Falaise St Jacques Birder's Blog

 A group of skiers arranged to meet at 10:30 Sunday morning at the Valley of Birds.  I arrived early  having put up two new bird feeders on the Western Trail, I wanted to fill them before the others arrived.  New Feeder near the the Ravine New Feeder near the Falaisosaur After filling the feeders, I headed down the Ski Chute then turned on the GPS tracker to mark a portion of the Western Ditch Ski Trail . Back in the Valley of the Birds, I met up with the main group, Dorothy and Tibby. Daisey, thinking I was was already on the Eastern Trail had already gone off looking for me.   Tibby was keen to show off the newly named Roger's Chute, a connecting path between the Western Trail and the Western Ditch Ski Trail. Breaking trail as we headed West, we came across a true murder of crow. Finally, as we approached the Eastern end of the trail. Daisey appeared on her way back.  We continued on, so as to see the state of the Eastern Access Road garbage collection po...

 After giving it some thought, I decided to add a couple of bird feeders to the Western trail.  One was added near the Ravine. A second was placed near the Falaisosaur. My thought was that regular bird feed loop could be done by taking a bus to the Valley of the Birds. Filling the feeders there, the walking along the Western path to the new feeders.  The return could be on the Via Poutina and pick a bus home from that point.

 Satisfied with sawing through downed trees work done on the main Eastern Trail we set out to do some finishing touches along the Eastern Feneside Trail.   Carrying the saws from the Valley of the Birds along the main trail.  Roger convinced the group to add an additional trail, "Roger's Chute", to the map. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1JTFBBUTyC52wXuqgx420-vY0cdvztqPh&ll=45.46330017664354%2C-73.61564902520193&z=17   Ego's satisfied, we continued on the main path debating, while the crows watched, and consulting with skiiers, as to if some trees warranted a cut or not.         Deciding against it, we continued east to our day's true objective, the Far East Fenceside trail, where we expected to find a large number of downed trees across the path.   Upon arrival, we did some work, but the bulk of the Fenceside trail had been already cleared by the usual suspects.   We all returned home for lunch.  A.T. had...

  I went skiing in the falaise this afternoon for the first time in 2022. I was impressed by the amount of work done on both ends of the walking path. The «fence trail» look very promising as ski trail. Thank you for the hard work! For my part, I managed to ski  up and down the «Via Poutina» at the La Belle Province entrance. I had to clear some branches and to add some turns to the path to make the experience enjoyable. But it has some potential as short but challenging ski run. I also made some «telemark turns» along the downhill part of the western end of the Bande Verte, on the «wrong» side of the fence. The downhill is a little steeper and longer that way. And you get fresh snow! See the pictures included. There's one of the Via Poutina and one of my turns along the Bande Verte. BF    

 One of the downed trees on the Eastern Trail seemed particularly irritating. 18 Jan 2022 It's days were numbered. Two days to be exact.

 A disorganized group of skiiers set out from different points and times to check out the deep snow on the Western Path in the Falaise.  They were not disappointed. One group headed west as far as the Ski Chute before tuning down to the Bande Verte. Once out in the open they headed downwind to the Eastern potion of the Falaise. Passing by the volunteer handiwork, they looped back along the Eastern Trail. They took note of upcoming He Man work projects.... The Murder of Crows.... Some familiar faces appeared.... Then back to the Valley of the Birds.