too familiar with holiday feasting and what it can do to our waistlines (let alone our cholesterol levels). After the holiday season we begin to see the ads for fitness and weight loss programs: “Lose 20 pounds for 20 bucks” – or something like that. Many of us make stringent New Year’s resolutions only to break them before January is out. However, there are some ways to survive the party food season without putting on an extra five or ten pounds.

Pace Yourself
It is well known in nutrition circles that the more slowly one eats, the less food you will consume. This applies to everyday meal consumption, but even more so when at a social gathering. It is so easy to eat quickly, gulping delicious morsels while talking to friends, co-workers, or other acquaintances. The best approach is to slow everything down; inhale deeply, be calm, and savour every bite (which should be small). Chew slowly and you’ll be surprised at how much better the food tastes.

Prioritize
When faced with platter upon platter of tempting, fattening foods, or catering staff in your face with the next hot hors d’oeuvre, stop and think about what pleases your palate most. Don’t have some of everything; instead, choose the things you love. For me it would have to be the mushroom tart, the barbecued shrimp skewer, or the garlic bruschetta. It is all about priorities. Don’t just eat something because it is in front of you. Make sure it is so appealing to you that it is worth the fat and calories. Again…eat oh so slowly.

The 80/20 Rule
This is a rule I learned in a nutrition class at Fanshawe College. Eighty per cent of the time you should eat a really healthy, balanced diet with lots of good fats (not trans or saturated) and whole grains. Twenty per cent of the time you can treat yourself to the less healthy foods with minimal nutritional value or ‘empty calories’. I actually prefer changing it to the 90/10 rule but have been known to bend it during the party season.

So, good luck this Christmas. Enjoy the festivities but don’t overdo it. Go for lots of walks outside. You’ll be thankful on January 1st you do!

1/3 cup – canola oil
1 cup – dark molasses
1 1/4 cup – orange juice
1 tbsp – grated orange peel
2 1/2 cups – whole wheat flour
1 tsp – baking soda
1 tsp – ground cinnamon
2 tsp – ground ginger
1/2 tsp – salt
1/2 cup – raisins

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix wet ingredients together in a large bowl. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium bowl. Add raisins. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Pour into a greased 9” x 13” pan and bake 40 minutes. Be sure not to over bake. Gingerbread will be moist.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Most people choose their wines by bouquet, an eye-catching label, or price. The true connoisseur uses terms like ‘oaky’, ‘peppery’, ‘fruity’, or ‘earthy’.
Our outdoorsman friend, Gary Russwurm of Muskoka, chooses his wines by the birds pictured on the label. His choices come from Pelee Island, the southernmost point in Canada.
Anyone who has visited Point Pelee National Park may have witnessed spectacular spring or fall bird migrations. Avid birders make the trek each year with their binoculars and cameras poised. Many of them are also there to visit the winery and take home a few bottles of wine. Several of the countless species which pass through the park are depicted on the bottles produced by Pelee Island Winery.
When Gary and his wife, Margaret Ann, came from Muskoka to visit us in October, they brought along a VQA bottle of VIDAL/SEYVAL BLANC. The bird on the label was a new one for me. I guessed it to be a warbler by its body shape, general size and type of beak. Further exploration of text on the back label revealed that the bird was a prothonotary warbler, a brilliantly deep yellow bird with blue-gray wings and no wing bars.

Since the Russwurms’ visit, I have conducted a wine inventory in our basement. I have managed to locate:
Pelee Island CABERNET; bird species Scarlet tanager – best viewing in mid-May (according to the back label);
MERLOT; bird species red-headed woodpecker – an entirely red head and a solidly black back;
MERLOT CABERNET; bird species American goldfinch (otherwise known as a wild canary);
SHIRAZ CABERNET; bird species Indigo bunting – often graces the grassy woodland edges and brushy fields of Pelee Island. This bird relies on brilliant sunlight to transform its plumage into the bright turquoise-blue for which it is named (reports the back label); and
SHIRAZ; bird species the Northern oriole; flame-orange and black with a solid black head.

Choosing an Ontario wine has an added benefit; there is a smaller ecological footprint created when one chooses food and wine from within a hundred mile radius. To transport goods across a nation, continent, or ocean demands enormous amounts of energy. The Niagara region is another example of some fabulous wineries. So drink up! Your local wines are readily available and you can learn about the birds at the same time.

Editor’s Note: Pelee Island Winery has a birder package of six wines, including several of the ones Jenipher describes here, available online at http://www.peleeisland.com.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

“There’s a hairy woodpecker on the suet feeder.”
“No, that’s a downy!”
This is the sort of banter you hear around our place. Truth be told, the hairy and downy woodpeckers are pretty much identical in appearance except for size. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish which is which because of distance (or poor vision).
Roger Tory Peterson, father of the field guide, states that the downy woodpecker is like a smaller edition of the hairy: about 2.5 inches smaller. At a distance this doesn’t always help with identification. Both birds are white-backed and black-winged, with regular white spots. Two white stripes adorn a black head and the male of each species sports a small red patch at the back of its head. The main differences are body size and the bill. The downy’s bill is small; the hairy’s is proportionately larger and quite prominent.
These woodpeckers are regular visitors to feeding stations and are fun to observe. Comfort foods for us may include chili, soups and stews; for a woodpecker it is definitely suet. It provides necessary heat energy to survive the winter’s cold. Congealed pan drippings mixed with peanut butter or trimmings from meat stuffed into net bags provide tasty, energy-filled treats as well.

The ability of the woodpecker to effectively drill holes into a tree seems to defy physics. I can only imagine what it might be like to repeatedly and relentlessly thrust my face into a solid object. Some quick research revealed that woodpeckers have a suspension system in their skull that reduces and absorbs the force of strokes. It has special softening tissues between the bones of its skull.
During my childhood, at the cottage in Muskoka, we often awoke to the rapid percussion of a hairy woodpecker as he drilled away on the metal chimney-pipe on the roof. We never knew why he did it; perhaps he liked to hear himself. The sound would reverberate throughout our little wooden structure and our night’s slumber would come to an end.
People sometimes mistakenly call the hairy or downy woodpecker a ‘red-headed woodpecker’. The red-headed is aptly named, as its entire head is bright red. They are not common at feeders, preferring hedgerows, groves and fields. I have only seen a couple over the years on our Ailsa Craig property.
Flickers and sapsuckers are common in the area as well, and are actually members of the woodpecker family. I shall reserve the details on them for a future column.
While in our campsite in Algonquin Park this past summer, we were visited by a large hairy woodpecker. The object of his attraction was a fallen pine log, loaded with juicy grubs and beetles. As he did not seem to care much about our presence, Tom (my better half) was able to get a few good photos of him.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

It is commonplace for us to refer to certain groups of animals by their correct term: herds of cattle, schools of fish, pods of whales, swarms of bees, litter of puppies, etc. In the avian family, the names for species groups are indeed quite unique, if not intriguing. Three group names are stated in the title of this article.
Bird groups are often named by more interesting terms than ‘flock’. In many cases the group name is more appropriate than one might think. A few examples are highlighted in the ensuing paragraphs.
One might wonder why a group of raptors (hawks for example) would be called a ‘cauldron’. Perhaps these adept hunters had been historically associated with witches’ brew. Wrong. Upon some investigation I learned that the term refers to migratory behaviour. In the autumn when massive flocks of raptors take off from the ground, the spiraling funnels of thousands of birds resemble kettles or cauldrons. Makes sense.
A ‘murder’ of crows is another term that conjures up macabre scenes of ghosts and haunted houses. Again, the group name is based on crow behaviour. Crows are known to fly in large mobs in order to harass other birds, like hawks and owls. Mob mentality frequently ends up in murder. Hence the group name.
Similarly, a group of ravens is referred to as an ‘unkindness’. The ominous appearance of this bearded black bird, with its raucous voice was highlighted in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”. It is featured in mythology worldwide. The raven is the cleverest of birds and has been known to steer a hawk to a rabbit (which the hawk kills) and then chase the hawk away so the raven can have his lunch. The hawk would call that ‘unkind’.
Eagles have long been admired for their soaring spirits and have been used as symbols of wisdom and determination. They are always at the top of the food chain. Sports teams and universities often use the eagle image as a logo or mascot. The link to higher education may explain the group name ‘a convocation of eagles’.
A group of peacocks is known as an ‘ostentation’. The reason is obvious when one thinks of the ostentatious strutting of the males, parading their coloured fans for the females. A ‘gaggle’ of geese simply comes from the burbling sound made by a passing flock. A group of hummingbirds is known as a ‘charm’. Everyone is charmed by the beauty of this tiniest of birds, delicately sipping nectar from a bell-shaped flower.
Other examples include: a bevy of quail, a bouquet of pheasants, a company of parrots, an exaltation of larks, a pitying of doves (yes the cooing is pitiful) and a herd of cranes. Try applying these terms next time you see a ‘flock’ of crows or migrating hawks. You may get some strange looks, but you will be the wiser.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Summer was gone but the good weather lingered on into golden September. It was one of those lovely, almost autumn weekends that found us at the cottage on Three Mile Lake in Muskoka. Saturday passed pleasantly and dusk came relatively early. There was a slight chill in the air so my mother, my dad, my friend Debbie and I sat close to the open-hearth fireplace. At the ripe old age of eleven, it seemed to me that the gathering darkness and flickering flames were setting the mood for one of my father’s choice ghost stories.
Gradually the logs were consumed by the fire and shadows deepened in the room. There were no other cottagers in the bay that weekend so all was very quiet and still, except for the chirping of crickets heard through the screens of the front windows which faced the lake.
My father’s story concerned some poor man whose dying wife had persuaded him to bury her with all her jewels. Later on, the direst of circumstances made him decide to open her grave in order to extract the jewels therefrom. Dad’s quiet, slow, monotonous voice added to the spell of the moment. Debbie and I were paying rapt attention, along with my mother who had undoubtedly heard the story countless times.
We followed the exploits of the desperate grave robber as he made his way to the cemetery. In the light of a dim kerosene lantern, he located the shallow grave and dug down until the metal of his shovel met the wood of the coffin. He opened it and in a rush of courage seized the jewels. We noted his frantic efforts to return the grave to its previous appearance. With backward looks he hurriedly made his way homeward. Now the moment of truth was near. It was almost time to bring everyone back to the present with a start; the man crept up the stairs to the bedrooms that he and his wife had shared. Suddenly…!!
At that precise moment in the story, the whole cottage where we sat was alight with an eerie green glow, which filled every corner of the room. My mother’s oil painting of an autumn forest, bathed in phosphorescence by the eerie glow, stood out on the back wall. We all spun our heads toward the source of the illumination. Down the bay sped a globular greenish-white object that grew in size and then quickly faded, leaving everyone momentarily speechless. Our senses having returned, we took to our feet and ran outside toward the lake. My father then explained that apparently a meteorite had raced through the atmosphere at the moment when one usually shouts GOTCHA! at the end of a ghost story.
Meteor showers are common throughout August and September, but we normally are able to see them as what we might call shooting stars streaking down the sky on a clear night. We had been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. It is likely that a small, perhaps baseball-sized chunk of a meteor had broken through the earth’s atmosphere and taken its path right into the lake that ghost story night. It is an event that I will never forget as long as I live! Nor am I likely to ever have one of my own ghost stories so aptly punctuated.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Family TYRANNIDAE, scientific name Tyrannus tyrannus. Sounds like some type of dinosaur, doesn’t it? It is not what you might expect; this scientific name is that of the Eastern kingbird. You will commonly spot this handsome bird perched on a wire, or high up on a tree or weed stalk catching insects. This 22 cm-long bird has a black cap, forehead, cheeks and bill. White throat, charcoal gray back, white under parts, and black tail with a white terminal band are other distinguishing marks.
The Latin name means “king of the tyrants”. This aggressive bird, when defending its nest, will be seen chasing and pestering larger species like hawks, crows, and turkey vultures. Extremely agile in its attacks, the kingbird will pull out the other birds’ feathers and generally make their lives miserable.
According to Fred J. Alsop III, PhD in Ornithology, the Eastern kingbird winters in South America where its diet becomes mostly berries. The male performs erratic courtship flights, circling, hovering and tumbling with tail spread. This bird is monogamous and a solitary nester. Young are fed by both parents for 16-18 days.
Your chances of spotting a member of this distinctive species are extremely good, as its population is common and widespread. Watch out for them along the roadside, perched on fences, utility wires, shrubs or posts.

Current Backyard Sightings
We have been enjoying a tremendous number of rose-breasted grosbeaks in the yard this summer. Throughout the day you can count ten or more members of this beautiful species on the feeders. The spring fledgling males are in their immature phase of plumage. The breast is rusty in colour with multiple streaks, and the distinctive red triangular patch is not yet developed. Other common species noted are house finches, downy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches and the very friendly chickadees. We continue feeding all summer. Don’t forget to keep the birdbath full of fresh water.
We have also had a green heron visit our water garden on several occasions. Less than half the size of the great blue heron, this individual is fairly young and the plumage on its head is quite fluffy. He is a deep shade of green with distinctive yellow legs, and does not spook easily when we approach the water garden. However, the frog population appears to have diminished.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Childhood memory. Three Mile Lake, Muskoka. Early morning mist. Lake a sheet of glass. Heron skims the surface and lands in the reeds. Stands erect. “Squawk!”
Algonquin Park. Summer 2007. Pioneer Logging Exhibit trail. Heron at water’s edge. Lightning strike of daggerlike bill. Scores a catch. Moments later a telltale Pisces bulge halfway down his gullet.
Ailsa Craig. Back yard on Queen St. North. Happily hunting heron reducing goldfish population of water garden. Need for more lily pads.
The great blue heron, Ardea herodias, ranges throughout much of North America, including southern Florida. It is often mistakenly called a crane. If you see a giant blue-gray bird with a six-foot wingspan, its neck drawn back and long legs straight out behind, it is most likely the great blue heron. It is a wader, not a swimmer, and does not have webbed feet.
The heron is monogamous and lays two to seven pale blue eggs that are 6.4 cm long. Incubation is 25-30 days. Both parents participate in feeding the young. In the month of March the birds return to the heronry (a rookery for herons). A typical nesting site in southwestern Ontario is a swampy deciduous forest clump in the midst of a farmer’s field. The nests are at least 10 metres up and consist of a network of sticks. Access to these nesting sites is very difficult for humans.
In past years there was a heronry on Hyde Park Road, south of Ilderton. For some unknown reason the herons moved north and now can be seen between Fifteen and Sixteen Mile Roads on the east side of Hyde Park Road. In early spring during nesting season, with a decent set of binoculars, one can observe the young, their necks craned like misplaced nesting sticks. The adults, circling and hovering over the nests look somewhat prehistoric, reminiscent of some feathered dinosaur.
One morning last summer I was afforded a fleeting glimpse of a smaller relative of the great blue, the green heron, which is about half the size of its blue cousin. As I opened the back door, the spooked bird lifted off from the water garden with a sharp ‘squawk’, its distinctive yellow legs dangling out behind. I think he departed without breakfast.
Fergus the Labrador and I often take our evening walk down to the iron bridge on West Corner Drive. Last week we were treated to a rare sight, compared to the usual red-winged blackbirds, beavers, and snapping turtles. As we stood at the bridge’s railing, a pair of great blue herons sailed over its framework on silent wings, just twenty feet above our heads. Like great pterodactyls, they continued their glide over the river, and then circled back to land gracefully in the top of the tallest of the deciduous trees on the riverbank. Their plumage appeared blue-gold in the setting sun and an occasional ‘squawk’ came from each bird. Shortly thereafter, a third heron descended onto a nearby tree. The giant birds sat with their long necks tucked back and appeared that they would settle there for the night. Fergus and I quietly went on our way, leaving the majestic creatures in peace.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Each day as I head to the back of our property, I hear the piercing ‘meow’ call of the gray catbird. If I meow at him, I always get an answer of some sort back. This handsome member of the thrasher family bears the scientific name Dumetella carolinensis. It is a medium-sized perching bird; both sexes are monomorphic (or look exactly alike). It is 22 cm long, dark gray in colour, with a slim black bill and dark eyes. It has a long dark tail widening toward the tip, dark legs and an even darker cap on its head. It has a rust-coloured patch under the tail. The French name of the gray catbird is “monqueur chat.”
The behaviour of the gray catbird is very typical of a thrasher as it pumps its large tail up and down vocalizing all the while. It uses its loud cat sound to proclaim its territory, usually singing from inside the protection of a tree or bush, obscured from view by foliage. At the back of our property there are some very tall white cedars, which are the perfect hiding spot for the catbird to render his proclamations. These birds are urban, suburban, and rural. They eat mainly insects and berries. If you want to attract them to your feeder, try cheese, bread, raisins, cornflakes, currants, peanuts and crackers.
The gray catbird can mimic more than a hundred different species, including a tree frog. When I make my meowing sound at him, he often responds with the ‘purp-purp’ sound of a robin. He sings each phrase only once. The catbird’s syrinx (inside its throat) is divided in half and each side can operate independently. This means it can actually sing two songs at the same time. I have yet to hear this for myself but the phenomenon is well documented. Imagine being able to sing harmony with yourself!
The nest is cup-shaped and close to the ground on a tree branch. There are usually 2-3 pale blue eggs to a clutch. Another bird, the cowbird, is known to be too lazy to raise its own young and usually lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, which are often oblivious to the additional clutch members. If a cowbird happens to lay its eggs in a catbird nest, the tenant will deftly peck a hole in the cowbird egg and knock it out of the nest.
Catbirds summer all across southern Canada as far south as northeastern Arizona. Their winter range is the east coast of the U.S. southward to Central America and the Caribbean.

Recent Sighting
The orange-flavoured nectar in the oriole feeder is apparently not just for orioles. This week I was surprised to see what I first thought was a woodpecker on the oriole feeder. Closer inspection revealed a young yellow-bellied sapsucker (a member of the woodpecker family that drinks sap). While he was still enjoying his beverage on the feeder, along came a house finch on the opposite perch and it began drinking as well. Cocktails in the back yard.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Vegetable gardening, though not for everyone, can be a very therapeutic endeavour. Planting the seeds, harvesting, and then being able to enjoy the resulting food on your plate is rewarding in itself. Then there is the physical health benefit of the exercise and fresh air. As a gardener, each year I like to plant at least one ‘fun crop.’ Some examples are: white pumpkins (ghostly), swan gourds (you can hang them as birdhouses), or colourful Indian corn (to hang as an autumn decoration).
This year’s fun crop is a combination of corn, beans, and squash, traditionally known as “The Three Sisters.” According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans and squash are the three inseparable sisters, complementing each other as they grow. Native Canadian farmers of the eastern woodlands grew them as a sustainable system that provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet. The Iroquois (including those in our region), believed that corn, beans, and squash were gifts from the Great Spirit, each watched over by one of the Three Sisters, called the De-o-ha-ko.
The corn stalk provides a natural pole for the beans to climb. Their vines actually help to stabilize the corn stalk. The mature squash vines and leaves act as natural mulch, shading out weeds and holding in moisture. The beans fix nitrogen in their roots. If the plant is recycled into the soil, the nitrogen will feed the corn stalk for the following year. The spines of the squash vines are a deterrent to animals.
The Three Sisters also complement each other nutritionally; corn provides carbohydrates, dried beans are rich in protein, and the squash are rich in vitamins and minerals.

How to plant
Make several mounds of soil, each about two feet in diameter. Incorporate some well-composted manure or other commercial fertilizer into the soil. Plant two or three corn seeds per mound, and a few bean and squash seeds around the periphery of the mound. For the bean crop I used scarlet runners and for the squash, jack-o-lantern type pumpkin seeds. Any kind of winter squash will work.

How not to plant
They say “experience is the best teacher” and I have certainly learned from experience on my first attempt to grow the three sisters. As I did not do any how-to research before beginning the project, I made the mistake of planting all three types of seeds at the same time. Common sense could have told me that the corn should be established first so the beans would have something to hold onto. So, be sure to plant the corn a couple of weeks ahead of the others seeds; the corn plant should be at least four inches tall before planting the beans and squash. Cultivating is still important at this point, but once established, this planting becomes a maintenance free crop. Enjoy!

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

A warm July morning on Blue Heron Bay, Muskoka. Half an hour past dawn. The lake: a sheet of glass in the rising mist. A nine-year-old girl ambles on the beach, welcoming the sun’s rays as they kiss her chestnut hair and warm the sand between her toes. The belted kingfisher winds his clock as he swoops to claim an unsuspecting yellow perch. A great blue heron lands in the reeds, poised to spear his breakfast. From deeper in the woods, the veery chimes his haunting cadence. A sandpiper hops on stilt-like legs at water’s edge, unaware of the child observer.
These early childhood scenes served to charm the child into a healthy appreciation for the diversity and beauty of the natural environment. Children need experiences in the outdoors that will instill respect for birds and animals. Family camping trips, spending time at the cottage and hiking on the countless nature trails in Ontario can reap great rewards for parents and children. Unfortunately, not enough of us have an appreciation for the delicacy and uncertainty of the balance upon which the survival of many wild species depends. Simply having a decent field guide to the birds in your house can help to build interest in getting to know their various field marks and behaviours.
On the other hand, we, as a species, have an enormous infatuation with birds of all kinds on a quite different level. We use their names in our language daily. People are considered to have a ‘hawk-eye’ or an ‘eagle-eye’ or a ski jumper may ‘soar like an eagle’ (remember Eddie the Eagle?). An old woman may be called an ‘old crow’ or worse, an ‘old biddy’ (hen). Men or women can be ‘as wise as an owl’ or ‘crazier than a coot’ (waterfowl) or just be an ‘old coot.’ You can be a ‘silly goose’ or a ‘turkey.’ You may use Dove soap for its gentleness. We also use colours that represent birds: teal green, canary yellow or raven black, to name a few. When someone retires for the night, they may have ‘gone to roost.’ You may have been ‘pigeon-holed’ or may have your own ‘pigeon-hole’ in the office. Sports teams bear names like; orioles, seahawks, bluejays, blackhawks, pee-wees, red-wings, etc. etc…
Without birds, we would be overrun with insects. Bird song is the first indicator that dawn is approaching. The rooster wakes the farmer still. The cessation of bird song is a good indicator that a storm is approaching and the first sound to resume as the storm passes. There are birds all around. Listen, observe and appreciate.

A recent sighting
On Queen Street, just north of Ailsa Craig, Fergus the Labrador and I managed to inadvertently flush out a large flock of wild turkeys. They must have been feeding in the roadside ditch because as we passed by, three turkey hens and all of their fledglings erupted in an explosive kafuffle. The young ones were able to fly a short distance into the lower branches of some pines. Once the parents realized that their offspring had made it to safety, each female then flew easily to the tops of the trees, vocalizing as they went.
It was indeed an entertaining sight to behold. You never know what you might see around southwestern Ontario if you keep your eyes peeled.

Or, How my family and two dogs survived an Algonquin nightmare

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Not very many people can genuinely say that they have been struck by lightning and lived to tell the story. It’s a tale my family (yes, all four of us plus the dogs) can share after a 1996 camping trip.
Algonquin Park has attracted our family for more than two decades. On a gorgeous, warm day in August of 1996, my husband Tom, our two sons, and I settled into a lovely wooded site at Lake of Two Rivers campground. Tom Jr. was 15 at the time, and Andrew was 11. We had planned to take the cedar strip canoe and our two kayaks on a day trip the following morning. The weather forecast indicated sunny skies and warm temperatures.
We arose by seven, ate a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, beans and rye bread, and packed a picnic for the trip. We portaged the boats from the campsite to the Lake of Two Rivers beach and were on our way by ten. Our Labrador retrievers, one black and one yellow, panted excitedly to be on the water again.
Tom and Andrew were each in a kayak. Tom and I were in the cedar strip, he in the stern and his trusty bows-person up front. We located the mouth of the Little Madawaska River and decided to explore it. Paddling leisurely upstream against a gentle current, it seemed an ideal day for an outdoor experience.
An hour or so later, we pulled the boats up at a portage imposed by an old railroad bed, its bridge – that once spanned this part of the river – long since rotted away. Trying to imagine the sounds of the steam engines of J.R. Booth’s lumber era rumbling through the forest, we set about preparing our lunch. A single burner stove was produced and we were able to boil enough water for our ‘cup-a-soup.’ Pita halves stuffed with salami and cheddar topped off the repast.
We regarded the first tremor of thunder with little concern. Ten minutes later, however, the velvet blackness of the northwestern sky, loud claps of thunder and violent gusts of wind sent us all scurrying for cover. A well-documented rule about thunderstorms is ‘don’t stay under a tree’. We were in the Algonquin Forest in thick bush so plan B was put into place.
We hurriedly ushered the boys under the upturned canoe with Molson, the black Lab puppy. Tom and I crouched together in the lowest spot possible with Daisy Mae the yellow Lab. We were pounded with torrential rain and the lightning was relentless. Suddenly, a blinding explosion of yellow light stung the air and we were hurled violently upward. We crashed back to the muddy ground. The first to regain consciousness, I immediately crawled forward to check Tom’s condition. He was breathing. A crying puppy and groans from the boys told us they had survived. They had been thrown upward and had hit the floor of the overturned canoe. Tom Jr. complained of painful feet and Andrew clutched the helping puppy tightly. Another ten minutes of lashing rain and crashing thunder made me feel like we were in a war zone, wondering whether the lightning might strike us again. My tingling toes and fingers also made me wonder about the possibility of heart attack.
At long last the pounding ceased and we launched the boats to make a hasty exit down river. I never knew we could paddle with such determination.
Later that evening, around the campfire, we marveled at the wonder of just being alive and the beauty all around us with a fresh perspective. As I placed my hand on Andrew’s blonde-tufted head, I felt two tiny bald spots behind the temple. His head had rested against the gunwale of the canoe and the screws must have conducted the electrical current and singed his hair. That was too close!
We later learned that what we had experienced was a phenomenon called ‘step current.’ We assume lightning struck a tree many yards away from where we were, and the ensuing charge then traveled through the ground, eventually throwing us upward. Our fingers and toes tingled for a couple of days, but we were far more fortunate than a university student who was struck and killed on Lake Opeongo during the same storm.
We learned a lesson that day: don’t ever underestimate the power of Mother Nature, or her unpredictability.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

What lays pea-sized eggs, weighs an eighth of an ounce, and can be confused with a moth? It is none other than the truly incredible hummingbird. Only one species inhabits the eastern region of Canada: the ruby-throated or Archilochus colubris. Several other species are found throughout other parts of North and South America.
The ruby-throated hummingbird lays two pea-sized white eggs, which incubate for 18-23 days. The miniscule nest resembles a natural knob on the branch of a leafy tree or shrub. The chicks are actually larger than their mothers when they leave the nest because of the stress placed on the parent while raising them. Two summers ago our neighbour Steve Kozak was able to observe such a nest attached to a gnarly branch in one of his maple trees. He used a stepladder to take the odd peek at this amazing sight and managed some interesting video footage.

Time to put out those hummingbird feeders!
May 1st is a good time to put out your hummingbird feeder because they arrive back from the sunny south around this time. If you want to establish their presence in your yard, food must be available. I haven’t seen a hummer yet this spring, but my birding friend Val had one at her feeder last weekend. I put my feeder out the moment I heard they were back. (Orioles will be here soon as well, so you might want to think about getting the oriole feeder filled with their preferred orange-flavoured nectar as well.

Amazing stats!
The name ‘hummer’ comes from the sound of the wings, which beat an amazing 40-80 times per second. Average flight speed is 50 km/h. The birds are seen darting about, changing directions like green arrows. Their average heart rate is 250 beats per minute while resting (compare that to the human heart at about 70) and the hummer breathes about 250 times per minute. In spite of these high rates of respiration and heartbeats, the hummingbird has been known to live for twelve years, although the average lifespan is between three and five years.
The hummingbird has very short legs and consequently does not really walk or hop; it can only shuffle along a perch. However, it can still scratch its head and neck by raising a foot up and over its wing – quite the acrobat! Contrary to a popular myth, hummers do not hitch rides on other birds. They leave their northern breeding grounds in the second half of August or first week of September, travelling vast distances to winter in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands. Banded birds show that they return to the exact location the following spring.
Last season in our yard, we noted that the hummingbirds that visited us preferred the flowers to the feeders. The bell-shaped flowers of the hosta lilies were a favourite. They also were partial to columbine, bee balm, phlox, petunias, lilies, trumpet vine and virtually any cone-shaped flowers. If you do put out nectar, a homemade concoction of one part sugar to four parts water is appropriate. Make sure to boil the water to dissolve the sugar and allow it to cool before adding to the feeder. Clean feeders at least once a week.

Recent sightings
We have had several rose-breasted grosbeaks at our feeders this week. My birding friend Val has had large groups of blue jays (up to twenty at one sitting!). Plus, several people in the Ailsa Craig and Nairn areas have spotted bald eagles.

Jenipher Appleton’s columns are available online at http://www.grandbendstrip.com/outside. You can also reach her through our website.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Robins, cardinals, and red-winged blackbirds are all singing at the tops of their lungs. The high-pitched screech of the killdeer is another sign that spring has sprung.
The killdeer, Charadrius vociferous, a member of the plover family, is named for its piercing call. I recently heard the familiar “killdee!” and noted a female killdeer sprinting away from her nest. In an effort to divert my attention, she went into the usual broken wing act, crying in a pitiful voice. Treading carefully, I finally located the nest; a shallow scrape in the gravel, beautifully camouflaged and endowed with four brown speckled eggs. When I glanced away toward the frantic mother, it was very hard to relocate the nest when I looked back, although I had not moved an inch. I took a quick photo and promptly left the mother in peace.
The killdeer offspring are among the cutest of baby birds. Fluffy replicas of their parents, they come out of the egg running and with eyes open. These ‘precocial’ babies are much closer to independence than most newborn birds. They are incubated longer and so are further developed at birth. Camouflage aids in their survival rate after hatching. One of the first lessons is to teach the chicks to ‘freeze’ on signal from the parents. The fact that the offspring are so cute is often an attraction for curious onlookers, especially children. Parents need to make their own offspring aware of the importance of leaving things in nature as they found them. A curious human intruder can seriously disturb a family of killdeers or other birds, sometimes causing the death of the baby birds.
The killdeer is very helpful to farmers because of the large numbers of insect pests they consume. Unfortunately, they are quite vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. The use of these chemicals has a very negative impact on the entire food chain. I don’t need to see a “pesticide use” sign to know when the stuff has been sprayed. The odour lingers for a couple of days. Any birds which eat insects or worms are affected, along with countless other species. We must dispense with the use of cosmetic pesticides. It is the least we can to do help repair some of the damage toward nature we have caused. As Tom Hayman (the bird man of the London Free Press) says regarding pesticides, “You can’t pick dew worms off a golf course any more…and now you know why.”

Ontario backroads are not a garbage dump!
One cannot help but notice the amount of litter strewn along our roadsides during spring. Not only is it unsightly, but it can cause serious harm to unsuspecting wildlife if they think it is food. Since the recession of the snow, I have been dismayed to see all types of garbage while on my ‘balanced lifestyle’ walks with Fergus the yellow Labrador: glass and plastic bottles, plastic six-pack rings, bleach bottles, liquid detergent bottles, beer bottles, cigarette packages, pop cans, and even a soiled infant diaper. Yecchh! The plastics are unlikely to break down in the next 1000 years. What a dreadful legacy to leave behind for our future generations!
The most frequently occurring litter on our road is Tim Horton coffee cups… you know the ones with the big yellow arrow? Just because you rolled up the rim and got ‘zilch’ doesn’t mean you should roll down the window and pitch it to the shoulder! I have to believe that the bulk of this litter is coming from car windows, not from the people enjoying nature while out for a stroll down the road. That means that it is likely the people in the sixteen and older category are the perpetrators. Perhaps children need to teach their parents to show more respect for the environment!
Jenipher Appleton: nature at grandbendstrip.com

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Bird songs tell of spring
We find ourselves in that lovely transition between late winter and early spring, when the sun feels strong yet the nights remain frigid. Stepping outside in the morning yields a diversity of bird songs, whose performers are more actively communicating in response to the imminent spring.
A most noticeable song comes from one of our non-migratory birds – the Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). The sound has changed from ‘what cheer, what cheer,’ to a more compelling ‘birdy birdy.’
Regular visitors to the feeder all year long, the cardinals seem extra hungry in the month of March. The male’s brilliant red plumage with his accentuated crest makes a striking contrast to the verdant boughs of a lofty spruce. He sports a black mask and beard with a triangular reddish bill.
An official appointed by the Pope to his council is also called a cardinal. He adorns his robe with a bright red cummerbund. It is likely that the bird is named for the esteemed official, rather than the reverse. Otherwise very similar to the male, the female has olive beige upper parts and buff brown under parts. Both genders are 19-23 cm long.
On a recent late afternoon walk with Fergus, our yellow lab puppy, I spied a male cardinal high in the branches of a sugar maple. He would call ‘birdy birdy’ or ‘teacher teacher.’ This melodic tirade was followed up with a spring variation; a low trill or purring. I soon detected a well-camouflaged female on a lower branch, coyly facing away from the wooing male. Shortly, another male landed on a higher branch from a tree about 50m away. The two males proceeded to make several calls and flitted about the branches, vying for the affection of the female, who remained patiently on her branch. Suddenly one of the males aborted his effort, leaving the couple to pursue their mating ritual. Fergus sat attentively observing the cycle of nature unfolding before us.

Food, territorial males and good parents
Food choices for cardinals include insects, seeds, grains, fruits and snails. They drink sap from holes drilled by sapsuckers and enjoy cracked corn and sunflower seeds at feeders.
The male cardinal is willing to fight other birds to defend his territory and has been known to attack his own reflection in windows, car mirrors or other shiny surfaces. This behaviour has caused the deaths of many territorial males. More than once I have scooped up the sad remains of a brilliant male cardinal beneath the drive shed window.
Northern cardinals are monogamous and the male feeds the female while she is incubating the eggs. The fledglings are fed by both sexes. The male will continue to feed and tend the original brood while the female begins the incubation of a second clutch. The cardinal is often host to the hatchlings of the cowbird who has the nasty habit of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds (the height of laziness). All members of the cowbird family are classed as ‘brood parasites’ and the female lays between 10 and 36 eggs per year. That’s a lot of giving up for adoption. The cardinal proceeds to diligently raise its own young along with those of the cowbird. Any predictions as to which offspring wins the fledgling beauty contest?

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Balanced literacy for Ontario students

The latest and most unremitting thrust from the Ontario Ministry of Education is indeed the ‘balanced literacy’ movement. In a nutshell, balanced literacy in the elementary grades must provide opportunities for daily reading including: independent, guided, and shared reading, along with read-alouds. I won’t even begin to go into the definitions of the foregoing or how they are implemented. Suffice it to say that I have been training and practising balanced literacy over the past several years in my classroom at East Williams, and that as a result, my learning curve has continued to expand and develop along with the children. The reason for balanced literacy as an educational directive is to improve overall literacy skills in our Ontario students and to deepen their levels of reading comprehension. Sound dry? On the contrary, it is really quite exciting.
I’ll get to the point. Shared reading essentially means that everyone is looking at the same piece of text at the same time. It could be a big book, overhead projection, or any other piece of text that has been reproduced for all to see. Recently I have been using my own pieces of writing from the Grand Bend Strip for some of my shared reading experiences with the students. An integral part of the balanced literacy thrust is that teachers should model writing. I feel that the content of my articles, containing information about nature and ecology, is an appropriate model for the ten- and eleven-year-olds in my Grade 5/6 class.

Recent article “Owls – a guide to local hooters”

When my students read the article about owls, many made connections to owls they had encountered in our area. The students showed enough interest in our local species that they were inspired to do further research in our next computer lab. Not only did they find more information about owls, but also they wanted to draw pictures from the images they found on the Internet. The following are some quotes written by students about our local owls:

“I am an Eastern Screech owl. I eat insects, arachnids, small mammals and amphibians. One of my physical characteristics is my small ear tufts.” (By Kylee Arthur)
“I am a saw-whet owl. I eat small rodents, large insects, birds, and bats. I am only 20 cm long. I am named for my call which sounds like a saw being sharpened or whetted.” (By Carly Whitmore)
“I am a Great Horned owl. I eat house cats, skunks, porcupines and other animals bigger than myself. Some of my physical characteristics are my large ear tufts, and my massive length up to 64 cm, my 150 cm wingspan, huge, yellow riveting eyes, and my familiar ‘whoo-whoo!’” (By Jake Gregory)

The drawings included here, by Mackenzie Siddall and Evan Scott, demonstrate the greatest attention to detail and a wonderful sense of appreciation for these animals in their natural habitat.

Media literacy using the Grand Bend Strip

During independent reading, students are allowed to read other articles from the Grand Bend Strip. They show enthusiasm for the human interest stories and articles, but are especially taken with Casey Lessard’s fabulous photographs, candidly capturing community members of all ages taking part in a huge variety of activities. The photos are always informatively captioned, and my students are able to learn from this excellent example of media literacy.
The content of this family newspaper encourages knowledge of current events common to our community and stimulates conversation amongst students about such current events, basic science, and nature. It helps to develop a passion for exploration into different media, communication, and life-long learning. In short, the Grand Bend Strip provides a vehicle for students to be aware of the ‘balance’ between living and learning.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

A kind gesture, word or deed can truly make a difference in someone’s day. It takes very little effort to be kind, and in turn, you may be rewarded by how it makes you feel. Positive thoughts and actions are part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Gesture of goodwill
It is so rare to observe an overt gesture of goodwill that, when it does occur, it really stands out. This is how it was for a pair of my colleagues as they traveled the Nairn Road on their way to work each morning last month. Each day as the women (Julie and Jaclyn) passed a section of road, they would see an older gentleman out for his morning walk. Every vehicle, passing in either direction, received a big, friendly wave along with the peace sign from him. Most drivers, like themselves, would return the wave. It got to the point that they would anticipate the encounter each morning with enthusiasm. Other members of my staff who travel the same route commented several times about the gentleman as well, all with a positive view.

Returning the favour
One morning, running a bit late, the women missed the wave, but were just in time to see the waver entering his house. Now they knew where he lived! Julie decided that something must be done to return the kindness of this gentleman. She bought a small gift (a snowman mug filled with chocolates and biscuits). The package included a note saying “Thanks for brightening our day each morning – Julie and Jaclyn, East Williams School.” On the way home that evening they stopped and left the parcel on his doorstep.
Their reward followed swiftly the next morning when they saw their waver coming down the road wearing a sandwich-board-style sign proclaiming:
“Thank you! Merry Christmas!”
Julie and Jaclyn smiled, waved, and had a tear or two. They were ecstatic when they arrived at the school that morning; however, the story is not over yet.
Shortly after 9 a.m., an older couple arrived in the school and asked for Julie or Jaclyn. It was the waver, whose name turned out to be Richard, and his charming wife, Catherine. They wanted to meet the people who had returned a simple, kind gesture, and to say thank you in person for the Christmas gift. Everyone felt very good and a true sense of Christmas peace was hanging about the halls.

It doesn’t take much to change someone’s day for the better. Smile at someone; hold a door for someone; make a joke with people when there’s trouble at the cashier; but most of all, offer a friendly wave! The peace sign doesn’t hurt either. It might even improve your well-being.

I usually walk 30 minutes steady every morning. I exercise to try to keep all of my parts functioning. It gives me a break, too. I get a big kick out of it.
I had a triple-bypass, so I’m one of those types. Usually we (Richard and his wife Catherine) go down south, but two years ago I came down with Bell’s palsy, and that hung us up. We were going to go this year and we decided, who needs all that hassle of trying to stay out of the way of the transport trucks?
I usually have a sign (encouraging people to honk). At least half of them will honk. I don’t stop and talk with any of them, and neither do they.
The next day (after the teachers dropped off their gift), another woman comes with a gift. In her note, she calls me her buddy, and says “I can’t wait for spring to see my buddy again.” She signed it with her name, “in the blue Taurus that goes by every morning.”
There’s enough downtrends in the world today, so if someone can get a laugh out of the joker walking down the highway every morning, the more power to them.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Most of us envision our Christmas dinner with the usual domestic turkey, browned to perfection, steaming on the platter. Other options may be roast duck, goose, chicken, or even a ham. However, my friend Dwight Hughes from around the country corner prefers his turkey to be ‘wild.’ According to Dwight, there are plenty of these critters roaming our local countryside. Just two days ago, I followed a lone set of wild turkey tracks in the snow at the back of our property. Dwight knows that the wild turkey has eyesight akin to that of a hawk. Therefore, hunting them successfully can be challenging. The hunter needs to be extremely well camouflaged and have the patience to remain unmoving for hours on end. He also needs to have the strength and endurance to hold his arms outstretched around the shotgun for an extended period of time. If the hunter is lucky, patience will pay off. Remember, the turkey is alert, cautious, has the keenest of eyesight, and in its natural environment, has the edge.
Dwight’s mother Leona recounted the first wild turkey her son ever brought home. Like the pioneers of our area, she and her husband Don scalded that bird and hung it over a beam in the shed. The scalding allowed them to pluck the feathers cleanly from the skin. Then Leona had the pleasure of cleaning the innards, which she stated, “wasn’t too bad.” Unlike the pioneers, they froze the bird and saved it for Christmas. Their son-in-law Steve stuffed and roasted it to perfection. All accounts suggest they couldn’t tell the difference from a domestic turkey. I can smell it now!
How special that Christmas must have been for the Hughes family. Most of us have neither the time nor the patience to create such a traditional experience. And so, off to the grocery store we go.

Gifts for the birder on your list
Your local hardware store stocks a good variety of gift ideas to enhance the backyard viewing for the birder on your Christmas list. There are tube-style finch feeders (for finer finch feeds), tube-style feeders for sunflower seed, and countless other wood or plastic feeders resembling birdhouses. There are also many designs of birdhouses for everything from the smallest of wrens to bluebirds and swallows. Hummingbird feeders are available, some pricier than others but with true aesthetic appeal. There are oriole feeders too, along with the nectar to go with both types of feeders.

For the birds!
Suggestions for treating your feathered friends are also found in the local hardware. They stock all types of seeds, suet, and seed-encrusted suet balls and bells. Wire mesh feeders are handy to neatly hang a block of suet. Birds need the fat from the suet to help keep them warm. Peanuts in the shell are always a good treat for the blue jays. You can also make your own Christmas gift for the birds by taking a pinecone, loading it up with peanut butter and rolling it in some mixed birdseed.

A very Merry Christmas to all! Don’t forget to include the birds on your Christmas shopping list.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Mid 1960s: a typical February morning in Bracebridge, Muskoka at my house. Minus thirty degrees Fahrenheit. My pajama-clad father with winter coat over-top, armed with a bucket of striped sunflower seed, boots crunching over the backyard snow. His goal was to satisfy the voracious appetites of at least a hundred evening grosbeaks waiting in the naked maple tree for their daily feeding. The ancient maple would be festooned with the stunning yellow plumage of the evening grosbeaks. And there they would wait for him to fill the feeders, and to pour copious seeds onto the dining room windowsill. Soon after the solitary bird man had returned to his kitchen, multitudes of grosbeaks would descend upon the seed, affording us a very close-up view of these dazzling finches.
Several sported metal ID bands around their skinny ankles. Bird research was very much alive and well during the mid-‘60s. Without warning, a neighbourhood cat might slink into the yard and the sunny throng would be gone in a trifle, the cacophony would cease and the old maple would be bare once more. Gone are the days that we see the evening grosbeaks in such enormous numbers.
The evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) is a plump, sturdy finch. It has a thick cone-shaped bill ideal for cracking seeds. Its plumage is unmistakable, with the brilliant yellow body and conspicuous gold band across the forehead. The snow- white wing patch is also distinctive. They were first noted in the early 19th century in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies and were named evening grosbeaks because the settlers thought they came out of the woods only to sing after sundown. This, of course, is not true. I prefer to associate the name with the beauty of a golden sunset. Their range has spread as far east as Newfoundland and Labrador and as far south as Alabama and Georgia. Such wanderings of the grosbeaks have been traced through the ID banding of the birds, beginning in the 1960’s.

Feeding
Evening grosbeaks primarily eat seeds from the cones of spruce, balsam fir and other conifers, but also enjoy seeds and fruits from various deciduous trees. The favourite choice at feeders is any type of sunflower seed. They are truly voracious, known to wolf down 95-100 seeds in a minute! Grosbeaks will feed on the ground and love tray-style feeders. What a welcome addition these magnificent birds are to your back yard, even if they are a little hard on the pocketbook.

Current sightings
In all of the 28 years that we have lived on our country property north of Ailsa Craig, we have had the pleasure of the grosbeaks only twice; and certainly not in the hordes that abounded in the ‘60s. A small grouping of perhaps six to eight birds is all that we have seen. Earlier this month, I was walking down our road with Fergus the Labrador puppy when my cell phone rang. It was my husband bearing the exciting news that there was a small flock of evening grosbeaks on the tray feeder in our back yard (it doesn’t take too much to entertain us). I set off at a jog in hopes of seeing the birds. Alas! When I arrived at home, the elusive grosbeaks had already left. Ever the skeptic, I asked husband and son, “Are you sure it wasn’t just some really big fat goldfinches?” Somewhat slighted, they assured me that they had definitely seen evening grosbeaks. They proved it by bringing out the digital camera. Indeed, on the screen were a few of the magnificent birds. I was sorry to have missed them but am hoping they drop by again soon. Now that our spruces are so mature, the chances are better that they might.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The term ‘wise owl’ dates back centuries. Owls are often used as symbols for higher education, even being depicted sporting a mortar board. Is the owl really wise, or is this simply how it appears to humans? The owl is the only bird whose eyes are placed adjacent to each other in its face (just like people). All other birds have an eye placed on either side of their heads. The front-facing facial disk feature undoubtedly helps the owl to see better at night. The fact that owls soar on silent wings affords another advantage in the stalking of prey.
In southern Ontario five owl species are most common. The following facts may help you to identify these species either through physical features or by each owl’s distinct call. The source of information is my favourite PhD in Ornithology, Fred J. Alsop III.

Great Horned Owl
With a length of up to 64 cm and a wingspan up to 150 cm, this powerful owl will attack a house cat, skunk or porcupine and other animals sometimes larger than itself. It has large ear tufts and colouring ranges from dark brown to buff. The huge yellow eyes are riveting and his call is a deep Whoo! Whoo-whoo-whoo! Whoo! Whoo! (You awake? Me too!)

Saw-Whet Owl
This tiny owl (just 20 cm long) is named for its call, which sounds like a saw being sharpened, or whetted. Without ear tufts, its distinctive features are: dark bill, white eyebrows, and pale buff to brownish facial disks. The saw-whet hunts at night for small rodents, large insects, birds, and bats.

Barred Owl
The barred owl has very dark eyes, a length of up to 61 cm, no ear tufts and horizontal barring on the upper breast. It is called the “hoot” owl of southern swamps. Its song is eight or more drawn out notes. “Who cooks for you! Who cooks for you aaawwl?” It is often heard in daytime and responds readily to imitations (something our family has experienced often in Algonquin Park). The barred owl feeds on small mammals, frogs, salamanders, lizards, crabs, and crayfish.

Eastern Screech Owl
A small ear-tufted owl, the screech is perhaps the best known owl in eastern North America. It is 20-25 cm long and has a wingspan up to 60 cm. It has a bright rusty brown to gray body and bright yellow eyes (similar to the great horned). Its song is a tremolo whistle descending in pitch. Favourite foods are insects, arachnids, mammals, and amphibians.

Long-Eared Owl
This is the most slender and nocturnal of the owls. It has a length of 30-40 cm and a wingspan of up to 100 cm. The long-eared owl has rusty facial disks and yellow eyes. The back is a mottled brown and the breast has heavy vertical streaks. The ear tufts are long, blackish and close-set. The song is a low “moooooo” or “booooo” at 10-second intervals. Pellets reveal a diet of mice, moles, voles and smaller birds.

If you find yourself actively seeking out any of these owls, you can call yourself an owler.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Imagine having the ability to maneuver head-first down the trunk of a tree; or better yet, to walk ably on the underside of a limb like a housefly on the ceiling. Such is the talent of the nuthatch. Upon close inspection of these little birds – they are relatively tame – their toes are quite elongated and sharp. This feature likely contributes to the skill of self-inversion; and like a good gymnast, they seem to have total control of their bodies while upside down.
Two species, the red- and white-breasted nuthatches, are common in our area. The red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is about 11 cm long and weighs in around 11 g. The back is blue-gray, the under parts rusty, and both male and female sport a black streak from the beak, through the eye to the back of the head. This little fellow is known to eat from human hands, much like the chickadee or gray jay, and its song is reminiscent of a tin horn with its short “ank, ank” sound. Their preferred foods include conifer seeds, sunflowers seeds, and suet. Nuthatches usually nest in a coniferous tree. The male and female smear pine pitch around the nest entrance to ward off predators – a very sticky yet effective process. From this nest only one brood of eggs is hatched per year.
The white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is 13-15 cm and weighs 20 g. According to Fred J. Alsop III’s “Birds of Canada,” this species can catch a falling nut in midair. This is executed with considerably more expertise than some people (usually men), who strangely toss peanuts into the air and retrieve them on descent with their mouths (no names mentioned). The white-breasted nuthatch’s song is a sweet sounding “wee-wee,” and its favourite foods are nuts, seeds, spiders and insects. Unlike the red-breasted, the white-breasted nuthatch is non-migratory.
We have a great tube-style feeder called the “squirrel buster.” It is carefully engineered so the weight of the squirrel causes the barrel of the feeder to descend and close off the openings in the tube. Most birds are too light to cause this reaction. Recently inspired by the presence of an inverted nuthatch on the squirrel buster feeder, I sat down to outline this article. I glanced up and noted the presence of a Cooper’s Hawk perched on a large spruce limb. This accipiter (or bird hawk) pays frequent visits to back yard feeders for a quick lunch. Down and feathers were flying as he furiously attacked the prey in his talons (likely a finch or sparrow). At the same moment, the red-breasted nuthatch had settled itself on the suet feeder, oblivious to the presence of the formidable predator barely twenty feet away. Fortunately for the nuthatch, the hawk was consumed with devouring his own repast. Meanwhile, inside the house, I was thoroughly entertained by the balance of nature at work in my own back yard. Both nuthatch species are frequent visitors at our home near Ailsa Craig. Keep those feeders full of sunflower seeds and suet and you can be sure to attract them to your yard.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The luminous yellow plumage of the American Goldfinch has begun to wane to a dusky gold. Rose-breasted grosbeaks have long since taken off to their southern climes, and no longer are we pestered by the voracious, greedy grackles at the feeders. These developments are sure signs that autumn is upon us.
During my most recent late afternoon walks with Fergus the Labrador puppy, the musical honking of the Canada geese can be heard as they land in the fields to bed down for the night. The sight of the V-shaped flock is another sign of the impending season.
The Common Canada goose (Branta Canadensis) can measure up to 45” in length. Its counterpart, the Lesser Canada, is much smaller, around 25” and has a considerably higher-pitched voice. The distinctive markings of these geese are their long black necks and panda-white cheek patches, contrasted by the light chest and grayish body.
I have often heard the misnomer ‘Canadian Goose’. Like beavers, moose, and maple syrup, the geese are Canadian, but the correct name is Canada goose. They breed in the Arctic and northern regions of Canada and winter from southern Ontario through to the southern United States.
A generation ago, it was more likely that most of the geese would migrate south. Now, with our seemingly milder winters and sumptuous grain fields, thousands are spending their winters in southern Ontario.
Wawa, Ontario, a town on the northern shore of Lake Superior is noted for its gigantic statue of a Canada goose. The story behind this statue’s existence is chronicled in a song by Stompin’ Tom Connors entitled ‘Little Wawa.’ The Canada goose is one of the few animal species known to mate for life. In Stompin’ Tom’s ballad, Little Wawa is a goose whose gander, or mate, falls victim to an Indian arrow during hunting season. Devastated, this faithful little goose leaves her flock to stay beside the body of her mate, pining away until she subsequently starves to death. That shows more dedication than most human couples. This sad tale is supposedly true and the statue at Wawa is in tribute to the faithful goose who refused to leave her mate. In our home a wooden carving of a Canada goose also bears the name ‘Little Wawa.’ Very few other animal species mate for life; Canis lupus, or the gray wolf, is among those animals that choose a single mate in their lifetime.
The Canada goose can be an overbearing presence in places like public parks. A stroll beside the Avon River in beautiful Stratford is testament to this, where goose droppings litter the riverbank so thickly, it is sometimes difficult to avoid stepping in them. Nevertheless, the unquestionable majesty of a vast V-shaped flock, etched against a clear autumn sky, continues to be symbolic of the spirit of our Great White North…eh?

The impact of litter on wildlife

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Forty years ago I chanced upon a grim scene. It was while exploring with a school friend on a wooded peninsula at the eastern end of Three Mile Lake in Muskoka. Above us something large was swinging from the limb of a poplar tree. A cursory investigation revealed the unfortunate, upside-down carcass of a great horned owl. He was at least two feet high and his huge yellow eyes were still open.
Disturbed by our discovery, we elected to solicit the counsel of my father, the landowner. He managed to climb a few lower limbs, high enough to untangle some silk cord fishing line from a branch and lowered the beautiful bird to the ground. Clearly saddened by the sight, Dad theorized that some local fishermen, who frequented the nearby rocky point, had likely been careless in their cleanup. Perhaps the unsuspecting owl had landed to sample some fish remains and inadvertently stepped on a length of cut fishing line. The line then tangled around one of his talons. Then the owl may have landed in the poplar, where the line managed to become wrapped around the branch. When he took off from his perch, the great horned owl didn’t get any further than the length of line and likely starved to death. A sad end to the life of what is possibly our most powerful owl. Dad carefully and silently buried that great horned owl. My friend and I conducted a simple funeral.
Many people do not give a second thought to the impact that various kinds of litter can have on wildlife. A piece of chewing gum can choke a curious bird. The plastic rings that hold a six-pack of cans are frequently seen lying by the roadside. These rings have been well documented as being the culprits in getting tangled around the beaks and necks of waterfowl, making it impossible for them to eat. By the way, my family always picks up the plastic rings and takes them home to be cut into small pieces and disposed of properly.
I shudder when I see people allowing helium balloons, strings attached, to go sailing into the vast unknown. These can become lodged in trees with their strings dangling down, possibly causing the entanglement of any wildlife which inhabits the tree.
An unfortunate blue heron was recently the victim of someone’s carelessness as it became entangled in some fishing line and a lure along the Thames River in London. It was ensnared by its beak, and the line was then attached to one of its wings. Fortunately, it was rescued and delivered to the animal shelter in Mount Brydges. The offending lure has been removed and the bird is recovering from starvation and shock, as well as its injuries. Hopefully this majestic bird will make a full recovery before it is returned to a questionable environment. The amount of litter along the Thames is completely unnecessary.
We need to be accountable for our actions. Litter is litter. Let’s clean up our act and encourage others to do the same.

Jenipher Appleton is an educator with a special interest in wildlife and birds.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Camping isn’t for everyone, but my family has embraced it since our children were very small. Now that they are adults, our sons (and significant others) still share the enthusiasm. The annual sojourn to Algonquin Provincial Park is now an essential part of our well-being as a family. Tapping into one’s deep-rooted need to survive can be quite therapeutic. Packing quality meals (along with some decadent treats), clothing, and camping gear to be comfortable for a week outdoors can be challenging, which makes it all the more rewarding. The fact that there will be no TV, radio, or landline telephone is also a welcome change. The sound of the wind in the pines, chirping birds, chattering squirrels, and water lapping at the shore, provides an ambience second-to-none.

And we’re off
It’s day one, 5 a.m. The van, the Jeep, two kayaks (one cherry red, the other royal blue), a cedar strip canoe, four bicycles mounted on the bike rack; coolers, backpacks, tents, etc., are all neatly packed into the vehicles. A quick last check of the house, and we set out on our seven-day trip to Algonquin.

Things to do
Besides the camping experience itself, there is much to do in this beautiful landscape, just northeast of Huntsville, Ontario. Hiking trails, day trips on the water by canoe or kayak, spectacular stargazing, picnics, cycling on the highway 60 corridor, the Visitors’ Center, the Pioneer Logging Exhibit, are some of many possible outings. Mountain biking is available on the Mizzy Lake trail. Each time we hike on a guided walking trail and read the accompanying guidebooks at the post markers, we either reinforce prior knowledge, or learn something new altogether. Something that I had forgotten as we walked the Spruce Bog Boardwalk this year, was that if one stepped off the walkway onto the floating mat of peat moss, one could fall through and be preserved until eternity, in the depths of the highly acidic, oxygen-deprived depths of the bog.
Animal life abounds in the Park. During this trip we were able to see the elusive flying squirrel while enjoying our campsite after dark. This nocturnal creature can sail easily amongst the tall pines by spreading the webbing between its front and hind legs. While driving along highway 60, which runs through the Park all the way to Ottawa, and you notice a group of vehicles pulled over on the shoulder, chances are you are about to encounter the Algonquin moose. We have seen bulls, cows and calves many times through the years, grazing in the marshy areas for water lily roots. Roadside salt build-up from the previous winter is also a treat for the moose.

Park inspires visitors
Algonquin Park is the old stomping grounds of the legendary artist Tom Thomson, who mysteriously drowned on Canoe Lake in 1912. His many paintings are left behind to represent the haunting beauty of the Algonquin wilderness. Our personal favourite is “The Canoe.” Another famous one which many will recognize is “Jack Pine.”
The forests of Algonquin have rejuvenated us. Each year, as the trip draws to a close, each family member makes plans for the coming year. The outdoor getaway provides us with a fresh outlook, an appreciation for what we have, and a more positive perspective for what is soon to come. Our rating is FIVE STARS!

Jenipher Appleton: nature at grandbendstrip.com

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

How would you like to dramatically decrease the mosquito and insect population flying about your yard? You could erect a bat house (not popular with those who believe the critters’ll end up in your hair), or…you could try to attract the insect-voracious purple martin to your home.
The purple martin is the largest North American swallow. The family is HIRUNDINIDAE and the species is Progne subis. They lay 3-8 plain white eggs to a clutch, each about 2.4 cm long. The handsome male is uniformly blue/black above and below with a forked tail; the female is similar but light-bellied. Martins resemble the barn swallow but are a few centimeters longer, and stockier in appearance.

Canada’s First Peoples knew benefits
The early Native Canadians realized the martins’ appetite for insects. Around their villages they would place hollow gourds as invitations for the birds to nest. It apparently worked well, both for the martins and for the natives, who had fewer insects to pester them.
Last summer a fellow gardener had supplied me with a packet of mystery seeds. All I knew is that they were some hybrid of squash. They turned out to be swan gourds (named for the long swan-like neck attached to a pear-shaped body). I allowed one to dry over the winter and hollowed out the contents in early spring. So far there have been no martin residents in my natural birdhouse. Maybe next year.

Choosy about lodgings
Hundreds of pairs of martins have been known to nest together. A preferred style of housing is the bird apartment house, or condo. It is recommended to install the condo 40-60 feet from any taller trees. This will deter predators like hawks, owls, snakes and raccoons from attacking the martins or their young. Painting the house white will help to reflect the sun’s heat. Landing shelves should be very narrow to discourage other birds. It seems that purple martins love to be near humans so don’t install your condo further than 60 feet from your home. Any water feature is welcomed as the martins like to swoop down to dip their bills for a cool drink.

Starlings and sparrows are a problem
As if natural predators aren’t enough trouble for the purple martin, there are two non-native enemies which were introduced from England in the late 1800s. One is the European starling and the other is the house sparrow. If either species arrives in spring at the condo ahead of the martins, they will take over the structure. If a martin pair finds a vacant apartment, the starling is likely to enter while the martin is out and destroy the eggs or nestlings. Similarly, the house sparrow is likely to enter and poke holes in all the eggs; the objective being to reduce the purple martin population. Unfortunately, they have been successful.
To discourage the invaders, condo holes can be plugged with styrofoam coffee cups attached to strings until the purple martins’ spring arrival has been observed. Then they can be popped out and the condo can be home to its rightful owners.

For more information about purple martins and how to attract them, see www.purplemartin.org

The monogamous birds like to rub bills during courtship

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The rose-breasted grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus is one of the most stunning birds you will see in southwestern Ontario. They seem to be even more plentiful in our back yard than they were last year at this time.

Grosbeak Families
Growing up with a naturalist father, I was expected to learn something about wildlife every day. I had frequently been informed (by my father) that the evening grosbeak was a member of the finch family. Consequently, I had always believed that the same was the case for all species of grosbeaks. It seemed like a logical assumption. Wrong again. The evening and rose-breasted grosbeaks are not in the same family at all. The similarity between the two is simply the size of their beaks, which are ‘gros,’ the French word for big.
The evening grosbeak (a beautiful yellow, black and white bird) is a member of the family FRINGILLIDAE, along with other finches like the pine grosbeak, goldfinch, redpoll, purple finch, house finch, crossbills and siskins. The rose-breasted grosbeak, on the other hand, is a member of the family CARDINALIDAE, along with the blue grosbeak, buntings, and cardinals.

Features and Habits
The male rose-breasted grosbeak has a black head, back, and wings with a white breast and an obvious rosy red triangular patch under the throat. The female has brownish upper parts with dark streaking, whitish to buff under parts, and a white eyebrow. Both genders have a large chunky beak, ideal for cracking seeds. They love black oil sunflower seeds. In our back yard, they favour the open tray feeder and the tube-style feeder. They will also eat insects, caterpillars, tree flowers, fruits and berries. We are currently observing ten or more rose-breasted grosbeaks on our feeders at any given time throughout the day. The young males are in their immature phase, with rusty streaked under-parts and the classic red triangular patch not yet developed.
May and early June is their nesting time when they are very busy tending young and eating enough to keep up their energy. They are monogamous and fairly solitary. Male and female rub bills to display affection during courtship. They raise one to two broods per year. If you hear a cheery song, similar to that of the robin only mellower, it is likely the rose-breasted grosbeak. It is not too late to start a feeder to attract them.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

My husband and I are ‘dog people’ and part of our balanced lifestyle is to own a dog. Since we have lived on our country property in Ailsa Craig, we have always had a Labrador Retriever. Molson, a shiny, sleek, black lab, was one of these beloved pets. Even when he was ten years old, people would say he looked like a puppy. His character matched his appearance.
In 1999 we temporarily moved from our property to a rented farmhouse. This was so our home could be torn down and transformed into the timber frame structure it is today. We rented the farmhouse for just over sixteen months and during that time, Molson had more than a few adventures. This article recounts one of them.
The 1870 farmhouse was equipped with a parlour, which we used as our living room. It was connected to a hallway that led to the ample wooden porch. One autumn Saturday morning I sat contentedly with coffee and newspaper, while our son Andrew lay on the rug with a crossword puzzle. The peaceful start to the day was not to last.
It was a refreshingly cool morning and the wooden door to the porch was open, leaving the aluminum storm door to close the entryway. Out of nowhere a loud volley of crashes and thumps came thundering across the broad wooden porch. Molson, ever the watchdog, responded as one might expect; he leapt to the storm door to see what was approaching. As he lunged at the glass, his black head and forepaws shattered the glass and went through. On the recoil he staggered back onto the hall rug, bleeding and yelping. Meanwhile, multiple screams could be heard from the porch and disappearing back to the driveway. Andrew took over the first aid of the ‘puppy’ and I went to investigate the rude intrusion. It turned out that a group of Beavers (not the rodent four-legged type, but the Boy Scouts of Canada type) were out on their annual apple drive. Their leaders, who had remained inside their van, allowed these primary-age children to go thundering excitedly across the front porch of a stranger’s house. One never knows what species of watchdog might be waiting either on the porch or within the house. Not everybody has a friendly Labrador.
I informed the little group that Molson was harmless, but as a result of his protective nature was now bleeding on the hall rug. I suggested that in future they approach strange houses in a calmer manner. After a weak apology from one of the leaders, I took an apple, gave them a $2 coin and bade them farewell. Andrew and I took Molson immediately to the vet where he received stitches inside his nose as well as inside the pads of his forepaws. $250 did the trick.
Molson lived another healthy six years after that event and continued to bring joy and love into our family every day; he passed away last December. Now we have a brand new Yellow Labrador puppy named Fergus to add to our balanced lifestyle. He has a tough act to follow.

Jenipher can be reached at: nature at grandbendstrip dot com

Nature’s sanitary engineer may remind you of someone you know

Living in Balance
by Jenipher Appleton

What has a naked, red-skinned head, a hooked beak, and is possibly one of the ugliest things you have ever seen? No, it is not someone’s mother-in-law. It is the turkey vulture; the under-appreciated, road-kill-loving turkey vulture.
Ailsa Craig local and naturalist Hank Halliday introduced me to this species back in 1979. I had never seen one while growing up in Muskoka, although the birds are plentiful in that region today. If you see a bird that resembles a soaring eagle, with elongated fingerlike wingtips, it is most likely a turkey vulture. The species name Cathartes aura is Latin for ‘cleansing breeze.’ Go figure.
The name ‘turkey vulture’ originates from the bare-skinned red head, which resembles a wild turkey. The purpose of this ruddy nakedness is to keep the remains of decaying animals from sticking to the vulture’s head as it thrusts into its meal. Yum! Another attractive characteristic is a semicircle of whitish to greenish warts below and in front of the eyes. During hot summer weather the bird will defecate on its own feet to help keep itself cool. When harassed, a turkey vulture will throw up on whoever is bothering it. Charming!
In addition to road-kill, the turkey vulture will eat dead livestock or the dead young of herons. A flock gathers quickly after an animal dies, soaring a hundred meters up, using their keen sense of smell and sharp eyes to specifically locate the prey. Once landed, they make hissing, grunting and growling sounds as they compete for the meal. Just like home.
With a six-foot wingspan, the vulture soars efficiently on thermal air currents, holding the wings in a shallow V and rocking from side to side. It should not be mistaken for the majestic eagle, as the latter soars on horizontally outstretched wings without the rocking motion. From beneath, the wing-feathers of the turkey vulture are two-toned black and gray. Tall dead trees are a favourite perch, conjuring up scenes from old Merrie Melodies cartoons. One day in early spring, I noted a turkey vulture perched atop a stump at the north end of Hyde Park Rd. His wings were spread wide, catching the ultra violet rays of the sun. The Anhinga, a water bird seen in Florida, does the same thing to dry its wings.
It is difficult to drive any distance at all without seeing a dead raccoon, rabbit or skunk. Vultures perform a very important function by helping with the ecological clean up. Although very unattractive, it should be easy to admire the adaptability, grace and importance of this most unappreciated bird.

To contact nature writer Jenipher Appleton, send mail to nature at grandbendstrip dot com.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

The bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus boasts a wingspan of 183-244 cm. That translates into about seven feet! It weighs approximately 4.1 kg (10 lbs). The snow-white head and neck are distinctive. However, unlike the mature eagle, the juvenile sports a brown head and grayish eyes and could be mistaken for the golden eagle.
The bald eagle is truly at the top of its food chain. Its only threat is man, who is often responsible for loss of habitat and illegal hunting. The eyes of the adult eagle are bright yellow. When hunting, the bald eagle can focus in on prey from an unbelievable distance. This high definition sight is due to a high concentration of receptors in the retina of the eagle’s eye. Which reminds me of when my mother used to say, “I’ve got my eagle eye on you.”
She could spot anything I was doing a mile away.

Rare in eastern Canada

The bald eagle is common in Alaska and northwestern British Columbia, where up to 3000 may gather at a time to hunt salmon. They sometimes steal from ospreys (a raptor for another story). They also eat carrion and injured waterfowl, squirrels, rabbits and muskrats. Although they are not so common in eastern Canada, Steve Kozak, a citizen of Ailsa Craig who lives on the Ausable River ravine, reports a couple of recent sightings of these great birds. Steve, who watches the wildlife around him with interest, managed a good look at the birds on two separate occasions over a three-month period last year. In each case, the eagle was riding the currents over the river, searching out some unsuspecting fish.
The eagle constructs its gargantuan nest of large sticks and vegetation in the fork of a tall tree or on a ledge, sometimes 60 feet above the ground. Two bluish-white or dull white eggs are laid, 7-8 cm in length. The young, fed by both parents, stay in the nest an amazing 70-98 days. However, they have a great deal of growing to do before they become fledglings and must learn precise life skills from their parents before they can leave home forever.

Sighting can be awe-inspiring

It is not surprising that with all of these attributes that the bald eagle is often a symbol of majesty and strength. On a recent walk with my grade six students in Nairn, we were ambling through the East Williams cemetery when I happened to glance upward to spy an adult bald eagle riding the thermals of a clear blue sky. It was a breathtaking experience to be able to say, “Look! It’s a bald eagle!” I was so enraptured by the sight that I continued to walk as I was pointing aloft, and managed to slam my knee directly into a large grave marker. My apologies to the occupant. My students were suitably amused by their enthusiastic, yet absent-minded teacher.
The following week I was favoured with yet another bald eagle sighting. In early June, while out for a healthy brisk walk just north of Ailsa Craig, I caught sight of another adult male perched at the top of a tall dead tree. I stopped in my tracks and was able to observe him for about two minutes from a distance of about fifty feet. It was a most memorable and humbling experience.
These sightings may be indicators that the eastern population of bald eagles is on the increase. Keep your eyes peeled. You never know what you might see.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Meadows can be beautiful

A meadow is a natural expanse of grassland supporting wildflowers, grasses, shrubbery and fodder (not to be confused with a pasture which is planted by humans). Our property, just north of Ailsa Craig, is a long, narrow, three-acre tract of land. The back acre is essentially a meadow. Three seasons of the year it is teeming with life. Countless species of birds, insects and small mammals inhabit the landscape because it offers them food and habitat.
In winter, the insects may be at rest in their cocoon stage on a weed stalk, or lie beneath the soil waiting to emerge in spring. Birds continue to find sustenance from the seed pods of wildflowers (weeds to some), including goldenrod, chicory, buttercups of various types, daisies, and Queen Anne’s lace. Tree branches heaped into a brush pile are stripped as the deer forage for any available energy source. Coyotes and foxes find small meals like cottontails and field mice. Various hawk species patrol the meadow in hopes of a similar meal.
Between our back acre and the adjacent farmer’s field stands an amazing hedgerow. This network of rusting wire fencing, mountain ash, dogwood, raspberry canes, grapevine and a potpourri of other shrubbery, provides effective cover for birds and mammals. Remember Peter Rabbit’s briar patch? He would never have survived without it. I have seen massive flocks of cedar waxwings perched in the hedgerow during migratory stopovers. Various thrushes and sparrows, warblers and finches find cover there as well.
Last year during an autumn walk on the back acre with Molson the Labrador, I witnessed hundreds of tree sparrows foraging throughout the meadow. They were extracting seeds from the wildflowers with the utmost dexterity. Had the area regularly succumbed to the ravages of the lawn tractor, this rich habitat would not have been available to them. All too often, we see large expanses of manicured lawn that could have been left as a natural meadow. With a little encouragement by planting some native wildflowers (black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, bee balm, etc.), nature will do the rest. Better habitat for wildlife and less greenhouse gas erupting from your lawnmower.

The cottage-style garden

Try viewing your front or back lawn more like a cottage-style garden with wildflowers and groundcovers, rather than the stark monoculture of the suburban lawn. Our front yard was once the typical expanse of grass that took the better part of a half hour to mow. Seven years ago we transformed it from lawn to mulched berms, countless perennials, and groundcovers. Periwinkle, English Ivy, Snow-on-the-Mountain and wild violets (which appeared on their own) cover about 60% of the area. The more they spread, the less we have to top up the mulching material. A single grassy walkway takes less than five minutes to mow. The flowers and groundcovers support many species of birds and butterflies.

Defending the lowly dandelion

In the back yard, when dandelions are showing their sunny faces, we do not react with chemicals. Instead we cut them off with the mower. Sometimes the small, tender dandelion leaves end up in a tossed salad. Tolerating a couple of weeks of the flowers going to seed seems merely an inconvenience, when the alternative is chemicals entering the fragile ecosystem. The chemical-free approach still results in a green lawn. The best piece of advice I was ever given is that sometimes we need to adjust our thinking. If more of us applied this concept to how we treat the environment, plants, animals, birds, and humans would undoubtedly be healthier for it.

Jenipher Appleton:
Thank you for your message. What I understand about bird species that insist on pecking at the windows is that they are very likely seeing reflections they view as rivals. It usually happens in the spring when they are nesting and establishing territories. It is generally short-lived, although some birds are stubborn about it. I have seen cardinals and robins behaving this way; a cardinal persisted at a car side-view mirror for several days in our driveway. Glad to hear that you have the veery pair. We do not, but I often hear them on walks near the woods.

Nature columnist Jenipher Appleton can be reached by mailing us at web at grandbendstrip dot com, Attn: Jenipher

Our bird expert talks about the bees

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

An unexplained phenomenon has been affecting some of the North American honeybee population. Colony Collapse Disorder is the term being used by scientists to generally describe the dying off of honeybees. Producers in the Ottawa area lost over 50% of their hives over the past winter. Some think the collapse could be caused by viruses, fungi, or long-term effects of pesticide use. Others support the theory that the late onset of this winter caused the bees to produce extra broods; they may have been killed when the cold finally hit as they tended their larvae and pupae. One beekeeper in the Embro area reported finding an empty hive this spring. Finding a hive with dead bees is one thing; a mysterious disappearance is quite another. A University of New Brunswick microbiologist suggests that mites could be a culprit and is researching to develop fungi to fight the tiny mite parasites.

Going to the source
Jim Bender has been a beekeeper in the village of Nairn for the past ten years. He was kind enough to give me a tour of his hives and to explain much about the life cycle of bees and the development of the brood. His wife, aptly named Bea, is the librarian in the school where I teach. When I asked Jim how he had learned the craft of beekeeping, he wisely replied, “I went to the library.” Jim’s hives seem to have survived the winter reasonably well but his friend has reported a decline in population. Jim notes that last fall was extremely wet, which may have caused a decline in available food for the bees to have stored enough away for the winter months. They subsequently may have starved to death.
Whatever the explanation, the importance of honeybees is not to be disputed. Bees are natural pollinators. We actually depend on them for much of our daily food. Without them billions of dollars worth of crops, especially fruits and vegetables, would not develop on this continent. Some Ontario beekeepers provide pollination services to farmers, trucking their own hives to farms in Quebec and New Brunswick. This can cause stress on the bees, which could contribute to the decline in population of the individual hive.

Health benefits of honey
A recent University of California study shows a rise in the antioxidant levels of participants who regularly consumed honey. It contains as many antioxidants as spinach, apples, oranges and strawberries. The darker the honey, the higher the antioxidant level.
Honey contains magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron and phosphate, along with several B vitamins. It can even be used on cuts and burns as a natural antiseptic and healing booster. It is anti-bacterial and draws body fluids and nutrients to the affected area to assist in cell growth and reduce scarring. According to Bea Bender (remember the beekeeper’s wife?) honey needs no special storage because it virtually never goes bad. “It has even been found in ancient pyramids and was still edible,” says Bea.

Honeybee facts
Canadian Honey Council
• one colony can produce over 100 pounds of honey
• one colony can pollinate an acre of fruit trees
• bees can fly at 15 mph with wingbeats of 200 times/second (much faster than the hummingbird)
• the queen bee may lay 2000 eggs per day
• it takes 556 worker bees to gather a pound of honey
• the average life span in working season is six weeks
• the value of pollinating fruits, vegetables and legumes is ten times the value of the honey produced (1 billion dollars in Canada)
• honey is one of the safest foods (harmful bacteria cannot live in it for any length of time)

The bottom line
Bees pollinate 25% of all fruit produced for human consumption and many of the vegetables and legumes we need to survive. Bees create a natural healthy food called honey. Bees are an integral part of nature’s delicate chain. So… should we care about honeybees? The answer is a resounding “Yes!!”

To contact nature writer Jenipher Appleton, send mail to nature at grandbendstrip.comAttn: Jenipher.

Living in Balance
By Jenipher Appleton

Living in balance can be enhanced by our connections with nature. The way in which we are brought up can have a great impact on our view of natural surroundings. I am just a country girl, having lived in rural southwestern Ontario for the past 28 years. I was born and raised in Muskoka in a family of nature enthusiasts. I am also an elementary school teacher, and have been for so-o long that some of my students’ parents were taught by me. Yikes! Barring catastrophes, over the next series of articles I hope to share with you some insight and ideas for living in balance with the ecosystem.
Birding is one of the world’s fastest growing sports. Millions of people, through organized birding activities, contribute billions of dollars to the North American economy. This fact is a very hopeful sign for the birds themselves. You see, the more we know, observe and understand about our feathered friends, the better we are able to protect them for the future. Their presence here is a legacy which warrants our respect. At the rate we are destroying habitat with our daily activities, it is predicted that over the next hundred years we will lose 1200 species, or one in eight (R. Bateman, Birds).

Birding and ecology

Ignorance of how ecosystems work is directly related to the amount of negative impact we have on the earth and its species. Birding is a perfect vehicle to help raise awareness of ecology and nature’s delicate balance. My own interest in birds began early in life in the forests of Muskoka where my father taught me how to identify the names of the native species. He was exceptional at bird calls; whistling their specific song would often fool some of them to come in quite close. This provided us a much better look. Supplying me with books like Ernest Thompson Seton’s Wild Animals I have Known and a subscription to The Young Naturalist magazine also helped to instill a respect for wildlife in general.
Although cultivating a love of nature in the young is important, many nature converts do not embrace such activities until well into adulthood. It is never too late to take up a hobby; especially one that invites you into the great outdoors. Changing from a couch potato into a birder hiking through woods and fields can have incredibly positive health implications, both physically and mentally. Your blood pressure is bound to decrease and your sense of well-being to increase.
Sharing my enthusiasm with my own offspring is the ‘piece de resistance’. One night when our son Andrew was seventeen, he climbed a ladder outside to scrape some wet snow off the satellite dish. When he reached the top, his face was level with an open vent. Something caught his eye and he shone the flashlight inside. When he came back into the house he said, “Mom, you’ll never believe what I just saw!” He had come face-to-face with a screech owl seeking refuge from the snapping cold. The fact that Andrew was so excited by the encounter was a reward for me. I’m sure that it was not only the owl ‘whooo’ was wide-eyed.

Where to birdwatch

Birding opportunities in our immediate area are within easy reach. Visiting Point Pelee to see the spring and fall migrations, a Sunday drive to just north of Greenway to see the Tundra Swans, or Jack Miner’s naturalist museum at Kingsville are a few examples. Plenty of websites are at your fingertips to entice you further afield. However, so many species can be enjoyed right in our own back yards if we just create the habitat for them. Sure signs of spring are the rose-breasted grosbeak, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, and goldfinches in their bright yellow plumage. I have filled the hummingbird and oriole feeders in anticipation of their arrival. One more example of trying to live in balance.