Falaise St Jacques Birder's Blog

  We are making some progress in draining the swamp.  I started a spreadsheet to keep track of how many tires have been taken to the access roads. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SSfm0PsUo-IWIvs43s17B0jUhzUvuyQ0ljiZc9oYilk/edit?usp=sharing   While taking two of the tires from the swamp to the central access road I was stopped by two bicycle police in the Falaise who asked what I was doing.  They seemed happy to hear about the planned clean up.  

 The River of Tires, now transformed into the Tire Swamp, has started to be drained.  The first tire was rolled today to the Central Access Road. Tire Swamp 25 October 2021 First tire rolled from swamp to the Central Access Road.   First Garbage collected for the Eastern Access Road. I added a spreadsheet that keeps count of the number of tires moved to the three access roads. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SSfm0PsUo-IWIvs43s17B0jUhzUvuyQ0ljiZc9oYilk/edit#gid=0

    The River of Tires in the Eastern Falaise was the source of the bulk of the tires removed during the Spring Clean -Up of 2021. Over the following summer only the upper portion the river remained untouched.     View of the Upper River of Tires from the Footpath 23 Sept 2021 Close up of same photo On the 24 Sept 2021, as result of a tire toss, the River of Tires is no more!  What was the upper portion of the river has been tossed into what now could be best described as a tire swamp beside the footpath.   Tire Swamp 24 September 2021  Should our rallying cry now be "Drain That Swamp"?

On the "River of Tires" all the remaining tires are located high up on the Falaise.  Tossing a tire down a hill to the foot path below saves a lot of work vs carrying the tire down.  However there is a risk that the tire will roll down past the footpath ending up far downhill.     In preparation for a tire toss, I made a wall of tires just above the footpath that will hopefully stop any runaway tires. After doing that bit of work, I went back to the Valley of Birds to try out a new 400 mm catadioptric lens on my camera.  These lenses are light weight and affordable but I find it difficult to get an accurate focus with them. Photos

 A.T. Lane, H.S. Tibbs, Louis Rubenstein and David (who is still searching for a suitable Sobriquet) gathered sans poutine at the La Belle Province restaurant for some exploration of the wild western portion of the Falaise St Jacques. Moving quickly past what was later discovered to be Cat Houses, they descended down to a used shopping cart lot which we hope may be picked up as part of the Falasie Clean Up Day . The plan was to quickly scout out the path to the Western Access Road and do the trail maintenance on the trip back home.  The trail truly is the Wild West of the Falasie, a large treasure trove of small trash can be found just downhill of the Super C Parking Lot, then a few ravines to cross before coming upon our goal, the  famed Western Access Road!  The terminus of a trail that begins in the East , passing the River of Tires , the Valley of the Birds , The Skateboard Park , and the Dinosaur Statue on it's way. After a short while, it came into sight, The Western Access

 Roger, David and Malcolm met for the first He-Man Work day at the Falaise.  After doing such sissy things as filling the bird feeders, we spent our time clearing downed trees off the paths and gathering stray car tires for removal.     All Photos

 Stopped by to fill up the feeders and noticed that topsoil has been added to the sides of the Bande Verte access road.  Soon they will add the fine stone gravel. Some of the bird photos that day .