Just as the news in our community here in Ottawa would suggest, we’ve experienced some catastrophic flooding here in our area this spring. Unfortunately, our home was also affected by this year’s flooding of the Ottawa River but fortunately, not as terribly as many others experienced it.
During the past couple of weeks, we’ve not only had the chance to observe the strong will and determination of our community. Hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers flocked to affected areas to lend a hand filling sandbags, moving sandbags, providing tools, boats and any other assistance that was required.
For that and each and every one you that helped out in our community, we say a very heartfelt thank you.
During these anxious times, we still managed to take in the true beauty not only of the human spirit and those around us but the natural beauty of the nature in which we reside. In between runs to the pumps, generators and sand bag filling stations, we constantly made a point to stop and look around and during this time of year and given our background, it wasn’t hard to see a variety of our favourite birds settling in for the season.
As debris from the river washed up on our lawn, we watched as various birds would swing by and swoop down either for a fresh meal of worms in the moist grass or for some seaweed or other natural debris, they could use to build out their nests.
We’ve also noticed that we are in about the third wave of spring migration, which welcomes some of our latest (and favourite) arrivals. Over the past week or so, we’ve been treated to Baltimore Orioles, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, Tanagers, Warblers of all kinds, Kinglets and even our tiny Hummingbirds.
Despite the unfortunate reality of the past few weeks, just like the birds, we all have the ability to come together and adapt when our circumstances change. As we always say, we are one with nature and as such, we need to be mindful of the environment in which we live.
As we progress closer to summer, we are looking forward to the final wave of migrants. As bug season will eventually be upon us, birds such as our Great-Crested Flycatchers will soon be back in the area to feast on mosquitos and black flies among many others.