All posts by Dona

Peepers, an Owl and Possible Woodcock, Oh My!

Birds, The Great Outdoors

Last year, this same week, incidentally, I commented on a weblog post about spring peepers. I’ve been thinking about spring peepers lately, and mentioned to Dean that I’d like to find some singing some evening.

Dean thought about it and then said he knew of a pond we could visit and maybe hear some peepers. I almost said no, but knew that I’d regret it if I just spend the night longing to hear peepers and searching the Internet for their sounds. Besides, it was due to get cold again and this was a perfect evening to walk in the woods.

We got to the park at dusk, but because there was a huge party going on and we didn’t see any parking spots left we nearly turned around and went home. Luckily Dean spotted a place to park. After securing the parking space we walked into the park, along a creek. I saw skunk cabbage, which I’d just read, shares the same habitat as spring peepers, so my hopes of hearing spring peepers began to rise. It was still too light to hear any, I concluded, but darkness was on its way.

A few cars passed us, probably Boy Scout leaders heading to the nearby campgrounds. Another couple, walking their dog, passed us. We nodded hellos and continued walking.

As we rounded a corner onto a narrow path, Dean pointed to a large bird that had just landed on a branch in a tree. I thought it was a heron and began looking for a roost. Dean wondered if it was, perhaps, an owl. We got closer and saw that it was, indeed, an owl. He hoo hoo hooed at us, posed for a photo and flew off across the creek.

After our owl encounter I looked back at the ground and realized we were now next to a pond. We walked a bit further and I heard the first peeper call. Then another answered. They got louder so we sat near the pond on a rotting log to hear them for a few minutes.

We then walked further along the pond and creek. The sounds of the peepers died down as we left the pond area. We walked back after hiking to the end of the trail and by this time it was much darker; the peepers were louder. We paused again to hear them before we headed home.
As we walked past the place we’d originally seen the owl, I looked up and saw it again, staring down at us as if were were intruders. He then hooed at us again. Dean called back and the owl called. This went back and forth for a while.

I vaguely wondered if there were any woodcocks in the area and suddenly heard an animal sound I’d never heard before, it was in the distance, but loud enough to be heard over the call of the peepers and hoo hoo hooing of the owl. It sounded kind of like a cardinal, but I was surprised to hear cardinals singing so late in the evening. When got home I listened to some bird calls, including the woodcock. I think I might have heard the woodcock’s “whistle dance“, but I cannot be sure. Although, earlier, I heard what I thought was the sound of a chipmunk chirping, but didn’t see any chipmunks.

Who knows? I guess I’ll have to go back.

Inconsistant Police Officer Annoys Suburban Mom

Rant, , ,

If you know me, you know that I am usually an avid sign reader and rule follower. I never park where I’m not supposed to park. If a sign says no trespassing — I don’t trespass — willingly, although when Dean is in the lead I usually reluctantly follow even if it goes against the rules (another subject for a blog post).

That said, I have been known to drive into and park/stand in the “buses only” part of the driveway leading to the kids’ school. At first I wouldn’t, because the signs clearly state “Buses only”, but because after school one can count dozens of vehicles that park and drive along that driveway, I decided that my one small car would not make a difference. And wasn’t it safer for the kids if they didn’t have to walk across an SUV filled driveway? So I began dropping Andrew off at wrestling and picking him up via the buses only area. All was fine until one day when Whitman’s assigned police officer was on his way out the front doors of the school. He looked at me, shook his head, smiled (not in a friendly way) and ambled up to my car. I rolled the window down and he asked me what I was doing. I said I was dropping my son off. He asked if I knew that cars were not allowed in the area. I said something about it being after school and I thought it was OK then (I should have mentioned the fact that usually there were dozens of cars doing the same thing after school, but didn’t). He said that the sign didn’t give specific hours, so it meant cars were never allowed within the buses only driveway. He then made me turn around and drive out the entrance.

That was my second interaction with the police officer at school. The first time I was dropping the kids off in the morning and turned on my blinker to move into the left lane in order to make the left turn lane (not into the parking lot) that would take me out of the lot. Office Aubrey motioned me over to the curb and chastised me for my action. I was too stunned by this to explain that I was actually going out the correct exit. He didn’t leave me room to defend myself anyway.

The other day my husband drove me to pick up our daughter at school after her driving lesson. He drove into the buses only driveway, against my protests that he was going to get in trouble from the school policeman. He said, look around — there were cars parked and standing everywhere along the “allegedly no cars allowed” driveway. Officer Aubrey was nowhere to be seen, although his squad car was right next to our car.

So I’m annoyed about that. The man needs to be consistent. If he picks on a lone woman in a Camry, shouldn’t he be out there telling the men and women driving their SUVs and minivans that they are not allowed to park or drive in the sign-posted buses only driveway? I think it’s a power thing. He can intimidate me but not a crowd of parents. It worries me that he might be picking on the shy high school students rather than dealing with the more aggressive students. And If the Rate my Teachers website can be trusted, here’s an example of his poor judgment, this time directed at a student.

You can see him “in action” in the following YouTube video of this “Senior Prank”. He made a judgment call – “I’m not going after [the modified streakers]. It’s senior prank.” Just like he makes judgment calls about carpool lines – I’m not picking on anyone when there is a crowd. I’m just intimidating the loners.