John van Gurp

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Halifax has some urban wildlife areas. You see all sorts of spots around Halifax where little islands of nature eke out an existence oblivious to our busy schedules and never ending development. They go unnoticed by our backhoes and saws and gravel trucks and asphalt spreaders. Some are remnants of a long-ago city and some are new incursions of nature where we have plunked down a garden or where a property manager didn’t set up a grounds maintenance program and a piece of dirt was able to host trees and plants and allow a little habitat to thrive.

I’m almost afraid to describe the following area because someone might notice and the next thing you know someone’s Grounds Maintenance Plan has been updated to prune the bushes and clean away the thick growth and then the whole mini-ecosystem is disrupted. There’s no way I want to be responsible for that.

It reminds me of a science fiction time travel story where someone travels back in time to some prehistoric era. In their temporal journey they’re allowed to explore an area but with very strict instructions to stay on a boardwalk. One of the time travelers steps off however, crushing a little butterfly. No big deal eh? Au contraire; when the scientist returns to present-day life there are a several profound and horrible differences all arising out of that tiny interference in a previous timeline. That’s why I have this hesitation, but here goes.

Visit the corner of Monastery Lane and Yale Street where the power company has a brick building roughly the size of a renovated west end prefab. Not one of the two story renos mind you, but a beefed up story-and-a-half. Look at the front. It has two huge juicy looking evergreens that have to be 4 meters tall. They probably started as regular nursery plants but over the years grew up to massive trees with almost year round sparrow activity. Some days it’s a veritable warblefest. It’s like the trees in Point Pleasant Park where multigenerational bird populations swoop down to peck seeds from the hands of the regulars. Other days it’s as quiet as a mediaeval forest grove.

In walks around the city between home and work or to something downtown, or from Steve-a-Renos or the library I’ve encountered some other urban mini habitats. Most of the crow hangouts have been occupied for decades. For instance check out the pair at the base of Citadel Hill right across from the upper police station parking lot. There’s a groundwater drain in the area where even in the coldest weather there’s usually a little trickle. These birds are smart to hang around there. They hop around and look at you in case you might be a source of food or something.

Nearby between the police station and the Citadel Inn, and the next door mixed use office building there’s a sort of neglected no-mans-land that hasn’t seen a mower, saw or rake for a long time. The crows pull back to this mini-grove in high winds. Maybe it’s like their permanent roost in that daytime neighbourhood. I wonder if they join up with extended family near the Mount Saint Vincent motherhouse in the evenings.

Keep your eyes open for these little patches of nature in the concrete and asphalt jungle of the urban core. Observe, move on. Repeat as necessary to maintain a good mental health exercise program.