Relevé des oiseaux nicheurs
Contributions de nos observateurs
ILe poème ci-dessous décrit une journée dans la vie d’un observateur. Il a été composé par des bénévoles et s’inspire du fameux poème de la littérature anglosaxone « Twas the Night Before Christmas ». Il serait difficile de traduire ce poème en français, de façon à lui rendre justice. Voici donc la version originale.
A Breeding Bird Survey Lament
par Jack Park et Dave Ealey
Twas the night 'fore my survey
And all through my mind
Ran the sights and the sounds
Of the birds I might find.
The bedside alarm was set with much care
Three-thirty to rise, gives time to get there.
The clock's digits blink
As time slowly creeps by.
I'll not catch a wink,
"Go to sleep!" is my cry.
The night outside is so still,
Not a movement of air,
Stay that way if you will,
Just a breeze if you dare.
Rehearse, please—BBS kit
Bins, scope, pencil and mitt.
Lunch in the fridge,
Coffee maker is set,
It's cold on the ridge,
And at the lake too, I'll bet.
Clipboard, forms and elastic,
Thermometer, stopwatch, chain.
What is that sound—tick, tick, tick?
It's my timepiece's refrain.
Time to get up is now here,
Why do I do this each year?
Coffee to make, lunch in its box,
Off to the start, quick like a fox.
Not a soul on the road,
It's still dark as pitch,
See all the eyes, two here, two there,
Off to the side four more, what a scare!
Coyotes no doubt; and moose we see
Dash to the bush quite magnificently.
At post number one, we fin'ly arrive—
It's 4:21, start's 4:25,
The lake is like glass, not a breath of wind,
The sky is zero, birds starting to unwind.
The glow in the eastern sky
Means daylight's soon nigh.
Each bird tuning up, how quickly they match
The rest of the flock, a musical batch.
Now we are set, the time is now nigh,
Loons, gulls, grebes and others more shy.
There are the martins and swallows that fly,
The standard three minutes seem to flash by.
Seventeen species to start out the day,
Quite a good number, I'm happy to say.
Each stop in turn, for the 30th year,
The process itself just seems so clear.
Ev'ry bird back at its favourite spot,
"Quick three beers" flycatcher is still on his lot.
"Wichita, wichita" rings out of the fen,
Some blackbirds just sit around from the bend.
The birds on the wires, upright they all sit
Their numbers we find, have come down a bit.
Up next is stop 12, and paved is the road,
This sure beats the year we had to get towed!
Fields here are green, there's fog in the hollow.
Lots of bird song but few birds to follow
By eye when we scan with binocs I have said.
The sun rises quickly, big, yellow and red.
There to its nest with a beakful to carry
For feeding its young, flies a crow unwary.
Look there at that field, it's covered in ducks!
All of them mallards, as judged by their clucks.
They're poking about among the new grass
As we make our way, round the corner to pass.
It's all open here, savannahs and clay,
Soon habitat changes, it's always that way.
We come to the woods where tall trees abound,
Orioles, grosbeaks last year were found.
It's open again, yet sharptails aren't there,
Cranes in the distance, there's always a pair.
Southward they shift, seems like more every year
The ravens come calling, out loud and clear.
Now shady conifers align the road,
While thrush songs express their magical code.
A sharpshin wings past, its square tail trailing,
The prey in its talons struggles, ailing.
Stop 49, we're nearly there,
On the road ahead is a bear!!
More were about and not from afar,
We did that stop from inside the car!!
Soon it is over, stop 50 is here.
The survey is finished,
'til the next year.
Ian Halladay (à droite) et William Munro (à gauche), un assistant de longue date, s’arrêtent sur le bord du chemin pour célébrer leurs 30 années de service sur le parcours Brook, en Alberta, du Relevé des oiseaux nicheurs. Félicitations!
L'année 2005 était des plus trempées pour les gens effectuant les parcours du BBS dans l'Ouest canadien. Des ponts le long du parcours Darrel Smith's Cripple Creek en Alberta ont été emportés par les eaux. Il envoie cette photo de la route qu'il emprunte normalement pour revenir de sa randonnée.
L'année 2005 était des plus trempées pour les gens effectuant les parcours du BBS dans l'Ouest canadien. Dennis Fast découvre qu'un « lac » l'empêche d'accéder à son parcours Bedford Ridge au Manitoba.
Voici Krista DeGroot sur l'un de ses cinq parcours du BBS, parcours qu'elle a courageusement achevés à sept mois de grossesse! Félicitations Krista!
En route pour le Relevé des oiseaux nicheurs du parcours Mabou, Nouvelle-Écosse, Christian (à gauche) et Gerry Lunn s’arrêtent à la recherche d’invertébrés aquatiques. Christian assiste son père pour ses quatre parcours en Nouvelle-Écosse.
Steve Wendt et Colleen Hyslop sur le parcours rivière Tay, en Ontario, du Relevé des oiseaux nicheurs.
