The Marsh Project Week #16

Sometime in the last week, a green explosion took place on the trail. 

Trees that seemed bare last week are now in leaf- the green is lovely to see, but it makes the birds harder to find.  I can hear them chirping in the branches, but they're now hidden by vegetation.  Crowpoison, one of the first wildflowers of spring, is now in bloom.  Every so often, a pearl crescent butterfly lands on one for a few seconds then flies off.  Spring is here. 

I make my way to the tall blind; I have a few hours to spend outside on this gorgeous late afternoon and I'm internally debating what I want to do.  Hang out at the blind for awhile and see what appears, or make a quick visit and then move on to another location?  I can't decide.  No matter what I do, I'll be wondering what I would have seen if I'd made the other choice.  For now, I just walk and look around. 

I was out here yesterday as well, and it was a fantastic snake day. I'd seen a cottonmouth, a plain-bellied water snake, and a diamondback water snake.  Today, no snakes are present but several turtles are out sunning on logs in the water.  Most of them, as usual, slide back into the water as soon as they hear me coming but one stays put long enough for me to get a photo.  

As I head to the blind, I hear the peckpeckpeck of a woodpecker, and I gaze up into the branches to see if I can locate it.  Soon enough, a downy woodpecker flies over to another branch- another photo. It doesn't stay there long; after a few pecks it decides to go seek out another branch somewhere else.  

I keep my eye out for butterflies and dragonflies; other than a few speedy common green darners and a faded question mark butterfly, I don't see anything.  Maybe in a few more weeks; I'm getting impatient for my butterflies.  

In the distance, I can hear the squawking of a great blue heron and a belted kingfisher. The kingfisher sounds close and I think maybe it will head my way, but I never actually see it.  

I sit for awhile- I decide to stay put, and see what happens- and breathe deep of the spring air.  Eventually, it's time to head back to the car- and as I walk back, several red admiral butterflies fly towards me, landing on trees and then flying off again. 

Seen on the trail: Red admiral butterflies, pearl crescent butterflies, question mark, common green darner, a few damselflies, downy woodpecker, great egret, great blue heron, mallard, American kestrel, red-eared sliders, belted kingfisher (heard), northern cardinal, Carolina wren, double-crested cormorant.  

Shirt and Tie

This week, I realized that aliens from a distant planet have stolen my children and replaced them with almost-adults.

It can't be enough that the Teenager is doing things like buying prom gowns and registering for college orientation; the Son of Never Stops Eating is starting to do young man things like wearing nice shirts with ties and going to high school dances.

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly. The Son of Never Stops Eating, he of the "soft" shirts and sweatpants, has now worn a tie in public- and even more remarkably, he did not complain about it. Not once.

This is his first year to attend the "Grand Ball"; a special needs prom for high school students held their high school peers and the community.  The kids all get dressed up in their finest, the high school cafeteria undergoes some extreme redecorating, and everyone gathers for fun, dinner and dancing.

"I don't think you can wear sweats and a t-shirt for this", I told the Son of Never Stops Eating, as I read the information sheet.  "It says here you have to wear nice pants, a button down shirt, and a tie". My brain was telling me that this requirement would be a deal-breaker; in the past, attempts at collared shirts and jeans have ended in unmitigated disaster.  It had been made abundantly clear on multiple occasions- if it wasn't soft, it wasn't happening.

"Okay", he said, after mulling it over for a minute.

"Okay what?" I replied, suspiciously.  Had he just agreed to wear a button down shirt? My mind was spinning. Was he ill? Was I about to get hit up for Legos in return for wearing a nice shirt for an evening?  Had someone taken my child and replaced it with a clone? What was going on here? What had I missed?

"Yes, I'll dress up". To seal the deal, he gave me a huge sigh and an eye-roll.

The Dad of No took him shopping; any expedition involving the purchase of a tie is definitely a Man Thing.  They returned from the store with a soft button down shirt in a lovely shade of blue and a matching tie, along with a belt.  I was assured by the Dad of No that the Son of Never Stops Eating had found the ensemble acceptable. I was still dubious about whether or not he'd actually wear it when the time came.

The evening of the dance came, and true to his word, the Son of Never Stops Eating put on his nice slacks, his button down shirt, and his tie.  We'd forgotten about dress shoes, so he had to wear his regular sneakers.  He looked sharp- and all grown up.  We took the obligatory pre-dance photos in front of the house and got in the car.

It was then that the motive for agreeing to the shirt and tie became clear. It wasn't just the dance he was willing to get dressed up for.  Apparently he had been listening all the times his father and I had told him that he couldn't go to work wearing sweatpants and t-shirts; he just wasn't ready yet.

"Mom, I could wear this to a job interview", he told me, as I drove toward the high school. "You could definitely wear this to a job interview", I affirmed.  Job interview? What was this job interview?  My brain was still processing the fact that my sensory-sensitive kid was wearing a button down shirt and a tie.  Was this the same kid who had adamantly refused the itchy Cub Scout shirt and the scratchy jeans?

"I have a list of places I want to get a job at: Target, the snow cone place, parks and rec office, the Lego store, the pet store, and being a pet sitter.  And once I get a job then I won't have to go to school anymore! And I can make money and buy a lot of Legos!".

"One more thing, Mom", he told me later, after a successful Grand Ball. "I need a pair of nice shoes.  Not tennis shoes."

"Oh, really?" I said.  "Why is that? You want to look sharp for the ladies?" He rolled his eyes at this and insisted that he did NOT have a girlfriend and that I was not to tease him about it, or -even worse- tell the Grandpa of No, who would definitely tease him about it.

"No, Mom! For my job interviews! I need real shoes!".

I'm actually not sure what happened to my child, but I think I'm okay with it.

The Marsh Project Week #15

The marsh is accessible again, although evidence of the recent flooding is everywhere.  Interspersed between the mud and dead vegetation is evidence of spring: trees leafing out, the first dragonflies buzzing around, even a butterfly or two.  The butterflies won't settle, so I haven't been able to get any good butterfly photos;  I keep having to remind myself that I have all summer.  As I walk down the trail I notice a large number of black and turkey vultures; they seem very interested in the trail where it divulges from the bank of the river.

I walk down the boardwalk to the blind itself.  I disturb a white egret and several ducks with my approach; they fly off, startled.  Turtles are sunning on logs; the ones closer to me slide off their perches back into the water as soon as they sense my presence.  The turtles further away seem to be more laid back; they stay put. Several common green darners are flying around and a few are busy mating.

I sit at the blind for a few minutes, watching the ducks in the distance; the gadwalls are definitely still around.

After several minutes, it is time to go; the Son of Never Stops Eating has a school dance tonight and he has agreed, for the first time in his life, to wear a collared shirt and a tie; this is a momentous occasion.  I walk back down towards the trail, stealing a few more minutes to watch the common green darners fly around.  As I turn my head towards the entrance to the boardwalk, I see a Carolina wren crouching on the boardwalk.

At first I think the wren is having spasms of some kind; it seems to be crawling around the boardwalk on its belly.  Then it stands up, bends its head down, and puts its beak close to the boardwalk. It seems like it's pecking at the boardwalk itself. It does this several times, then flies off a few feet and perches on a dead tree.  After a minute or so, it flies to a signpost a few feet away from the dead tree and stands there for a minute, then flies off into the woods.

Seen on my walk: Black vulture, turkey vulture, fox squirrel, orange butterflies (possibly monarch or viceroy), common green darners, Carolina wren, gadwall, mallards, great blue herons, great egrets, American white pelican, red-eared sliders, cardinals.

The Marsh Project Week #14

The marsh is still not accessible due to flooding and a missing bridge, so this week I will digress a bit.  I've been out getting some hiking in during this spring break week, and the butterflies and dragonflies are starting to show up and I'm excited about that.   I love the bright colors of butterflies, and trying to get a great photo of a dragonfly can be a challenging but rewarding experience.

Once you begin getting a reputation as a nature nerd, people start thinking that you know everything there is to know about nature, and that just isn't true- at least in the Mom of No's case.  The Mom of No is definitely the Mom of I Need Even More Field Guides, and also the Mom of I do NOT eat mushrooms I find in the wild even if it looks like an edible one in the field guide, because I could be wrong and that would be sad.  I'm also not very good at botany.  I can identify common wildflowers and poison ivy, and sometimes I even mess that up and then end up suffering for weeks.

Sometimes I find something that seems clear-cut, like this adorable woodpecker.  When I loaded up my photo onto my iNaturalist account, I thought immediately that it was a downy woodpecker.  It looked like a downy, the area is full of downy woodpeckers, and once, earlier in my birding career I'd gotten excited about finding a woodpecker that looked just like this one but had some red on its head, so I got all excited and ID'd it as a hairy woodpecker only to be informed a few hours later that I was mistaken and it was just a regular ol' downy.  So, this woodpecker had to be a downy.

Except, this time around, other people thought that it WAS a hairy woodpecker. This was exciting news because I don't yet have a hairy woodpecker on my life list. Some women get excited about shoes; I get excited about adding birds to my life list.

But...wait.  It appeared that other people, not the people who had ID'd my downy woodpecker as a hairy woodpecker, but other birder people, were not sure that this woodpecker was actually a hairy woodpecker.  One sure way to tell was by the bird call, but the Mom of No absolutely sucks at identifying birds by call.  There are a few birds I can ID by sound- belted kingfishers, great blue herons, and amorous cardinals, for example, but I'm nowhere near good enough to tell the difference between a downy and a hairy woodpecker.

I read some articles on identifying downy vs. hairy woodpeckers.  The total effect of this research was to confirm that (1) it would have been helpful if the darn bird had stuck around for more than one photo, instead of flying off after I'd gotten just one shot, (2), I need to work on assessing size in the field, and  (3), I was still unsure of what it actually was.  I really wanted it to be a hairy woodpecker, because I wanted to write "Hairy woodpecker" on my life list.  But I didn't want to add it if I wasn't sure. Suppose it was really a downy?  Then my life list would be inaccurate, and it would drive me crazy.

People sent the photo to other people, and the identification remained inconclusive.  It will probably stay that way, until some stellar birder comes forward and positively identifies this bird based on years of expertise and field experience.

Then, earlier today, I went out for a walk, and I got a photo of a raptor-like bird.  I thought maybe red-shouldered hawk, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't commit.  Not long after, someone commented that it could be a Cooper's hawk or a sharp-shinned hawk, but according to an article that was helpfully attached, they're a challenge to tell apart.  I really want this to be a sharp-shinned because I don't have that on my life list either, but it could also be a Cooper's....

It's all just part of the nature nerd life.  I just try to remember back when I didn't know what anything was, and that I'm always learning.  Who knows what's out there in the field, just waiting to be the cause of a good ID debate?

Finally, here's a photo of something I can absolutely ID: a red admiral butterfly, my first observation of this butterfly this spring.

Prom Dress Shopping

It's happening.  High school graduation is now a runaway train with no brakes headed in my direction, and momentous things are beginning to occur. For example, last week The Teenager took possession of her cap and gown and her graduation announcements.  At some point before the beginning of June I will need to dig out my address book and decide what lucky souls in my life should receive one of these coveted announcements. 

Another momentous moment: Purchasing THE gown. 

So, for those of you who are not familiar with the Mom of No, The Mom of No is not a shopper. Nor is she any kind of fashion maven.  In my dream society of the future, clothes are purchased by walking into a tube, pressing a button and saying "Shirt", or "Jeans" or "Wedding gown", and presto- the desired garment appears, perfectly fitted, and priced to sell.  This scenario is perfect for many reasons- no trying on forty pairs of jeans only to come to the conclusion that none fit, and more time for the important things in life, like birding, reading a good book, or trying to decipher college financial aid award packages. 

I digress. The prom gown. 

What I was hoping for was that we would walk into the department store, proceed to the prom gown section, try on one dress, and it would be gorgeous and fit perfectly and be reasonably priced and The Teenager would exclaim, "This is the dress I want! I am saying YES to this prom gown!".  It would also cost less than a car payment, would not require driving around to four stores to buy the appropriate undergarments, and would not need alterations.  It would take less than an hour, and then we could all go have tea and cucumber sandwiches. 

The Teenager wanted to know what the budget was for this shopping expedition.  "A price that starts with a one and has three digits", I told her.  She seemed dubious that an acceptable prom dress could be purchased for under $199.99. I actually had no idea, either.  Prom gown shopping is not something I do every day.  For all I know, a suitable gown was going to require a second mortgage on the house.  My frugal side had angst over this question; I wanted her to have the gown of her dreams but I could also hear the Grandma of No's voice in my head, saying "They want $350 for a dress made out of tulle and cheap polyester? Ridiculous! The seams aren't even straight and these beads are falling off!". 

One of the items that should have been included in the Mom Manual is that the senior year of high school is expensive.  Everyone wants your money.  I've forked over money for a cap and gown, SAT and ACT tests, AP tests, application fees, gas and hotel rooms for college visits, and more.  Like many other Mom Things, everyone knows this; everyone tells you this; but it doesn't seem real until it's happening to you.  Then you spend the entire year internally screaming "Why didn't I pay attention to the warnings I was given by those who went before me?". 

The first store had some lovely gowns well within the Mom of No's frugal budget (whew!) but none of them was really The Dress.  The second store did not have much of a selection.  The third store we tried had nothing but fancy gowns- not just prom, but wedding dresses (EEK! don't want to think about that! No, I do not!), Mother of the Bride dresses, bridesmaid gowns, and gowns for any other occasion for which you could conceivably need a fancy dress over-embellished with bling.  The line for the dressing room was almost out the door, mostly made up of teenaged girls carrying huge poufy multi-colored bundles of gowns in their arms.  Periodically the store would make an announcement about "Do not try on dresses between the racks!".  

It was worth it, however, because here was where The Teenager found The Prom Dress- within budget, even. We bought the dress, spent another hour looking for shoes (no luck there), and went home.  My brain was asking itself, when did you get old enough to have a daughter attending her senior prom?  My feet hurt from all the walking.  I had graduation announcements to address. That train just keeps coming closer and closer. 

The Marsh Project Week #13

Because of flooding, the high blind is still not accessible, but that's okay, because.....PELICANS!

A few days ago at least thirty American White pelicans showed up on the river, and they've been busy ever since.  Every day after work, I've been going down to the river and sitting on the rocks along the bank, watching the pelicans bob on the water, fly around, and catch fish in their beaks.

The flowing water attracts other birds as well: a pair of belted kingfishers chatter as they fly overhead; one dives for a fish and then perches on a tree stump in the river with the small fish in its beak. Numerous gulls fly overhead, also diving for fish.  I know from experience that I am too slow with the camera to successfully get a gull action photo, so I concentrate on the pelicans.  On the sodden banks of the river, great egrets and great blue herons perch in trees and stand, often on one leg, on logs.

The pelicans float placidly on the surface of the water, although periodically one or even several will suddenly rear up, wings flapping rapidly while they appear to run on the water.  They then stop and dip their beaks down into the water. More often than not at least one pelican will emerge from the scrum with a tasty meal. Its beak is stretched out, full of fish and water; then it raises its beak and swallows the fish.  All of this happens with split-second timing.

It's a good thing that I can delete the photos I don't like, because I take a bunch.

As I stand and watch the pelicans while talking to a fellow nature observer/photographer, I notice that one seems to be in a fight with a fish- until I look closer and realize that the pelican has gotten caught on a hook from a nearby fisherman's line.  The pelican thrashes around attempting to free itself; there is nothing I can do to help it except cross my fingers and hope it gets free.  After a minute of struggling, the pelican finally manages to get loose of the fishing line and immediately flies off downstream.  Several other pelicans follow, evidently having decided to abandon that portion of the river- although within a few minutes they begin to come back.

The sun begins to set and the wind starts to get chilly; it is time to go.  The pelicans remain, at least for the moment.

Pancake Expecter

The Son of Never Stops Eating cracks me up.

Yesterday morning, I was getting ready to go out and have breakfast with a group of people who meet up every Saturday morning for breakfast at a local place.  The Son of Never Stops Eating often comes with me, unless he has more pressing engagements like basketball tournaments or swim meets.  We were going to a new place, so I wasn't sure if he wanted to come.

Son: Do they have pancakes?
Me:  Yes, they do.
Son: Do they have chocolate chip pancakes?
Me:  I'm not sure. I haven't seen the menu.
Son: Mom, you know that I'm a chocolate chip pancake expecter.

Expecter: One who expects.  I'm an expecter of coffee in the morning, clean-ish teenager rooms, and getting paid.  The Son of Never Stops Eating is an expecter of chocolate chip pancakes, Legos for every gift-giving occasion, donuts on Sunday mornings and The Simpsons on Sunday nights.

For the longest time, he had an ongoing idea regarding the building of a Mom Museum, in which I would be the featured honoree.  Every time we'd pass a construction site, he'd tell me that the shopping center or hotel was really going to be a Mom Museum, with statues for the greatest mothers in the world.  He seems to have realized that I don't fall for such flattery, so he's given it up.

He has not, however, given up the idea that I should be President of the United States.  I've pointed out the numerous logistical roadblocks here; no funding, lack of broad support across the nation, dislike of public speaking, a strong desire not to have my lack of fashion sense critiqued on talk shows, the fact that it would significantly interfere with my birding, and that I'd prefer to stay sane and politically unknown. This hasn't stopped him from campaigning for me, however.  A few weeks ago I was advised that our family pediatrician had agreed to vote for me.  Several weeks ago we were in the grocery store checkout line and he spied a magazine with a photo of the incumbent President on the cover.

Mom, he told me, I don't like our President. He's too orange.  You should be President. You would be the best President.  The Son of Never Stops Eating definitely has strong opinions about politics, and he's often not shy about sharing them.

Ummm hmmm, I said non-committally.  We've had several conversations about why it probably isn't the best idea to talk about national politics while out running errands.

"I'd vote for you", the guy behind us in line said.  "I don't even know you, but you'd probably be better than any real politician".  The cashier, who has a stellar future in diplomacy, simply asked how many single coffee pods I had in the big plastic bag (yes, I know they're bad for the Earth.  I get up for work at 5 AM.  Don't judge.)

For the first three years, he hardly talked at all.  At first everyone assured me that this was probably normal because he was a boy and his older sister never stopped talking and that once he got into pre-school he'd start talking.  That didn't happen, so after some evaluations we ended up in PPCD (public preschool for children with disabilities) to get speech therapy.  Then he started talking. Not only did he start talking, but he started putting his own distinctive spin on the English language.

When he'd get tired of me talking to people, he'd inform me that "talking is closed" and that it was time to go.  If I didn't take the hint, he'd remind me again that "Mom, talking is closed!".  Eventually, everyone who knows us knew that when Alex said "Talking is closed!" it was time to go.  He also gave me the name for this blog after insisting that I was the "Mom of No" too often, and I needed to start being the "Mom of Yes".  

So now he is a chocolate chip pancake expecter;  local breakfast restaurants, watch out.  If you don't have chocolate chip pancakes on your menu, you might want to consider adding them. If you do, the pancake expecter will be your best customer.

The Marsh Project Week #12

My project hit a snag, so I am going to have to go in a different direction for a week or so.  We've had a lot of rain, and as a result, the trail and the high blind are inaccessible at the moment. But this is definitely not an insurmountable obstacle; my project, my rules.  Since I couldn't go down my favorite trail,  I selected a different path.

I first spent part of the afternoon picking up trash along the flooded river bank along with several other volunteers.  This is something that I do on a regular basis;  I wish that people would take out what they bring in. This is a good time of year to get into some of the areas that are harder to get into once the plants start leafing out and pick up bottles and cans that have clearly been there awhile.  After we were done cleaning up trash, I had a snack and then hit the trail.

It's obvious now that early spring is here.  Although I have not been able to get any butterfly photos yet, I saw several goatweed leafwing butterflies.  They are hard to see because they are camouflaged so well with the dead leaves on the ground.  As I walked along the trail, I spotted the first wildflower popping up: crowpoison.

I also sighted my first dragonflies of the spring, a common green darner.  Actually, several common green darners, and some of them were feeling a bit frisky.

A rough green snake was also out, enjoying the warm spring sunshine. Seeing this little non-venomous snake was a treat because they can be really difficult to see when everything is green.

Finally, a new bird for the life list, a tufted titmouse.

Seen on my walk: rough green snake, common green darners, unidentified damselfly, northern cardinals, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, red bellied woodpecker, little brown skinks sunning on logs, American coots in a pond, one armadillo (which was so busy rooting around I was able to walk right up to it)