Time for Walking, Time for Talking
photos and words by YarOn Stern
Marylee Stephenson and I were discussing a jog one day. In her interest to show me some of the lovely birds you can notice anywhere you go in the city it was just a matter of finding the right day. She is a naturalist and storyteller, living in North Van. I live near Norquay Park in Vancouver. Meeting her is an easy Skytrain ride to Waterfront Station then fifteen minutes float to Lonsdale Quay on the SeaBus.
Using the path making tool in Google Maps is not perfect in terms of interface but it works. The first walk we had together turned out to be about 5.5 KM long. Strangely there is a bridge spanning the Mosquito Creek’s flow into the bay that is inaccessible to the general public. The Squamish Nation Reserve has private property signs along its roads. As pedestrians we take the liberty to use them instead of the noisy streets surrounding the reserve. We later walk beside the heavy traffic on our way back to the Quay.
Many ducks can be seen in and out of the water. In the sky you can notice seagulls, crows and ravens. Within the Vancouver Shipyards territory, an eagles’ nest can be seen high up atop one of the massive cranes. How well the birds are faring is hard for me to know. Some of the challenges for urban wildlife are documented by organizations such as the Vancouver Avian Research Centre.
Our walk continues on the Spirit Trail that has steadily evolved since the first decade of the millennium. The lovely pedestrian bridge over the train tracks takes us to 1st street west, where we head back east. We take one of the patterned crosswalks to get to the north sidewalk. The traffic is pretty heavy now. We grab a coffee and a tea to chat a bit about Galapagos and Darwin. Marylee is working on the third edition of her book. I am in the middle of reading a biography of Darwin written by Janet Browne.
We called this a Jalk. Marylee is the one of us jogging. For me the pace is quick walking. The point is having a good balance of exercise and companionship. Along the way we enjoy the scenery that is changing as we move in space. Our memories and projections notice the changes that the scenery is going through in time as well.
To date we’ve had two walks on the north shore. Between them both of us watched ‘Balcony Tales‘ by Helle Windeløv-Lidzélius. Marylee saw it in DOXA. My wife and I watched it at home. Later I took ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ by Jeffrey Kimball from the library.
It was a bright, partly cloudy day on our second walk. Inbal, my daughter was handed a spare pair of binoculars and we headed towards a small pond where the ducks were doing their job caring for a bunch of ducklings, past the chick stage. It is truly magical to watch the view magnified several times through the binoculars. It’s always useful to remember some safety issues like removing the binoculars from the eye while walking and such.
Between the four locations marked on the map there was much walking and watching. We didn’t return home as fanatic birders but the fun of watching birds and hearing stories about them will stay with us. One of the highlights was the reminder that birds are everywhere in the city. Marylee wanted to show us a hanging nest she’s seen the other day on 5th. When we got there she realized that the tree must be a block or two away. But then Inbal noticed another hanging nest on a tree beside us. We got there just as the parents were feeding their chicks, which were probably just a little more excited to be fed than us observing the excitement.
Robin pecking the grounds at Harbourside.
Still, the presence of humans in the environment and their influence on it always raise the awareness of the challenges wildlife face in their survival. Our own passive form of watching movies about nature and wildlife is just one step in caring for a balance in ecosystems. Some of the Central Park birders of New York express awareness to how bizarre they might look to “outsiders”. I think we should keep in mind that there would always be someone watching us and consider joining. This is the audience that should interest me. The engagement with uninterested people can come in other ways.
Pigeon Gillemot on its way from one side of the pier to the other.
Urban wildlife flock to the city because of the opportunities to feed, breed and have shelter. Our ways of building and maintaining the city are not geared towards the well being of wildlife. And yet there are many of them who find the benefits of our systems. Observation, one of humans’ core skills responsible for the achievements of our society allows us to notice the effect of our environment on the one we grew out of.
Bushtit rushing away to find more food.
It always intrigues me to find connections. From the walks with Marylee I am reconnected to the discussion of wildlife in urban settings. Our discussion waves through endless other topics that allow me to weave another set of thoughts into the quilt of a larger story. And it doesn’t end there. What remains is a fleeting moment of beauty.