14 August 2024
Good Morning,
The flight to Nova Scotia was absolutely unremarkable. The food was delicious and the staff were funny and accommodating. Getting to the airport hotel was easy and we are simply happy to leave the cark park with a paper map in our hands. We are looking forward to rediscovering this beautiful province of Canada after an absence of so many, many years. Yes, ‘paper’ map. I get so sick of not having one and having to look at my phone.
Bliss. You can hear a pin drop. The area is near orchards, corn fields, small farms, honey producers, and the estuary where the tide comes and goes. No street lights, no noise from traffic, nothing. Silence. I cannot tell you how much I needed this.
All of the animals at the sanctuary were either taken because they were abused or surrendered because they were unwanted. I cannot wait for Jen to give us a tour.
Lots of sheep.
A farm bouquet of sunflowers and cabbages.
Fields and fields of apples to send out to the world.
It was a funny thing looking out at the animals at the sanctuary. Decades ago, I ‘gathered’ that I had an animal sanctuary and didn’t realise it. It was not something one thought about at the time. The sheep came from the late Walter Toews, who gave me the little ones rejected by their mother and other mothers. My children fed them with bottles, and they had the run of the fifteen acres. The horses came from PMU farms. Do you know what a PMU is? They were farms where the urine from the pregnant horses was collected and used to make birth control pills at the time. The conditions varied. Some of the cows were male Holsteins – a male milk cow is an oxymoron and, like male chicks, unwanted. As a result of those memories, I have a greater appreciation for this family that has taken on the task of caring for many animals scattered over the acreage that otherwise would have lost their lives. It is hard work – but highly rewarding. I mean, look at that sweet face.
No sign of eagles. The eagle sign on the road says December-March. I wonder where they are now?
Tomorrow is Maude Lewis Day. Preeminent folk artist of Nova Scotia who lived at Digby. I learned much about her from my neighbour when I lived in Wolfville. Her father ran a fish market in Digby. Maude would paint scallop shells and he would sell them in his shop. He also gave her meat for the dogs and for herself. My neighbour had a box of handmade Christmas cards that she brought out one day to show me. Maude gave her cards at Christmas and some on her birthday. They were remarkable. So, it is a bit of a pilgrimage – to a replica of her house (the original tiny home is in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, her burial site, and to a few other haunts of Maude’s near Digby.
“Maud Lewis” by Ron Cogswell is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
“Maud Lewis Painted House” by Sean_Marshall is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
If you have Netflix, there is an excellent documentary-drama titled Maudie about Maude Lewis’s life. Get the tissues ready.
Oh, how I missed this beautiful landscape, the rolling hills, the vineyards, the orchards, and the friendly people. It has been great to return.
C16, the only surviving osplet on the Charlo Montana nest (two nest accidents killed the other two chicks) fledged on Monday the 12th. Congratulations Lola and Charlie!
C16 continues to return to the nest. Mum Lola would like to see Charlie get a big fish on that nest for them.
One of the delights of trying to identify an osprey and sometimes the gender IDing at ringing is not always clear. News from USK Valley about Blue 397.
C16 wasn’t the only Montana chick to fledge on Monday. Junebug from Dunrovin Ranch took its first flight, too.
Look at those beautiful wings – and those long thin legs. Is Junebug a male?
Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust.
Daily summary Monday 12th August 2024
Garry LV0 and Affric 152 had a busy day today, hopping on and off Nest One multiple times. Garry tried his luck but got nowhere, and ironically, after fish-calling for most of her time on the nest, Affric wasn’t present when Garry did turn up with a plump juicy fish. He took it away again and she lost out. No activity on Nest Two, although thunder and lightening around 08.30 did make both nest cams shake and hiss momentarily. There shouldn’t be any problems tonight, the forecast is for clear skies and a gentle breeze, maybe the Perseid meteor shower might show up on nest cam. However it’s all change for tomorrow, with heavy rain and a moderate breeze (make that strong winds at the top of the nest trees) forecast for tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.13.43 (04.57.35); Nest Two 22.22.41 (05.00.53)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/csO3lrb-qgY N1 Garry and Affric are alarmed by an unseen intruder 13.05.37
https://youtu.be/cdetJmrEd_w N1 Affric 152 shrugs off Garry LV0’s mating attempts 15.21.22
https://youtu.be/93Tf6cfsq2Q N1 Garry LV0 returns alone and perches quietly before departing 15.50.01
https://youtu.be/Zz5MF4QI0Ic N1 Affric 152 returns alone and perches quietly, has a squirt and departs! 17.23.22
https://youtu.be/l2actnz1EJo N1 Garry LV0 returns with a fish but Affric’s not there 20.26.49
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
All of the chicks at Fortis-Exshaw nest near Canmore, Alberta fledged! That intruder did not bother this nest like last year, thankfully.
Our gorgeous Iris. I get all teary. What a wonderful mother she is.
Iris continues to make sure that both chicks are eating.
A lovely article about Iris:
Always – yes, always, a happy time when Jackie and Shadow are at the nest.
‘J’ sent us news of one lucky osprey.
Sadly, other ospreys continue to die. Honestly, I cannot wait til the third week in September when everyone should be on their way to their winter homes and the only nest we have to pull our hair out while watching is Port Lincoln. Maybe those Fish Fairies will be around again this year!
We know that the overuse of antibiotics is causing Superbugs that humans will be unable to treat because we have grown resistant to them. Well, guess what? We are doing it to the birds!!!!!! Seriously.
Urban birds are teeming with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, study finds
Mum removes Dad’s beautiful decorative rope when she takes out a partial fish. Let’s hope it falls off her talon!
Hope feeding her two beautiful babies. They are within fledge in a week for the oldest chick at Snow Lane platform in Newfoundland.
Thank you so much for being with us. Take care everyone. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J’, OpenVerse, Heidi McGrue, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, USK Valley Ospreys, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, All About Birds, SK Hideaways, Bobby Horvath, SF Bay Ospreys, and The Guardian.
Not only antibiotics for nonhuman animals have become resistant to bacteria but drugs we use against heartworm infestation have become resistant also. But there is hope. Scientists have discovered just this month or at least are reporting it, the switch that bacteria use to resist antibiotics for decades. It was published in LiveScience under health, medicine and drugs.
There is a scientist in Sweden, Karin Hjort, who was investigating heteroresistance not knowing much about it as well as the rest of the scientific community, she discovered a decades-old research paper describing this phenomenon from scientists at the University of California, Davis. In fact “heteroresistance” was first mentioned back in the 1940’s. Says a lot for the old people in science in laboratories. Haha!
The phenomenon is very challenging to study, and without a clear definition, scientists struggle to compare their observations.
“A good way to start, she said, is with a proper understanding of how these bacteria develop their heteroresistance in the first place.”
Weiss agreed, he’s microbiologist at Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center.
“By knowing the mechanism of action, ‘we may be able to develop new drugs that can reverse the heteroresistance and make the bacteria susceptible to the original drug,” he said. It’s always better to know your enemy.”
So much for those nasty bacteria fooling us with turning on and off switches.
Oh, this is very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.
What a great trip you are having! I can’t wait to hear more of what you are doing. I like the sheep pictures, and the thought of a good place like they are in. 👏Enjoy your time away, go well ☺️❤️
I feel blessed.