Promised land

PEPtBO president and bird lover Cheryl Anderson seeks out the earliest spring birds at the Miller Family Nature Reserve on the County’s south shore.

Donated land returns to nature

This is the time of year when the County’s south shore is not yet inundated with the discordant cacophony of Canada geese, although small groups are flying overhead, descending to feed on last year’s grass seed, as bare patches appear through the snow.

You’d have to cock your ear to catch the more subtle sounds of quieter birds that make their homes on this side of Lake Ontario. Or, if they’ve been here the whole time, as they slowly begin to chirp their joyful odes to spring.

For Cheryl Anderson, a retired scientist and bird lover, these sounds are more obvious. She’s trained herself to spot birds overhead and discern species from sound. Anderson is the president of the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory (PEPtBO), the guardians of these south shore birds, in one of Canada’s important bird areas (IBA).

On a sleepy side road near the Miller Family Nature Reserve, Anderson spots a doe. Like birds, the deer are welcoming spring with renewed vigor. The two stare at each other awhile before the doe hightails it, loping down the snowy drive in fearless bounds.

This land, nearly 500 acres in all, is a part of the South Shore— part of the IBA—and that makes it important. But it’s special. It’s the only part with a provincially significant wetland, for example.

But more importantly, it’s safe.

When the land was deeded to the Miller family, two centuries ago, it was intended for use as farmland, but it quickly became apparent little would grow on the thin, loamy soil that just barely covers the limestone. Eventually, the acreage turned into cattle grazing territory. Farmers would bring their sheep and cows to graze over the summer.

Finally, in 2009, the Millers decided they could no longer use the land. But they didn’t want to see this beautiful piece of nature harmed. So instead of selling their property to the province or to a developer, they reached out to the Hastings Prince Edward Land Trust.

A not-for-profit stewardship organization, the land trust works with landowners to arrange for property to be donated in exchange for an equivalent tax receipt. The Miller Family Nature Reserve was officially created in 2011.

Ever since, the land trust has been working with groups like PEPtBO to repair the land and preserve it for its new owners: the flora and fauna needing a home to flourish—most significantly, the birds.

This year and last, the two groups have been clearing the invasive red cedar bush, and refreshing the meadowlands for bobolinks and meadowlarks, two grassland birds at risk of disappearing in Ontario.

“Their populations are declining, and a lot of that has to do with the way that we’re treating our grasslands now. Farmers start taking off hay early— they do that because it has more nutrition in it when it’s early in the year. It used to be they would take first cut around the first of July. Now they take the first cut around the 15th of June,” says Anderson. “That’s right around when the bobolinks are nesting, so unfortunately, those nests just get destroyed.”

She doesn’t blame farmers for wanting to feed their livestock. But that’s the thing about the Miller Family Nature Reserve: no one can touch it.

In the spring, there will be a naming ceremony to honour the family that made this place possible. Stewart Murray, president of the land trust, says by September there will be guided nature hikes offered to those who wish to see how the birds have benefitted. Anderson says PEPtBO will be in the marsh and on the meadowlands, banding and tracking birds, making certain species at risk have safe new homes here.

For now, like the birds, Anderson is just waiting for the snow to melt, galoshes at hand.