Bring Binoculars with Me

March 9, 2010.  Tuesday.

Situation:   No work today, take Mway out about 12:30.  Last night Moi tried to help me identify the bird I heard yesterday, using her bird call app on her iPhone.  After about a dozen recorded samples, she finally played something that sounded something like what I heard.  “I would say that’s it,” I told her, “what is that?”  “A sparrow,” she said.  “What kind of sparrow?” I ask.  “Just a sparrow.  A common sparrow.”  This morning, while I’m still in bed, listening to Mway barking outside while Moi has taken her out to throw stick before going to work, I again hear a “choo-ee choo-ee choo-ee,” and I think about rushing outside with a pair of binoculars, but, of course, I don’t.

State of the Path:  But I do bring a pair of binoculars with me on my walk today.  And instead of my orange wool cap, I wear my father’s air force safari helmet.  As soon as I step outside, I realize it’s too hot for my snow suit; in fact, I wouldn’t need any kind of jacket today.  Also, I realize that the safari helmet is not the best for looking for birds, as the brim of the helmet impedes looking upward a bit.  Finally, I realize rather quickly that noontime is not the best time for looking for birds, as most of the birds seem to be nesting at midday.  But as I walk thru the walled garden, then onto the side path by the old orchard, I do hear in the distance a caldron of chirping and chattering.  I don’t see anything in the trees in the orchard or along the back hedgerow, and it seems to me that the sounds are coming from the trees along the creek or in the woods up on the ridge.  I suspect that what I might be hearing are starlings, as a few days ago Moi and I saw a starling outside our kitchen window.  But as I approach the creek, I still don’t see any birds, and, indeed, as I get closer, it seems that the chirping and chattering dies down.  I hear a caw or two of a crow, take the time to whack down a couple of big briars that are pointing menacingly at the path, and by the time I start back up the field, it seems the woods and the fields are silent.

State of the Creek:  The water is definitely lower in the creek today, as most of the spring melt has subsided.  There is still water flowing into the creek from bug land, and from both of the feed channels from the skating pond.  I cross the first feed channel today, digging in foot holds along the muddy banks.  Along the creek, I see the golf ball, and then about 10 feet downstream, I spot an animal skull on the ground, about as white as the golf ball.  I consider crossing the creek at a low spot, but again postpone that for another day.

The Fetch:  Mway fetches as much today as she did yesterday – close to 10 fetches.  On one fetch, she even plows through some standing dead golden rod to make a bee line to the stick.  I am sweating in my snow suit, and the binoculars bang against my chest as I bend over to pick up the stick and lean back to toss it in the air.