A Peregrine Falcon at Hopewell Rocks

 

    Hopewell Rocks are towering rocks that you can walk around on the ocean floor. Access to them is strictly controlled so that people don't get stranded. The high cliffs offer no way to exit, other than the steps. We visited when the tide was going out.

 

    We walked all the way to the end, as far as we could. At one point we had to go in the water to get around a rock jutting out.

    In the last bay we looked around for the Peregrine Falcon that we had been informed about, we could hear it chirping. After looking for a while I saw it sitting right in front of us, looking at us! It wasn't moving so blended in. We pointed and looked through the binoculars, attracting others. One lady kept asking "Where is it? Where is it?" I tried to tell her using the rock caves as a guide. She still couldn't see it. I took a picture through my binoculars and showed it to her.

Can you find the Peregrine Falcon?

    She still couldn't see it but asked if I could use her phone to take a picture. I did that and showed it to her. Her only response was a "Hmm," as she frowned at it disapprovingly. Short of me making a miraculous climb, scaling sheer vertical wall and furiously pointing at it, we were out of options. 

    I turned around and was startled to see a crowd had formed behind us. They were all looking at the falcon, or at least in it's general direction. The world is divided into two types of people, those who will wade and get their feet wet and those who won't. The 'won'ts' had managed to come to the last bay because the water had dropped significantly, exposing a small gravel path. We sidled away, I didn't want to start passing around my precious binoculars.

    At the end of the walk you can see an Emergency Dock, for people who lose track of time and get stranded on the beach. 

    

    I think movies have trained us to expect drama because I expected something to happen as we trailed back to the stairs out. It's kind of like when you see a helicopter in a movie, you fully expect it to blow up at some point. I dragged my feet walking back but then thought about it - there was another three hours until the tide came in. How do people get stuck out there? It had moved quickly, but not that quickly. I looked it up later and it mostly happens during the off-season. Usually it's people with a picnic and a bottle of wine.

    We drove to Charlottetown after, crossing the bridge to PEI, which seemed to end at the horizon. Charlie was at the airport, we were late picking him up. He didn't even complain about it! I guess we should give him a few days to warm up before he becomes the lead singer of 'The Complainers'.

Birds 'n Mammals

A beautiful, and very still, Peregrine Falcon

At the campsite in Kouchibouguac New Brunswick - Black-bellied Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, more Semipalmated Plovers, didn't see a Piping Plover (endangered species) but I sure am a Plover Lover! (that should rhyme if you say it right)

Elsa painted a Blue Jay in our campsite, as she was painting two Blue Jays came by the bug tent. We need a mobile bug tent. Or at least a large hat with a floor length bug screen.

Kouchibouguac: