Wild Mustard and Point Blue Eye Grass

April 9, 2010.  Friday.

Situation:  A couple days ago, while driving to work down O__ C_____ Road, I saw two turkeys crossing the road; Moi has mentioned that she’s heard turkeys gobbling up in Hutchinson’s woods.  Yesterday, while Moi and I were out, I caught sight along the road of a grackle – it looked exactly like the picture I’ve been looking at in Audubon, black with a blue head.  A few weeks ago I also saw a starling outside my bedroom window, which matched perfectly with Audubon’s photo, black with speckles of white, sort of like Mway’s coat.  After seeing these two birds close up, I’m not sure anymore that the flocks of black birds I saw a month or so ago were starlings; they may have indeed been flocks of grackles, and the Audubon description of their voice – “Clucks.  High-pitched, rising screech like a rusty hinge” – jibes with my memory, although Audubon’s description of the starling’s voice – “a series of discordant, musical, squeaky, and rasping notes” – does not contradict it.  Perhaps there were starlings and grackles together, also with cowbirds, as Moi tells me that Ezra Glock has suggested that these birds flock together.  Once again I have to say – who knows what I’ve seen?  I have some work and errands to do in the afternoon.  When I come back, about 2:30, I take Mway for her walk, before going to work tonight.

State of the Path:  Moi is outside shaving more saplings for Wigwam II.  She complains that the chickens are prowling around the back porch, knocking over clay pots.  It’s cold enough today to be wearing my denim jacket.  Most of the trees, the birch tree by the garden, the willow by the corn crib, all the maples, are getting their leaves -- I’d say all the trees except the black walnuts and the ashes.   The wild mustard has grown considerably, and has gotten flowers, which are still green, not yellow like they eventually will be.  There are so many plants coming up now I wish I had the leisure today to identify more – maybe I’ll have more time tomorrow.  I pass by Moi who’s now down at Wigwam II tying up her saplings as poles.  In the middle of bug land, I see an area of point blue eye grass growing.

State of the Creek:  Despite the rain we had last night, there’s not much more water in the creek than yesterday.  A multiflora bramble snags my pant leg, and I beat it back with the fetching stick (which is actually a little bigger than my walking stick).  Mway spends a lot of time sniffing on the ground on the other side of the creek.  I hear a lot of birds, including some sort of whistling bird that has a call that sounds new to me – but I don’t have time to linger and look today.  By the ridge along bug land, water suddenly seeps in my one boot, and it is ice cold. 

The Fetch:   Up at the clearing, Mway greets me, smiling, and she seems ready for a bout of fetching.  But what do you know – again, just one fetch today.