This Land is Our Land

 

“THIS LAND IS OUR LAND”
said: bird, goats, whales, aquatic habitat and the shagbark hickory.

Cattle Egret is a transient species primarily in southern Canada, from the west coast to the east coast and Newfoundland ~ with 100 to 500 breeding birds. Special it is ~ being the only African avian immigrant to move to Canada. This globe-trotting egret is the most widespread and abundant heron in the world.

Its immigration to Canada begins with a hurricane in the eastern Atlantic off the coast of Africa. One day, around 1890, a small flock of these itinerate egrets (or perhaps just a single egg-laden female) was sky-jacked by the winds of a tropical storm and transported 4,600 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean to Suriname in South America. By 1933, this adaptable wading bird was nesting in the Caribbean.

In 1941 it was spotted in the United States ~ and by 1952, it had strayed into Canada. Since then, roving cattle egrets have been sighted in every province as well as in Yukon and Northwest Territories.

A few years ago, a starving stray egret was spotted in Churchill, Manitoba. Soon after, a hungry polar bear abruptly ended its travel adventure.
(the foregoing written by Wayne Lynch)

Groups of Goats have been deployed in Edmonton and Calgary as their public works departments assess just how effective goats can be in controlling noxious weeds by eating them. They call it targeted browsing ~ which beats uses of herbicides.

Endangered Salmon: Three new viruses are attacking endangered Chinook and Sockeye salmon which researchers at the University of British Columbia have found. These viruses affect both farmed and wild populations emphasizing the potential role that viral disease may play in the population of wild fish stocks and the threat these viruses may pose to aquaculture.

Brown or Norway Rat (across Canada, except Alberta. This common pest escaped from European ships around 1775. They damage crops...mess up houses...prey on wildlife...and spread disease. Crop damage led the grain-rich province of Alberta to wage a war against them.

European Starling: About 100 were released in early 1890s by a Shakespeare fan group in New York's Central Park...intending that North America would have all the bird species that Shakespeare ever mentioned. Today, more than 200 million European starlings harass native birds and eat eggs.

Coyote: Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1980s ( and now in Southern Ontario) the coyote has increased its range to urban development. Coyotes are threats to wildlife ~ our deer and caribou.

Right Whales: The advocacy group Oceana is calling for the US and Canada to unite in a bi-national campaign to protect the North Atlantic right whale. After 8 more died in Canadian waters this past summer, their population is hovering around 400 animals.

Shagbark Hickory

From the fall harvest to through solstice and Christmas activities, nuts are a 'must have' for seasonal occasions. Carya Ovata says she enjoys filberts, walnuts and Brazil nuts but intends to serve some lesser-known nuts ~ something native to my little corner of Canada. That's how I came across a Canadian population of the shagbark hickory tree. They are sweet and tasty and conjure an admixture of walnut and pecan. They are local: occurring naturally only on the shores of the St. Lawrence River and western Quebec. There are also 'old stands' near southern Lake Huron ~ surmised, were planted long ago by local Indegenous peoples. Growing tall, the shagbark hickory trees can live for over two centuries. Their most distinctive feature is the bark, which on mature trees only, is 'shaggy' with long strips that peel off ~ and dangle before eventually dropping to the ground.

North America's Indigenous peoples used this flexible wood for excellent hunting bows. European settlers used the wood to make barrels and wagon wheels. Later, it was popular for sports gear such as skis and racquets. To this day, the hard wood, burning hot and long, is ideal for for smoking meat (as in hickory smoked). Historically, the sap has been used to make syrup ~ yet only pales in comparison to maple.

Bitter Harvest

Among European birds, mechanized olive harvests are a serious threat.

They are dying by the thousands.

The next time you reach for that bottle of olives for your martini or for hors d'oeuvres for a party, you might want to think of this horrifying fate for some of the world's birds ~ being sucked up by a huge vacuum cleaner ~ and then sold to rural hotels to be served as delicacies!

According to the scientific journal Nature, this past May, more than 2 million birds are being sucked out of olive trees in Portugal and Spain every year. Olives are harvested from October through January, which coincides perfectly with the migration patterns of songbirds seeking warm climates to spend the winter. The birds roost in the trees during the night ~ and that's precisely when the olives are harvested. Olives apparently taste better when harvested at night ~ because the cooler temperatures allow for better retention of aromatic compounds.

Mechanical harvesters, taller than the trees and armed with floodlights and rows of vibrating teeth, move along the rows of olive trees ~ seizing each one ~ and shaking it violently to loosen the fruit ~ and direct it into powerful vacuums. Blinded and stunned by the bright lights of the vacuum-like harvesting machines, the sleeping birds are literally sucked right off their perches into them.

We're talking warblers, thrushes, wagatils, finches and robins, including at least a half dozen species already on the decline. The machine operators then sell the dead birds to local rural hotels for human consumption. In one region of Portugal, alone, a half-dozen birds are killed each night per hectare of olive tree grove,which amounts to 96,000 birds lost per year. In Spain, an estimated 2.6 million birds are vacuumed up annually..

Millions of migrating birds from the United Kingdom pass right through those countries on the way to their wintering grounds in northern Africa.

Who knows how many spend their nights in those olive groves?

But, if we North Americans decide to stop eating their night-harvested olives, maybe that will get their attention. It certainly worked for dolphin-safe tuna.

(the foregoing are excerpts from observations by David Bird)

Lastly, a mother Brown Bear and her cub invite us to explore the Wonders of Canada's Wilderness.

The foregoing assembled by MBK...October 31, 2019