Some nasty storms swept through parts of our city in the past couple of weeks and trees were the major victims.
Some winds were so strong they uprooted trees from their patches of soil. Others suffered losses of limbs, like this one, which Derek and his pal Kevin cut down this week, for another friend.
We lost half of a pine tree this winter. It split in half and the part not attached to the trunk snapped off and laid there until it was cut up this week. There are still pieces to pick up and small branches to bag but there’s no rush because it’s in an out-of-the-way place in our yard. As I was doing some trimming and bagging this week I noticed that a carefully made nest had come down with the giant limb. It was constructed of animal hair, mud, twigs – the usual. Some birds apparently lost their home in that storm as well.
The morning after the Beach Boys concert at the Plunkett Estate – which we could hear from our back yard – a fox ran past my office window. He was a young adult, looking desperate and lost. I could have pointed him back toward the woods but I don’t think he would have listened to me. He was beautiful, fit with a shiny coat. He skittered from yard to yard, just looking for the forest. I hope he found it before someone with a quick trigger finger found him.
And our friends Jeff and Laurie who live in a beautiful area outside Lucan and see plenty of wildlife on a regular basis, had a visit from a bald eagle the other day. Everyone there was skeptical so they passed around the binoculars and the eagle was kind enough to stay until each person was satisfied that it was, indeed, one of the endangered species’ representatives.
Laurie got one quick photo before the majestic bird spread its huge wings and flapped off. He didn’t appear to be with a realtor but he sure looked like he was scoping out the area as a potential home base. Nice neighbourhood, plenty of fish in the river below and lots of big, sturdy trees. Fingers crossed.