Île-aux-Tourtes to open Friday
As we gradually recover from a year-long pandemic, the major local news is the reopening of the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge a little sooner than initially promised.
Incidentally, if you go looking for tourtes on that island, you will look in vain. There used to be a lot of tourtes in North America, but we killed them all. Some went into pies (tourtières) and some didn’t, but they all died.
Alex L 16:45 on 2021-05-27 Permalink
Once upon a time…
” Estimated to have numbered three to five billion at the height of its population, it may have been the most numerous bird on Earth; researcher Arlie W. Schorger believed that it accounted for between 25 and 40 percent of the total land bird population in the United States.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon
Cadichon 08:27 on 2021-05-28 Permalink
“Tourtière” comes from “tourte”, but not in reference to the bird. “Tourte” is also an old form for “tarte”.
Kate 10:48 on 2021-05-28 Permalink
The Island of Pies?
Blork 11:10 on 2021-05-28 Permalink
I’d live there.
MarcG 13:10 on 2021-05-28 Permalink
Pieland