Kate's Blog

Take a river, add a canoe, binoculars, notepad and pencil and you have a recipe for time well-spent. In this case, the time was during the 1940s, the river was in Ottawa and the watcher was the British High Commissioner, Malcolm MacDonald.

MacDonald’s keen observations of avian lives and loves, drama and tragedy - just a few paddle strokes from his office - survive the test of time. The Birds of Brewery Creek, published in 1947, is organized by the month and it’s a pleasure to find how the May chapter from 80 years ago mirrors the parade of birds observed here in south-central Ontario in May, 2024.

May is the start of nesting – and the familial experiences of many birds are described in detail. (The book can be read online on the website archive.org – by being borrowed for an hour at a time. I never had any problem renewing for another hour.)

“One of the most fanciful designers and builders of nests in Canada is the Baltimore Oriole. No bird is more skilful. Its creation is so fine that it might be classified as a work of art rather than one of mere craftmanship,” MacDonald writes. He found several such nests, but was disappointed in his efforts to view a bird in the act of building.
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Generalizations about the weather are fraught with peril at this time of year. It's supposed to be raining, but at 8:30 am the sun is out and it's 15C. Still, a storm is predicted, and these wet and warm days are perfect for plants. So, if it rains, let Mother Nature do the work and sit back with a good book, tend seedlings and keep the binoculars handy for the return of interesting migrants. I note that the website Journey North had a Baltimore Oriole arriving in Toronto yesterday! And for the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists, out in the Copeland Forest today, it's spring warbler season - many of these small, distinctively marked migratory songbirds are passing through on their way to their boreal forest breeding grounds.

Two days ago, the weather gods smiled on our band of forest gardeners. We had sun and a temperature of 12C for the Garlic Mustard pull at Tiny Marsh. If there's one job we can't leave to Mother Nature, it's weeding, of any unwanted plant, which should be done early before flowering and seed-setting. Here's a primer on the problem with invasive Garlic Mustard, and a link to the upcoming pull days at Tiny Marsh. Volunteers welcome!  Interesting people show up; yesterday, it was Clare Ross, a Tiny Township artist photographer who has a deep knowledge and love of nature, as can be seen from her website. 

There’s an intensity to the colour, a sharpness to the detail and an unexpected quality to her work that adds up to a quite unique expression of the natural world. Take the bird’s nest with a single blue ribbon woven into it – linking us to a small hardworking creature that created not just a home for nestlings but a work of art with an extra highlight. It’s so good to have Clare’s eye to guide us to these memorable images. 

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As the snow swirls outside, I hear you say, it’s way too early to think about seed. But consider this - there are treasures resting under the snow, awaiting the call of spring. To remind you of what lies ahead, this is a video from the Pollinator Garden at the Jonesville Allotments in Toronto, where I have a friend who labours with others in the front lines of nature recovery. Lovely photography matched with beautiful music.

You can get a head start in readying some of those treasures for spring a touch earlier in the season. There’s nothing more joy-inspiring than little green shoots pushing their way upwards while the snow is swirling outside! And it will become a relationship. Once the true leaves appear (not the first two, which look the same for most seeds) and you follow the seedling’s development close up, you remember. It’s a great way to learn plant identification.

The advantage of growing from seed is that you have access to the harder-to-find plants. The advantage of starting sooner is that you have more mature plants that will have a chance of flowering this year. A perennial isn’t in a hurry in the way an annual is. It has years to mature, flower and set seed. An annual has to get all that done in one season. So a perennial is slow to grow, and some are very slow indeed.
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