·Hans Toom: Master of light and dark

By Beverly Clarkson, Chebucto News May 2014

If you happen to be a senior who is looking for a hobby and you haven't tried birding yet, you could do worse than google https://www.hanstoom.com a fairly new blog, to see what you're missing. If you are a wildlife lover, or nature artist, I would say the same. Our neighbour from Portuguese Cove, who chose our community in 2000, has a precise eye, scientific patience and the heart of an artist. Before setting up his own site he posted some exquisite photos on http://www.worldphoto.org/profile/HansToom/​.

Many a dull day in our endless bitter winter, I've gone there for some beauty to ease the relentless darkness, and am always delighted and awed by what I discover there. Many attempt to capture chiaroscuro, the unending play of light and dark that tells a story, on water, in the winds and sun; the violent movement of little creatures making their lives in the rough world of nature, killing their dinner for their own survival. Few master it. Rembrandt was one. Toom makes me think of him. Not just his photographs but also the patterns of life.

The picture window of his glowing, wood panelled, wood-heated living room full of cat furniture and rescued mousers (Norwegian Forest cat and Maine Coons, closest to my own heart) is a safe haven to watch the wildness go by. He moved here in 2000, a centenary project, for the sake of his beloved wife Laura, from Mount Hanley. He had led her a merry life in many places throughout Canada.

His parents escaped Estonia in the second world war as it was ravaged by both Soviets and Germans, and after his birth in Sweden, his father chose British Columbia as a safe place to raise his family. Little Hans studied engineering physics and conducted oceanographic surveys on the famous CGSC Hudson. He served Canada as manager of airports in many locations, memorably Greneda, where he created a management structure for their international airport, Manitoba, and Winnipeg where he and Laura started birding around 1995 on the Forks where the Red River and Assiniboine meet.

Photography just followed the birds. Digital cameras are changing everything and he finds it exciting to keep up with new possibilities they offer. He belongs to many organizations and takes long wet stumbling hikes in our wild coast-lands and parks, where nature still manifests despite all the building and mechanization of our 21 century world

At 15, he asked himself “what will I be in the year 2000?”, and while horrified to wake up and to find it was 50 years later, was also amazed to find he doesn't feel any differently. Well, maybe a few more aches and pains. Maybe he wouldn't start out on a 15 km hike quite so carefree now.

He is also not so worried about decline of the local species. They lose a portion of their numbers every year but mostly they come back. “Two birds breed and become six, they head south and two return and start over”, he observes. “Darwin tells us the number of young try to compensate for attrition and seasonal variations.”

“You start by song. Get some dvds and listen, then you can recognize them by song, and follow up with experience in the woods. This time of year until late June, they are active”. But he also shoots anything that's out and about when he is: animals, butterflies, flowers. “If I don't know their name I come home and look them up”, he smiles. One builds a life bird list in the world; I suspect there are such lists for the other forms of life in our magical province.

He also know there is one rule for retirement: keep active! While having a life partner is always important, he feels it is crucial in your senior years. The most important thing he would tell young people is: plan for your retirement! Not just financially but for what you will do. Have a passion, do not sit at home, keep your body and mind active, and above all find what you love and do it.

I want him to sign and sell me a print of the saw whet-owl. Check it out.