Three Ottawa-area canoeists have one more reason to fish with live bait after a May canoe trip on which they could have used a few extra worms.
Chris Dowdell, Ian Stimson and Roly Saul started their weekend jaunt on the Madawaska River by loading a borrowed canoe onto their car. The canoe was stored upside down at shoulder height so the men simply shifted it onto their roof racks and tied it on.
After a bumpy drive, the paddlers arrived at their put-in. As they flipped the borrowed boat off the car, a bird’s nest dropped out from under the seat, and out tumbled two tiny robin chicks. “I’ve always said we should be bringing chicks on our trips, but this isn’t what I meant,” said Dowdell.
The trio decided they couldn’t bear to leave the displaced robins at the mercy of the local wildlife. So, they took them along for the paddle. “We felt we could at least try feeding them and see what happened,” said Dowdell.
At their campsite, they kept their guests comfortable with a gourmet menu of steak bits and tablespoons of water—filtered, no less. Each evening, they placed the nest in a tree, sheltered by a makeshift tent of paper towel and twigs. To ward off carnivorous climbers, they booby-trapped the tree’s base with utensils.
The robins warmed easily to their new surroundings. They lazed in their nest, gazing out at the water and squawking loudly when one of their guardians approached with food. “They adjusted well to their new moms, and seemed to enjoy the view,” said Dowdell.
But no good adventure tale is complete without a happy ending. At trip’s end, the men returned the canoe to its owner. Waiting for the chicks, worm in mouth, was the mother robin, who put the lie to the myth that mother birds reject chicks that have been handled by humans.
Two weeks later, the chicks left their nest again, this time flying instead of floating.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of Canoeroots Magazine.
