河畔小徑 / Path along the river bank

Now that the weather is warmer, I am riding my bike to and from work again. The trip is about 10 K each way if I take the scenic route along the river bank as opposed to taking a shorter commuter route through downtown traffic. I enjoy the exercise as well as the view along the way. The photo here shows an area that I pass by twice a day and as you can tell, I am not the only one using the bike path. There is a whole population of birds that hang out around this neighbourhood and they use the near-by islands as their nesting ground. There are so many birds that I can hear them long before I can see them.

The Canadian goose in the foreground is one of the geese I showed you in a previous blog article. There are other families of geese, as well as drakes and ducks, red-wing black birds, loons, the odd herons and cranes, and of course seagulls, lots and lots of gulls. Apart from my fair feathered friends, I have also seen ground hogs, chipmunks, squirrels, and even signs of otters and beavers in the water.

One may ask what the wildlife survives on. Well, for one thing, there are lots of insects, fish, frogs and clams in that river. The birds also seem to like feeding on the vegetation, grubs and worms on the islands. And, of course, there are always people throwing crumbs of bread at the fowls, although the sign nearby clearly says "Please don't feed the birds".

I must say I always enjoy my bike ride on the path along the river bank, rain or shine. Not only do I save the environment by not taking my car to work, I also have a chance to stay closer to nature (in an urban setting) and enjoy seeing some wildlife that I would have missed if I am not taking a self-propelled mode of transportation.