Galwegians June 2021
The Ontario Government’s extended “stay-at-home” measures means that the Galway Hall continues to be closed until further notice. However, for the first time since this global pandemic began, there was a notice posted on the Galway Hall message boards. It was a reminder to our area students that the deadline for bursary applications to the Kinmount and Area Bursary Committee is Tuesday, June 15th, 2021. All the details can be found at: www.kinmount.ca or www.galwayhall.ca.
Did you catch the spectacular lightning display on the evening of Tuesday, April 27th? Although frightening to many people, thunder storms can also be very impressive! This storm had many brilliant forked lightning events as it rumbled through. Did you know that a return stroke (which is the very bright visible flash) travels at about 60 000 miles per second back towards the cloud and that one flash consists of as many as 20 return stokes? What made this storm even more special was that it had cloud to cloud lightning as well, known as Spider Lightning. Spider lightning refers to the long, horizontal moving flashes often seen on the underside of the clouds. This type of lightning is considered rare.
Well, Nature’s choir mentioned in last month’s article was short-lived. The cold temps disbanded this choir and only a few solo acts braved the below normal temperatures. My Grandma White used to say that freezing temperatures would silence the singing frogs three times before the warm weather was here to stay. This spring, the frogs went almost three weeks before singing again.
Here are the results of the forty day observation period regarding the Good Friday weather lore. 80% of the days were below normal temps. Only 40% of the days had sun or a sun/cloud mix. There was no dominant wind direction over this forty day period. To summarize, Good Friday 2021 was sunny, cold, and a wind from the north. The below normal temperatures was the only dominant trait over the forty days.
Some species have arrived earlier than usual this spring. The hummingbirds were a couple of days ahead of schedule. The dragonflies were flying about by mid-May this year. They are usual out in the first week of June.
Our feeder is historically left out until the Victoria Day weekend in hopes of attracting the rose breasted grosbeak as it passes through our area. This year there were three males that graced our feeder. Did you know that these birds migrate from Mexico, Central America, and even northern South America? It has been documented that the rose breasted grosbeak can fly across the Gulf of Mexico in a single night!
The 10 or 12 evening grosbeaks that have been consistently around our feeder for months have finally moved away as of May 15th. A pair of Baltimore Orioles was reported on Cain’s Lane, enjoying orange slices strung from a tree branch. Another observer posted pictures taken of three warblers- the Yellow Rump, the Black and White, and the Palm as well as a picture of a rose breasted grosbeak. Swallows were seen swooping across the waters of Clear Bay early in May. Birds are a critical part of our ecosystem, whether it’s acting as pollinators, pest control or dispersing seeds. But many species of birds are declining at an alarming rate. In fact, North American bird populations have significantly dwindled in the last 50 years, with a staggering loss of 2.9 billion adult breeding birds since 1970.
The word for this month that was added to the dictionary in 2020 is “farmhousey”. It is an adjective and means a space or thing resembling or reminiscent of a farmhouse or life in a farmhouse, especially in being cozy or charmingly rustic. Here is an update on Shamrocking Galway- Year 3. The corms were planted in the peat pots on April 24th. As of this article’s deadline (May 21st), purple shamrocks are starting to appear in 4 of the 26 pots. Here’s hoping for the remaining shamrocks to come through! Follow the progress at www.galwayhall.ca.