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Spring has surely sprung

Enjoying the tender green grass
Enjoying the tender green grass

Sunny weather is forecast for the next week, with no temperatures below freezing. Time to plant some lettuce.  Not for this bunny to eat, however (I hope).

Only a few weeks ago the rabbits I saw were quite white.  This little fellow has his summer coat on now.  He (or she?) looks quite delighted with the newly greening grass, or perhaps some delectible weed he has found. He was so busy, he didn’t notice me softly walking up the driveway.

Blue jay flies across the lawn
Blue jay flies across the lawn

How quickly comes spring, when it finally comes.  Perhaps even the word “spring” comes from the same root as the kind of spring found in a mattress.  All that life energy is compressed, cowering under winter’s weight, until winter rolls away off the bed and, suddenly released, Spring bursts forth to exuberantly express itself …  Boing … like a rabbit’s hop when it realizes you’re there.

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Bike ride on Martin’s Point

Biking on Martin's Point
Biking on Martin's Point

A beautiful day begs a bike ride. We headed for Martin’s Point, which sticks out into Mahone Bay between Oak Island and Indian Point.

Martin’s Point points towards the many Mahone Bay  islands that we like to sail to and around.

Older homes on Martin's Point
Older homes on Martin's Point

Like many coastal areas, it has a mixture of century-old homesteads, decades-old bungalows, and some new, modern, expensive homes that the average Nova Scotian can not afford, often built by come-from-aways as a  summer home and a place to retire.

People who move here by choice bring a lot to our communities – financial resources, income for local businesses, support for the arts, etc. There is often a conflict in values and lifestyle between them and the local population, however, who have a different sense of belonging to the place and a history that goes back generations.

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Seagull and Great Blue Heron on Martin's Point

The result can be tension between groups with different priorities, as we have seen in the Town of Mahone Bay over the issue of whether or not to “develop” the woods and soccer field near the old school which is now a community centre. I could go on.

Meanwhile, it was a sunny Saturday and we enjoyed the peaceful bike ride on Martin’s Point.  Not a single car asked to share the road with us.

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Chirbles the Chickadee’s Debut: Nova Scotia Birds

Chirbles the Chickadee
Chirbles the Chickadee

I’ve just set up a new section of the photo album called “Chirbles the Chickadee, his Friends and his Enemies”.  It features the nature photography of the “Chickadee Dude”, Dennis Robinson.  He has a special relationship with his chickadees and loves to capture their personalities with his camera.

Some of these photos of Nova Scotia birds are available on various products such as postcards and notecards in our Nova Scotia Gift Shop.  Look for Chirbles.

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Song sparrows

Song sparrow blends in with the salt marsh grass by the shore.
Song sparrow blends in with the salt marsh grass by the shore.

It was a beautiful morning laced with frost which disappeared quickly. The birdsong was joyous, and made me wonder what it was like when the world was young, before DDT and all, when the birds’ habitat was their own.

A song sparrow (right) was hopping around by the shore, blending in with the grasses.

Sparrow at the edge of the woods near the house.
Sparrow at the edge of the woods near the house.

I saw another song sparrow (I think) at the edge of the woods (left). Neither bird was singing, though. They were too busy, I suppose, and didn’t want to advertise their presence on the ground where they are more vulnerable.

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Blue-winged teal

Perched on a rock at high tide, a female blue-winged teal
Perched on a rock at high tide, a female blue-winged teal

Another duck in our local collection, alongside American black ducks, mallards and buffleheads. I wouldn’t ordinarily get such a photo, but there was a bush between us and the duck was preoccupied, I suppose. The tide was very high, flooding the marshes. It’s duck country.

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If you don’t like the weather in Nova Scotia…

… stick around for 20 minutes. That’s what they say. I got anecdotal proof of it today. Driving into Mahone Bay at about 8:10, I saw this:

8:10 a.m. Gloriously sunny - but see those clouds on the horizon...
8:10 a.m. Gloriously sunny - but see those clouds on the horizon...

Then about 20 minutes later, this is what I saw in the same spot:

20 minutes later it's cloudy in Mahone Bay.
20 minutes later it's cloudy in Mahone Bay.

Case closed.