Visit to Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick - Part 2

12 May, 2022

Baker Shore B&B - Mount Carmel Church - The Bottle House - Egmont Bay Lighthouse - North Cape - Black Marsh Nature Tail - Baker Shore B&B

     Miriam got us coffee in our room as was our habit every morning, and we sat and discussed preparations for the day.

     While we were doing this Maestro Darrell and Maestra Lynne, were busy making sure that our day would start off on the right footing.

     A freshly baked, still warm muffin, with cold orange juice is guaranteed to kick off the day just right.

     Especially when it is followed by a plate of happiness.

     Scrambled eggs topped with homemade salsa, hot spicy sausage (Darrell had checked with us first), cut up into bite-size chunks and  browned on all sides, home fries, toast with avocado liberally spread on it, and an extra slice of toast to slather with Lynne's homemade preserves. Now that's breakfast!

     Permit me to tell you about Darrell's attitude to breakfast. A couple stayed at Baker Shore and their first tongue was not English, which they barely spoke. One of the guests indicated with hand motions how she wanted her eggs and Darrell interpreted her actions as meaning scrambled. In fact she wanted poached and was mimicking the swirling of the water. When her plate was delivered to the table, it was obvious she was not happy with the eggs, but said, "It's okay." Darrell removed her plate and and said, "That's not the comment I want to hear. I want only to hear, "It's great" and remade breakfast for her.

     That's a commitment to excellence if you ask me!

     Our travels are always centred around birding, but we are not averse to a little general tourism and we set out to visit Mount Carmel Church, a massive monument to religion.

     The interior was appropriately grand.

     The church and the adjacent residence of the priest(s) are in serious need of immediate renovation. Parts are actually crumbling, but unless the site is adopted by the province as a tourist venue, I doubt that a rapidly dwindling congregation will ever be able to provide the funds to halt the process of decay.

     The adjacent cemetery would no doubt enable a skilled historian to trace the history of the region.

     A curiosity called The Bottle House is no doubt a magnet for tourists seeking the unusual.

     Imagine all the 20 cents deposit on the wine bottles that have been forfeited!

     We paid a visit to nearby Egmont Lighthouse, where Édouard T. Arsenault, the creator of the Bottle House, was the last lighthouse keeper, two of his children having been born there.

     A Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) serenaded us.

     There were classic views of the PEI coastline.

     Fierce storms descend on this area, especially in the winter, and their effect on the coast is easily seen.

     Erosion is ongoing and the coast recedes annually.

     The views are glorious, however.

     Our prime destination for the day was the North Cape and it was not long before we arrived.

     In a field nearby was a group of horses.

     You will have no trouble guessing who captured everyone's attention.

     A distant sandspit was covered with gulls, but even with a scope it was difficult to get a whole lot of detail.

     Certainly they were predominantly American Herring Gulls (Larus smithsonianus) with a smattering of Great Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus), but we were left wondering what else might be there.

     The Visitor Centre was impressive, but closed. 

     The tourist season on PEL doesn't seem to get underway until about mid June.

      We were thrilled to see a pair of Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius) fly in close to where we were standing. 

     There is no shortage of suitable breeding habitat.

     A Common Eider (Somateria mollissima) is anything but common where we live in southern Ontario, and we were thrilled to see this handsome male.

     Before the day was out, and for the rest of our trip, it was without doubt the most common duck. Familiarity does not detract from its handsomeness. 

     White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) have taken up residence throughout the Island and are no doubt breeding.

     The North Cape Lighthouse was a stark reminder of the many sailors who have perished in the savage storms that sometimes mount an assault on PEI. Mariners and fishermen had little but the beam of the lighthouse to guide them to safety; for some of them it wasn't enough. Gravestones and monuments throughout the island render tribute to those who died.

     Anyone who has ever walked along a seashore knows that a world of fascination is right at your feet.

     Common Coralline (Corallina officinalis), a corallin alga, is easily found, branching like little trees on suitable substrate, exquisite in its formation.

     We brought back the one Miriam is holding and so far it has remained intact. A glance at it evokes the smell and the sound of the ocean.

     Knotted Wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum) led us to ponder the array of life beneath the waves, most of which we will never see.

     By now, you are familiar with this topography, an iconic image of PEI it seems to me.

     As mentioned above, eiders became a familiar sight.

     The constant breezes blowing in off the ocean make PEI an ideal candidate for wind power and these turbines generate clean energy, much needed in a catastrophically warming planet.

     Once in a while, during a southern Ontario winter, 

a Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) will show up on Lake Ontario, and the birding community is agog with excitement. This bird of crashing waves and rocky shores is at home around the coasts in the east and west of the country, and it was nothing short of blissful to see a couple of flocks cavorting off the North Cape.

     We were constantly reminded that Prince Edward Island is inexorably being eaten away by the forces of erosion.

     As we were gazing out across the water and scanning for birds, a couple of Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) flew by, a spectacular bird if ever there was one.

     Male Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) were beset by a maelstrom of hormones, with one Cassanova doing everything but turn himself inside out to attract the attention of a female.

     As best we could tell his efforts only brought him increased frustration without consummation!

     It's always good to look down at one's feet. A Bronzed Tiger Beetle (Cicindela repanda) is a handsome insect.

     The Black Bog seemed to hold a lot of promise and we would have liked to have had more time to explore there. Maybe next year.....

     I have several times referred to erosion and here is a classic illustration of what is taking place all around the coastline of PEI. A formation known as Elephant Rock is shown in the inset on the billboard in the picture below.

     Twenty-five years later all that remains is a section of the trunk.

     The combined forces of wind and wave are unremitting.

     Myrtle Warbler (Setophaga coronata) was very common, and that would be true throughout our time in the Maritime Provinces.

     We caught sight of a Merlin (Falco columbarius) zipping through the woodland. It perched too far for a decent picture, but we welcomed the chance to take a shot for the record anyway.

     A Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) was a little more obliging.

     We ate dinner at the Breakwater Bar and Grill in Summerside. Miriam had fishcakes and I don't remember what I had, so I assume it was not especially memorable!

     Back at Baker Shore we took our usual glass of wine out back, and Darrell leaned over the deck and asked if we would care to join him in a little post-dinner snack. How could we refuse our genial host, so a decadent chocolate cake with a sauce made in Elysium no doubt, topped with strawberries, made its way from table to mouth in short order! Miriam, still full from dinner,  actually declined, but Lynne placed a slice for her in our room.

     Lynne and Darrell joined us, along with their two little dogs, Oreo and Blizzard, and we spent a wonderful hour chatting on a pleasant, warm evening.

     It was a great way to end the day.