Snake Rd, Burlington ON. January 22nd.2021. This is the third week of January, the beginning of the coldest stretch, yet the temperature hangs just around the freezing mark, mild for this time of year.
I have recently started exploring a deep wooded valley not far from home. It is accessible and lovely, mostly full of mature hardwoods like maple, beech and oak but dotted here and there with random clusters of graceful White Pines. I foresee many absorbing days of exploration ahead. There is a wide gushing stream running its length, a place to cool off on summer days.
That’s not to say that the valley is perfect or pristine though. It could be, but it is public conservation land and not everyone holds nature in the same high regard. There are several ad-hoc paths used by trail bikes, I don’t begrudge them their enjoyment, but it is clear that others have made their way into the valley with four-wheel-drive vehicles. They have forded the stream in places to find mud-spinning challenges and ridden roughshod through stands of precious marsh plants.
I was there for the exercise on this cold day, I made my afternoon way up and down long winding trails with crunchy ice underfoot and sparkles of snow in the air, it was exhilarating. As part of my exploration I took several minutes to investigate how a beaver dam and the tennis-court-sized pond behind it was reshaping a stretch of the valley floor.
Up to this point, an hour or so into my walk, I had not seen a single bird, not one, a reality of mid-winter here where comparatively few birds can eke out a living unless there’s open water at hand and therefore a chance of unfrozen food. Indeed here, at the beaver pond, I spotted a Song Sparrow. It flew across the pond and disappeared into a dense shrub before I could get my binoculars on it. I suspected Song Sparrow right away, but in odd settings, odd things sometimes pop up. And when it did show itself again I was able to confirm Song Sparrow and was quite happy to see it, a perfect mid-winter Bird of the Day – actually the only bird today.