CBWM: Ashley Fill!
As we transition from Winter into Spring, birding on the shores of Lake Ontario becomes a little less painful. By that I mean that the temperature rises, and I can switch from mittens to gloves. This means it’s also a great time to bring a friend along and introduce them to birding, without having to worry about them swearing at me about how cold it is. A couple weeks ago I brought my good friend Ashley along with me, and introduced her to the world of birding on an early morning at Colonel Sam Smith Park in Toronto.
Ashley is a coworker. Although we don’t work in exactly the same business unit, we crossed paths because she kept presenting my talking points to anyone that would listen. You see, Ashley cares about sustainability. Formal titles, management levels, and any other organizational structures have no bearing on her as long as she’s figuring out how to turn her work into something that has a positive impact on the environment. In my case in the soap business, that means doing your laundry with cold water. Did you know that 90% of the energy used in washing your clothes is just from heating the water? If you go to one of Ashley’s presentations you’ll hear all sorts of great sustainability facts (about my business)!
Given this absolute passion for saving the planet, I was really excited to bring her birding. She often talks about how personal sustainability is for her, and how much she loves nature. Birding brings me close to seeing the heartbeat of the natural world. Tuning in to the health of the ecosystems around you, noticing the changes of the seasons, seeing the trees begin to bud in the spring, how the bugs start to hatch, and finally how the birds migrate at just the right time to feast on the newly awakened food sources. It's all connected. She would love it.
We met up at Colonel Sam Smith park just before sunrise, and went through some of the basics. Ashley was able to identify a Northern Cardinal almost immediately, but the light was low and she was stumped by an American Robin. We made our way out to the lakefront and caught a beautiful sunrise over Toronto. Sometimes I feel like 80% of birding is just having an excuse to be in beautiful places, at beautiful times of the day, and this morning was no exception.
Sunrise at Colonel Sam Smith Park
Soon we were moving again and I was identifying various waterfowl, and explaining the courtship ritual of Red-necked Grebes (“Yeah so as far as I can tell they basically just seem to shout in each other's faces as loud as they can”). That's when we spotted the highlight of the morning... a beaver. It was sitting just off the trail in the water, and frankly wasn’t too concerned about us, or any of the people walking their dogs nearby. This is one of my favorite parks and it’s not out of the ordinary to see a beaver, but Ashley was so excited. Maybe there’s something about being a Canadian and talking a lot about Maple Syrup, Moose, and Beaver, but actually seeing one this close absolutely made the entire morning worth it for Ashley. We snapped a few photos, and then our new friend lazily glided off into the harbor.
It's experiences like this that make me think about our relationship with nature. I’ve always admired that Ashley has taken the approach that there’s a greater benefit to the environment by working with big companies and creating change from within. Even so, with all the data, powerpoints, and executive presentations, sometimes you just need to sit and watch a beaver collecting sticks to appreciate how important the environment is.
