The Porcupine Adventure

When our neighbour left for his week-long holiday trip to Europe, he had youngest son take care of his house and young dog, leaving a page of instructions for Fred’s care, including the address and phone number for his veterinarian. I looked at it and thought, “It’s good to have that information, but we won’t be needing it.”

I was almost right. Everything went well until the afternoon before our neighbor returned. Youngest son finished work early and decided to take the three dogs for a walk in the warm autumn sun. As a rule, he walks the dogs unleashed, but takes one leash in his pocket just in case. Yes, we live in town, but  our home is right next to woodland space where energetic pups can roam and sprint and wrestle freely.

Wednesday afternoon they all set off and I began canning applesauce. Thirty minutes later the back door opened. “Mom,” youngest son said. “I need you to stay calm and come out here.”

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Snipe's Revenge

Today is Victoria Day, known around here as Monday of “The May Long Weekend”—the weekend when we’re supposed to go camping or plant the garden or finish the spring yard clean-up. I’m doing none of that, and it’s not because the weather isn’t cooperating, but because I have a doozy of a cold. You know, the “not all that sick, but might as well be because I’m so miserable” kind of cold.

On top of that, a snipe looking for a girlfriend kept me up all night. When I was a teenager, we took city slickers on snipe hunts and then laughed at them for believing this mythical bird existed. Turns out the joke’s on us, because there really are snipes (see video) and at least one has decided to make his home in the marsh behind my house so he can get back at me for not believing in him.

The hu-hu-hu-hu-hu at the begining of the sound file here is a winnowing snipe. Yes, it is that loud, and maybe louder. That’s not a vocalization, but a sound made by vibrating tail feathers—a sound heard, supposedly, at dusk or dawn. Unfortunately for me, at this time of the year, dusk and dawn make up almost the whole night.

A snipe hunt is sounding like a good idea right now. Lucky for the noisy bird, a nap sounds even better.

Spring Swan Song

Photo by Andrew Stark
(click on photo for larger view)It’s the time of the year when the trumpeter swans return to McClintock Bay, and this year there have been a record number of them. Each spring, migrating trumpeter and tundra swans and other waterfowl gather together there in the open water, waiting for the smaller lakes of their nesting grounds to open up. It’s an attractive place to wait things out because not only is it the first open water around, but there are good pickings, food-wise, and not much to disturb the peace except the noisy commotion of the swans themselves.

Right now, today, there were 2009 pausing trumpeters in the bay. When it’s all said and done, fifteen percent (or more) of the world’s trumpeters will have passed through. Believe me, that makes for a bit of a racket. Check out this recording of a few swans honking, multiply it by about 200 and you’ll get the idea.

Yep, very loud, and not just loud, but big and loud. Trumpeters are the largest of the world’s waterfowl, commonly weighing over 12 kilograms. That’s 25 pounds, for those who are metrically challenged.

The easiest way to tell the difference between trumpeter and tundra swans is in their bills. Most tundra swans have a yellow spot on the upper edge of the bill, while the trumpeter’s bill is all black. Here’s a handy-dandy guide that pictures the difference for you.

And yes, I was saving the best part for last: the web-cam at Swan Haven on McClintock Bay. Click on the link to see the real live migrating swans in the Yukon for yourself. If you play the swan call recording at the same time, it’ll be just like you are here, and without the cost of the plane tickets.