It was Saturday a week ago late in the afternoon. Sunny and warm with thunderstorms forecasted I decided to go out for my daily walk, which I take 3 or 4 times a week, around Clopper Lake in Seneca Creek State Park, a four mile trail. Not believing I would see many birds due to the lateness of the day I still decided to take along my binoculars and my field guide knowing I would at least get a look at the resident Great Blue Heron who hangs out at the far end of the lake.
Sure enough as I got toward the overpass at the end of the lake where one of the main feeds for the lake is, there he was, the Great Blue Heron, looking as if he was standing on top of the water, probably on some log or rock just beneath the water. When I got to the overpass, about 2 miles from where I parked my car, I noticed another bird nearby also “standing on top of the water.” He was practically motionless, just standing there so I could get a really good look at him and try to memorize his markings. Suddenly he dipped his beak into the water and came up with a fish in his beak. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the bird as he wrestled the fish so he could eat it. Fascinating!
About that time the sky turned cloudy and there were some ominous looking clouds approaching from the East. I decided that I had better get going back to my car. I started walking back to complete the round trip around the lake. Suddenly there was another bird, small and yellow, but not a goldfinch. As I raised my binoculars I heard a loud rumble of thunder so I decided to bypass getting a good look at the bird and started briskly to walk on.
It got darker and darker and the rumbles started turning into loud thunderclaps. When I was about 1 mile from my car the rain started and soon the wind was gusting at 30 to 50 miles per hour and the rain was coming down in sheets. I was getting soaked so I started to run. The last time I ran like that was this past April when I was in NYC going to visit Samantha and got caught in a rain storm about 6 blocks from where I was going to meet her. Before that the last time I ran must be some 10-15 years ago. Given the state of my knees I was surprised that I was able to do so then and again on Saturday.
I was 50 yards from my car and could see it in front of me when I slipped in the mud and landed face first with my brand new field guide in my hand and my binoculars around my neck. The field guide fell into a muddy puddle and the binoculars came between the ground and my chest. My right knee got badly scraped and bruised and I got a body full of mud.
Today is the first time I have been able to do my “daily walk” since my lovely day of birding a week ago Saturday.
So all of you who think birding is a nice safe hobby, maybe it is, but you need more sense or physical capability than I displayed that day. And oh yes, the bird was an immature Green Heron.
