A Naturalist in the Maritimes

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It’s a large world; it’s a small world; it’s a diverse world; it’s a connected world.

We’re a third of our way through our tour of the eastern provinces, presently staying in Nova Scotia with friends from university and before.
Turns out that “D” was the statistics advisor to Troy Macmillan, whom you might remember as our lichen speaker and field trip guide from several years back. It’s a small interwoven world!

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We’re staying with “D&L” at their cottage on a lake in the interior of Nova Scotia. We could be on any Algonquin area lake, with rich brown humus-y water, Common Loons, Lake Trout, Ospreys and Poison Ivy. But something is subtly and significantly different. Red Maples predominate, not Sugar Maples which are rare. There’s Grey Birch as well as the more familiar Silver and Yellow species. The American Beechs almost all have fungal infection that makes their mature bark look more like a maple than the elephant’s leg we admire. There’s copious shaggy wisps of Usnea lichen on the trees. It’s a diverse world. (And we’ve not really been on the sea coast yet!)

Cantharellus minor (?), small red chanterelle

Cantharellus minor (?), small red chanterelle

I’m struck by the rich palette of paints used on the wooden house sidings. (“L” has a fondness for Maud Lewis!) Nothing to do with natural history, you say! However … perhaps there’s a relationship between damp maritime climates, available housing materials and skills, and a human desire for colour … It’s a connected world.

Passing through the well-treed city of Fredricton — gorgeous American Elms! — we stopped to see the chimney where an estimated 200 Chimney Swifts rooster earlier this year.

 

Fredricton Chimney Swift roost — 200+this year!

Fredricton Chimney Swift roost — 200+this year!

The slow-moving line of heavy storms we pierced as we left Orangeville hammered us in Arnprior that night, blasted us in Québec City a couple of days later, and then blinded us as we drove at night down the Saint John River valley in New Brunswick. That same line of heavy weather passed back and forth above us for more than a week! It’s a small inter-connected world.

Thunderstorm over the upper Saint John River Valley

Thunderstorm over the upper Saint John River Valley

A Bald Eagle, an adult with a magnificent white tail, just glided over me as I write this. It’s a magnificent world. And seeing all of this through a naturalist’s ‘eye’ is wondrous!

Watching Saturn & waiting for Tiangong, the Chinese space station

Watching Saturn & waiting for Tiangong, the Chinese space station

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