hole in the sky island

Eugene tells me that 'Hornby' is derived from the Coast Salish for Hole in the Sky, an allusion to an asserted local weather phenomena where the island remains sunny and dry while rain falls around it. Wikipedia tells us that the Pentlatch, a Coast Salish First Nations band, called the Island Ja-dai-aich, meaning The Outer Island. The Spanish renamed it in 1791, to Isla de Lerena, after the Spanish Finance Minister. The British renamed it again in 1850, after Rear Admiral Phipps Hornby, then Commander of the Pacific Station.
I think Eugene, handsome older gentleman that he was, might having been pulling my mainlanders leg.

 

 

  

the softer side of Kerkhoff Construction

^^the foreman of this Kerkoff construction site in Port Coquitlam found a robin's nest on one of the building's balconies. He chose to leave the nest up and work around it. When the crew returned to work following the May long weekend the nest was empty - but one fledgling was found begging for food at the bottom of the elevator shaft.

^^this member of the construction crew took the baby and went hunting 

for worms in the near-by community garden

^^stuffed beyond wanting more

^^sated, the bird was left in this forsythia shrub for the parents, 

nervously hanging about nearby, to tend

 

 ^^and tend they did; at least one parent was observed entering the shrub with food in their beaks. The falsity about human scent causing parent birds to reject their offspring is just that, false.

If the site seems familiar, it was the subject of a post back in April, criticising the City of Port Coquitlam for allowing heritage trees to be cut.

leaving home

^^last day at home before the big adventure. 

American Robin, Turdus migratorius.

fledging