Beamers in 2009

Nature Earl Plato


I am hooked on white in nature - white crows, white robins, white squirrels and recently the famous white buck deer of Ridgeway. I have been fascinated with albinism all my life. I had seen an albino man as a youth. His white hair and pinkish pupils were an anomaly that I have never forgotten. I first wrote about an albino crow in a 1998 Review article entitled, The Infamous White Crow of Pelham. Since then I have had calls about other albino animals such as white deer in Niagara Falls, yes, albino raccoons and even a skunk. Albinism is here to stay. ***
Spring to me is seeing skunk cabbages peeking through the snow as each melts a circle around itself . Drive along Halloway Bay Road at its southern terminus. On either side of the old Bertie/Humberstone drainage ditch crossing are a multitude of these unique heat generating spring plants. As a child the late naturalist Bert Miller would take his knife and slice off a piece of a leaf. He would hold it up to your nose, “Take a sniff.” That pungent ‘skunk-like’ odour assailed your nostrils.
These unique plants grow and grow until their elephant ear-like leaves become the largest of our local spring plants.
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Beamer’s Point this coming year? A friend called recently and asked about this great bird migrating point. “Never made it there last year,” was his comment. Beamer’s Point can make you a bird addict. Six times one year I drove to the Grimsby Lookout. What a year! A Bald eagle soared over head on my first visit. 500 or so Broad-winged hawks on my nexy visit! Don’t know your raptors? Don’t worry for there is an expert there daily, a member of the Hawk Watch team. Hamilton Nature Club members make up most of the faithful recording observers. I take my spotting scope and a fold up chair for you need to spend some time there if you really are serious. Dress warmly, eh.
A mid-March Beamer’s Point Report this year lists many raptor sightings. A total of 478 red-tailed hawks so far! Five Bald eagles and the inevitable soarer 33 Turkey vultures. Then I looked at the list more closely - a Golden eagle? Yes, one. I have seen this giant bird, one of my favourites, in captivity but never in the wild. Yes, I am heading west then south up Christie Avenue off the QEW this week. Beamer’s Point is worth the visit any time this spring.