Nelsonville Delivers a Three-Ring Circus

While visiting Doris at Truro Jan and I stayed at one of our favourite domiciles, Nelsonville, at nearby Black Rock. Nelsonville is owned and cherished by my sister Nancy and bro-in-law Don. It commands a million dollar view of the Bay of Fundy’s Cobequid Basin at the mouth of the Shubenacadie River, where the ocean tides are some of the highest on planet Earth. Folks come from far and wide for the joy of riding the tidal bore in zodiac boats whilst getting wet and muddy all over.

There is plenty to do at Nelsonville, apart from eating and drinking like potentates. The birding is terrific and apt too: one of the avian specialties at Nelsonville is the habitat-specialized Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow, a denizen of seaside marshes and grasslands. How many folks have an uncommon namesake bird hanging out just beyond the margin of the front yard?

While not attending to the birds we indulged in other diversions. We played horseshoes, in my case for the first time in about five decades. We managed not to disgrace ourselves, indeed I feel impelled to report that only one among the foursome achieved as many as three ‘ringers’. Feel free to guess that I refer to your faithful correspondent. Jan and I managed to hold our own against the host couple. We played croquet too, but with results less amenable to providing bragging rights.

In anticipation of our imminent bicycle expedition we gave the Treks a 30-km workout on the lovely and scenic Cobequid Trail. Apart from terrific landscapes the trail availed good birding too, not least being closeup looks at an attractive but, sadly, declining bird in these parts, the bobolink.

Songbirds are frequently darker above, lighter below. The bobolink reverses the customary pattern, being black below and largely white above. It hangs out in expanses of grassland and field; any day I see one I count myself lucky. On this day we had two bright males skirmishing for territorial advantage in prime habitat.

We always enjoy our sojourns at Nelsonville; the latest stay was no exception notwithstanding the humiliations that arose in the croquet battlefield.