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Hi there, A friend from Toronto was in town last week, and last Wednesday evening after work we went for a walk along the Cole Harbour Saltmarsh Trail. We drove through rush-hour traffic on Portland Street and Cole Harbour Drive, past all the big box stores and strip malls. As one drives along Bissett Road one gradually leaves suburbia behind. It felt liberating to crest the hill and see that wonderful expanse of farmland, marsh and saltwater that opens up ahead. My friend was impressed with how quickly we were able to leave the city behind and reach such a lovely natural area. The evening was perfectly calm, with no wind, and rosy reflections in the water of the lingering sunset. There were sparrows scampering all over the trail, mostly Savannahs. Great Blue Herons, a Belted Kingfisher, and a few ducks were in the marsh, but none of the terns or shorebirds which Kier Gigeroff and I saw last Saturday. We didn't have much daylight so didn't get quite as far as the Ready-Aye-Ready Bridge where the Wheatear had been tending, so I can't say if it was still there. It may have been too late in the evening anyway. The most striking experience was a hatch of Craneflies; there were tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of them, hanging suspended in the air and slowly floating westward. They don't bite, of course, so it wasn't unpleasant, just an odd sensation of walking through something light like cobwebs. I kept passing my hand in front of my face to sweep them away. They were incredibly abundant, like aerial plankton. If this had happened earlier in the season, I'm sure there would have been swallows or swifts feasting on the banquet, but as it was a late September evening, no birds appeared to take advantage of this remarkable bounty. Cheers, Patricia L. Chalmers Halifax
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