Monday afternoon I spotted a Canadian Coast guard cutter returning from the lake. Its progress down River was impressive as it seemed to be cutting the water at a good clip. I knew that the commotion would produce the first real waves of any dramatic size. The ice still held tight to the shore, though it was dark and looked to be saturated with water. Here, we still had a good ice pad extending out a hundred yards.
When I returned from work that evening I could hear the soothing sound of waves picking at the shore line. I asked Sandy if she had seen the ice leave: “No I never saw it leave, I looked and it was there and the next time it was all gone!” I have to assume that the cutter provided the needed agitation. I could picture the rising River with corrugated ripples, creating a washboard effect, disintegrating the solid mass.
Tuesday morning a stout north-west wind blew residual ice chunks and ice bergs along the shoreline. A solid flow of fragmented irregular shapes passed by the dock just a cooking! At times when the ice disappeared (for a while) the gap soon filled with bluebill diving ducks (lesser scup). Bluebills provide a perfect profile for a duck, a well rounded black head that at times looks iridescent blue in the sunlight. The male sports a bill that is almost powder blue, hence their regional name. Their body form is perfectly circular with black and white highlights. They are perfectly designed for both flight and diving activity.
I had a visit with my friend “Ed” and we both watched a raft of bluebills diving in front of his home. He said: “They are doing that for courtship. I think that they are pairing up under the water.” Now if you have ever seen bluebills dive it is a constant motion of diving and rising, to dive once again. If they were doing as “Ed” suggested they would be some very tuckered out ducks. I dare say the most prolific breeders in the entire world!
“Ed, they do some underwater acrobatics to impress prospective mates, but are mostly eating.” Ed seemed a bit bewildered; “How can they be eating, there is nothing there, what could they be after?” “They are looking for crustaceans like zebra mussels, also small insects and any vegetation that is palatable. They are opportunistic feeders and can find food on most any bottom up to sixty feet down.” With that resolved we watched the small ducks actively disappear and reappear as if they had never been in the water. Not a drop of water coated a feather, almost as if they had just been under a hair dryer.
Wednesday morning the nose of the freighter “Algoeast” of Canadian registry, poked out from the east end of Carleton Island. I enjoyed watching my first ship of the season amble down River, another sign of spring! It did not take long for the seaway to come alive with ship activity. I checked the boatnerd.com website and three more freighters were already in the system ready to come up River.
I have seen a few blue herons wandering back to our shores, not a steady stream, but a welcome sight. To date none have been willing to set down any where near enough for a photo. Now turkeys on the other hand, seem to be taking over the country side! I have been seeing more mature Toms than ever before.
On a recent ride I watched a large flock of turkeys browsing in a pasture with an ample number of toms strutting in full bloom. Two of them had separated from the flock and were showing off in a more apparent location along a dirt road. I stopped to photograph them as a tractor came up from behind. The scene looked like a “roundup” as the turkeys scrambled just ahead of the manure spreader, like a herd of cattle. Eventually they veered off of the road and up to high ground. All the while the big old toms paused to strut for the ladies who were more concerned with finding a quieter location. It would seem that “males” of all varieties spend too much time with only one thought…
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