Working at Point Lepreau Bird Observatory during Spring Migration

 I was blessed with a job that as a birder one truly does get excited to do, to be paid to go bird watching. 

For 6 weeks I spent my afternoons from 12pm to 4pm in a comfortable little observatory where for 15 min I would count sea birds and then rest for 15 min (honestly often I kept counting off the record) and then count 15 again, for 4 hours and at times it was really busy and at other times it was quite quiet but you couldn't relax because just as suddenly as it was quiet you could end up with a couple of hundred birds flying by.  From Monday to Friday I would keep count and at times volunteers would join me to assist in the counts,which made for company when it was not so busy, though it gave times to teach about the birds which is another passion I have.

Weather could be an issue, especially the days when the wind was from the south and it was raining as the build up of spray on the viewing windows would be an issue, thankfully I only had 3 days which the weather was raining, most of my days were either overcast which made for better visability or clear skies which actually was more difficult as the glare off the water and as it began to warm up the distortion from the heat vrs cool water made some bird ID difficult.

There was a learning curve in methods of identifying birds, when you go birding most often you look at an individual bird , you check the colors, the beak shape, the patterns on the wings, and you listen to the call. With the migrating seabird, sea ducks especially it's more about the movement of flocks, the overall shape of the bird, for example a Black Scoter has a pot belly shape and a fast wing beat, most species fly out over the water only cormorants , Canada geese and some loon species tend to cross over land.    Harlequins tend to keep close to shore,  Brant geese tend to fly in small flocks close to the water vrs Canada geese flying high up in V formations. Speaking of V formations the Canada Geese vrs Double Crested Cormorants both fly high in V's but the cormorants will fly and glide vrs the geese only glide when coming into landings.   

I learned alot while at PLBO and hopefully moving forward I get more opportunities to use the knowledge I learned in other applications.   Below I've added some pictures from my time at the observatory and if you are interested in taking part the Saint John Naturalist are always looking for volunteers who are dedicated to helping out.   

How it all started

My parents taught me to respect nature, to get out and enjoy the outdoors and that created a passion for nature.  A passion which over the years I have come to not only enjoy but see the importance for others to find joy in the natural beauty within our communities and in so doing realize the importance of conservation and living in relationship as good stewards of that community.

I have been able to work in and around the natural world for a number of years, starting off working in a nature center, working for conservation authorities, at camps teaching families, children and interest groups, working with non-profit groups, and at certain points runnig a maple sugar bush.

Interacting with people and nature through much of what I've done, I have found that I definetly can take my passion for nature and use it to help others see the awesome side of the natural world.

The above picture is a great example of interactions of community, the farmer stacks his hay in parts of the field which brings the rodents in as they nest in and around the hay bales.  This in turn brings predators such as these Red-tailed Hawks, along with other hawks, falcons, and owls and coyotes, foxes, weasels , bobcats, and reptiles to feed on the rodents.  

The food web in action, which is a great learning tool about biology, but on top of that, for those who like to get out and view nature, especially those with a camera it again brings another form of interaction as naturalist meets photographer who works to capture a story to share.

These stories begin the process of identifying the importance of an ecosystem and how all the parts link of to create interactions on both biotic and abiotic or living and non living systems.   The grass is cut, made into hay bales, the hay bales are used to feed farm animals but also create habitat for the bottom of the food web in rodents, insects and worms which are then bring larger creatures to feed , and this continues till the apex (top of the food web) creatures show up and they in turn leave the remains for the decomposers such as maggets, worms, beatles, scavengers to feed on and the circle of life continues.  

Who knew that a hay bale can be such an exciting and wonderous place filled with an entire life span of creatures.   Only through education and knowledge to we become aware of all that is going on within the areas in which we live.    

To experience this, we need to know what to look for, how to view it without much disturbing the natural order of things and being able to identify what we are looking at.  This is where the naturalist comes into play and how to bring it to the average person to view.

I hope to help others find out what's out there, get to see the interactions and film it when possible.

Won't you come along with me and we can learn together?