You need a nature hobby in 2008

nn2901 Earl Plato

I know I am a Fort Erie boy and I used to wonder if there were readers of my column in other parts of the peninsula. For years now I have had calls, letters and E-mails from Niagara Falls readers and the environs. I appreciate their continued interest. After all, as you have discerned, I am only an amateur naturalist. Yes, I love all aspects of the natural world and one of my hopes is to get you more interested in the great outdoors.
Dan and Carolyn Cuillenier walk the Beechwood Road area on a regular basis.
They have corresponded with me by E-mail and in a previous message marveled about seeing wild turkeys. In their latest account on June 2nd they say, “I feel we were greatly blessed with the following: Three Northern harriers, two Indigo buntings, male and female yellow warblers, an Eastern bluebird,” and then he adds. “the wild turkeys again and as to put icing on the cake, one deer. We are still quite thrilled with our outing.” I guess so,Cuilleniers. That’s a great ramble!
I would like to hear from you about your particular nature outings. Let’s share our joys in nature, eh?
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A natural hobby is a hobby. Agree? On a visit to Niagara Falls recently Bob Chambers took me to the home of Wayne and Sue Martin. Wayne has a special hobby and it involves animals and plants. So. These are unique specimens. The animals make up a living coral reef in a great setting. .Wayne meticulously told of his love for this unusual hobby.
We looked at his huge aquarium. What a beautiful sight of living marine animals and plants. Wayne said “ I bought a new lamp.” He pointed to it and added that there was something not quite right with it. He showed Bob a used original light bulb. “It still works but it has more of a yellow light, more of an incandescent light in colour.” He explained to Bob how these lights worked. HID - High Intensity Discharge. Quite technical.
“Light is the food. The better the light the better the growth.” The new lamp over the aquarium was 250 Watts - 10000 K. The old one was 4000 K. Improvement? I think so. Ask Wayne what ‘K’ means. Cost of the new lamp? Over a $100. Not an inexpensive hobby. Wayne emphasized, “Don’t cheat on the light sources or you won’t have a hobby!” He stated how important instrumentation is. With his electronic and scientific background he has his own setup for controlling water temperature. Amazing! I want to tell you more about the animals that live in Wayne’s world of the deep in another article. I asked Wayne what he calls himself in reference to his hobby. He calls himself the Reef Keeper. That’s what he is.
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Thirty one of us of the Bert Miller Nature Club and fellow bird enthusiasts led by Bill Burch of New York State met at the Blue Jade Restaurant in Port Colborne. That Friday evening, June 8th, after late dinner we headed out to Minor Road and Wilson Road for a chance to hear the plaintive calls of the Whip-poor-wills. This was my chance. I had missed the previous outings.
We headed first to Minor Road and headed north in caravan style. Bob Chambers led our contingent. Open fields here on the outskirts of Port Colborne. The light was fading. We saw a Marsh hawk floating over to the north. No meadowlarks or bob-o-links. A Savannah sparrow was sighted and we had a good look through a scope. On to Wilson Road and the Wainfleet marsh. This was whip-poor-will country!
North on he gravel road past the rich, black marsh soil of an onion farm. At least that’s what Dave Mitchell said and I agree, We came to an intersection where a road entered from the west. This was it. Get out and wait as the light grew fainter and fainter. We heard the calls of the Common yellowthroat warblers. “Witchety- witchety” and other birds.
Some of us had tapes of the whip-poor-will calls. Not needed. To the south of us we heard loud and clear a whip-poor-will call then another. Great!
I recall as a youth sleeping outside in a Muskoka setting, The calls of the whip-poor-wills sounded all night. C’mon Plato - all night? That’s my teenage recollection. Possible? To this day I believed that they never stopped calling.
Now here in Wainfleet I heard that same call repeated again and again.
This bird is a great insect eater catching them on the fly. Look him up.