Phoque à l’orange

Gordon: We had the quintessential Canadian day today: pancakes with real maple syrup for breakfast, followed by a morning clubbing the seals. Just kidding, we had bread and jam for breakfast.

We have been fortunate to see a number of interesting wild animals in recent days. This

morning we were cycling along the coast with a rock garden just offshore. For several kilometres most of the rocks had one or more seals on them. (The French word for a seal is “phoque”. I think that Ruth agreed to cycle in Quebec just for the opportunity to say phoque, proving that 12 year old humour is not just for guys.)

Yesterday we made an early stop for water in the RV campground in the Parc du Bic. Systematically working the area was a beautiful red fox. I have seen foxes before, but I have never had the opportunity to observe one over a period of several minutes. The fox finally found a tasty morsel beside one of the fire pits and dashed off into the underbrush.

There are lots of waterfowl in the shallow areas along the sea. these include sea gulls, cormorants, mallards, and eider ducks. I am intrigued by the latter (which are known locally as “le canard duvet”) because I thought they were uncommon. The eider ducks are similar in size to the mallards, and as it is no longer “la saison d’amour” (the mating season) both genders have similar dark plumage.

Ruth: I have to cut Gord off here, the Phoque à l’orange is almost ready.