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Who, who will help owls if not this man? By JOEL JACOBSON Bright Spot Chronicle Herald Fri. May 16, 2008 Bernard Forsythe of Wolfville has been a birdwatcher for 30 years. He's built a dozen nesting boxes for barred owls in Kings County to protect the species. (Joel Jacobson) BERNARD FORSYTHE climbs the ladder to check the owl nesting box. He looks down and says "Nothing here." The retired 66-year-old Wolfville man, who worked 40 years as a contractor for Royal Mail, is a saviour of barred owls, cavity nesters that are finding fewer and fewer areas where they can lay their eggs and nurture their young until the chicks are old enough to leave home. He built a nest box near the back of his home and has built several others across Kings County. "We've lost most of the old-growth woods where they nest, and now have to erect nest boxes, usually 15 to 20 a year," he says. "Most of the time, the majority are occupied." Bernard has been a birdwatcher for more than 30 years when he began looking for a serious hobby to do in retirement. In the 1970s, he went on field trips with the late Cyril Caldwell of Acadia University's biology department, and his love for avian life was established. Sitting on Bernard's living room table is a pair of ultra-strong binoculars so he can watch birds through his front window. There's a bird feeder on the front lawn. For decades, he's banded owls to track their growth, age and movement when they're recovered. He's even received calls from people who have found an injured owl. "I was shown one that couldn't fly and recognized it (from the band) as one of the owls from my nest box," he recalls. "The chick had been forced from the home by the parents and it was starving because it hadn't learned to be independent. Adult owls will excise the young when they think they're old enough. Unfortunately, this one died the next day." He says owls that get through their first winter can live up to 20 years, but predators get many of them before they leave the nest box. Last year, he lost several chicks to raccoons who fed on the young when the parents were foraging. "Barred owls are the most common raptor in this part of the (Annapolis) Valley, partially because of my boxes," Bernard claims. Always a keen worker, Bernard never took a vacation or sick day in his 40 years with the United Kingdom's mail service. "I'd have had to hire someone to do the route," he says. He has the same chipper enthusiasm and dedication when he is birdwatching. He keeps records of each of his boxes. "I count how many eggs are laid and hatched, how many chicks leave the net. Last year, in White Rock (about five kilometres from his home), I was checking a box and the mother wouldn't move. "I reached in and found a band on her that I had placed nine years before about nine kilometres from here. She was hatched in one of my boxes and now was nesting in one of mine." Bernard studies the breeding biology of birds, fills out special cards when he finds nests and forwards the cards to Maritimes Nest Records Scheme, operated by Canadian Wildlife Service. "When I started checking nests, birds were afraid of me, but now I have to wear a motorcycle helmet and a face mask and jacket because they'll attack me," he says. "They're sure not afraid anymore. They're quiet when they fly. They can come up behind you and hit you on the head. I understand what they're doing, but if I'm going to keep records, I have to protect myself." Bernard wants to educate the public about birds. "I show several slide shows a year to naturalist societies, scout troops, school classes and various organizations." He loves to wander and it's not rare for him to walk 15 kilometres a day through various bird habitats, seeing nests and recording them. "My aim for 2008 is to submit my 3,000th nest card and I have to September to do it. Last year, I submitted 115 cards." He was at 2,930 nest cards at the end of last year. Bernard says he's in a race with George Ball of New Brunswick to be the first to 3,000. Three years ago, Bernard adds, no one else had reached 1,000. The Nova Scotia Bird Society gave Bernard the Puffin of the Year Award in 1999 for service to birds. That service includes being part of the Maritimes Breeding Bird Atlas for which birders identify birds breeding in an assigned area 10 kilometres square. He also photographs wild orchids. "There are 39 species in Nova Scotia," Bernard says. "The majority are in the Valley and I've found all but two." His wife Sandra often accompanies him. "I like to walk," she says. "When you're with birders, you stop every two minutes to look at something." Bernard chuckles. "Sandra has seen species when she's with me that many of my friends haven't seen." "I'm having fun," he concludes. "I like to learn." ( jjacobson@herald.ca) Joel Jacobson appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
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