Well, this has been a “fun” week! That kidney stone issue that plagued me on the east coast came back to haunt me just 8 days before All Hallows Eve.
I’m writing this the morning after surgery to have a kidney multiple stones removed from my body, after spending 12 hours in the emergency ward of Brantford General Hospital on the night of Friday, October 22. It was almost four years to the day that I was having surgery on my spine, in Toronto, on Halloween night. It certainly felt spooky, that’s for sure. After eight hours of poking and prodding, a CT scan and a bladder scan, fluids being removed from and put into me, I was wheeled into the operating room for emergency surgery.
The staff of Brantford Hospital, from the cleaners to the orderlies and nurses and the Urologist who performed the delicate operation, were, to a person friendly, kind and helpful. Even the recovery room nurse who happily stayed with me and Sue at the front doors for 15 minutes while we waited for a taxi. That was my fault. I left my 4-way flashers on all day in the parking lot and killed the battery. CAA came this morning and boosted it, so we could get it home before paying for another day. I’ll rest up today, and enjoy a little backyard birding.
Meanwhile, last Monday I decided to head out to farm country to look for a Cattle Egret. They seem to show up all over Southern Ontari every fall, and like fields with cows. While driving the farm roads of Norfolk and Haldimand County looking checking all the fields, especially those with cows, I received a report that Charmaine Anderson had seen one over two hours away, on a cattle farm in Whitby. Well, a little driving never stopped me from seeing a year bird, especially during a Big Year, so off I went and what a good time it was. I ran into several people I knew from the southern Ontario birding community, including MC, Garth and Nancy, all of whom I often see at rare bird sightings. Ezra, who is doing well during his Ontario Big Year was there too.
Of course, the star attraction, the Cattle Egret was also there, standing, appropriately, behind a cow. Cattle Egrets love fields with cows because they are full of flies and bugs and every time a cow swishes its tail to remove the pests, it is an airborne buffet for the egret. They will also follow along harvesters, combines and lawn mowers, as the food is plentiful as the bugs are swept up from the blades.
Shortly after I took that initial photo, the bird took flight and vanished for a few minutes before returning and landing close to the road in a tree. While it was gone we got to talk to the farm owner and she was thrilled to have such a rare bird come visit her cows. It was the first time one has shown up on Maureen’s property. She even invited us to walk a short way up her driveway to get a better view, as long as we didn’t get too close to her dogs, who are not fans of strangers on the property.
The Big Year List now stands at 444, a nice round number and honestly more species than I ever expected to get this year. I was going to be happy with 400 but Canada is a big country and there are over 500 possible species to see. With just over two months left, I might just six more. And 450 species would be a very big year, indeed!
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