Birds | A Dalectable Life

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments. And it’s still the weekend, so, yay me! Thank you, Sammi, for hosting this weekly jamboree… okay, it’s more low-key than that, but still 😉

There is a time and place for parties that go big and loud. And for me, that place is in the past. Let’s just say I’ve become less enthusiastic.

Our last family cruise vacation in March 2020, (just before the shit hit the fan and the world stopped) was an exception. Three generations at the back of the ship drinking and dancing and raising hell qualifies as big and loud.

That aside, the kind of jamboree I seek out now is one brought on by nature.

Much to my children’s dismay, I am officially a snitch. They cannot believe I would do what I did. I can only say that there is no way my conscience would let me do otherwise.

You see, on this cold December day, I decided to go to the Parc de la Frayère and it’s neighbouring Stephen-Langevin Arboretum. It’s where I have captured many birds with my lens, including a lovely Northern Saw-Whet that I shared on Sorryless for Wordless Wednesday.

As I walked, I happily captured a mourning dove and some male and female cardinals.

A little shy dove

Mrs. Cardinal

Mr. Cardinal

And a couple woodpeckers. I’m not very knowledgeable about birds so I did google them before writing this post. From what I can understand, I have both a Hairy and a Downy woodpecker. They do look so very similar but the downy one has no red on its head.

Hairy Woodpecker from feeder

to tree and back

Downy woodpecker

Refused to show its face

There were also the usual chickadees (sorry, forgot to take their pic), since all these feeders attract them, as well. I continued along the path, walking behind a couple. A couple who knew their birds. They, Carl and Nancy, told me they had had to leave their camera at home as they had forgotten to charge the battery. A bummer of a day to do so as the birds were numerous. While they could not photograph, they were more than happy to point. “Oh look at that fat robin. He definitely does not look hungry…”

Oh! A waxwing! Right there! Look at his mask, isn’t he beautiful? Of course, they were giving me the names in French and I was so busy trying to point my camera where they pointed that I heard a whole lotta nuthin’. I had trouble seeing and basically hoped that something would land in my memory card. Surprisingly, they did. Google images search has helped me out. I’m thinking this is a Cedar Waxwing. I seem to remember hearing Jaseur de Bohême. Of course, I could be wrong.

Cedar Waxwing

A little closer

There were so many starlings in the trees. These guys I could see really well!

The last bird they pointed at was the Dark-Eyed Junco. At least, that’s what I think it is. It was on the ground and pretty far away and looked like a grey little bird. But, like I said, I know a whole lotta nuthin’ when it comes to birds! Cute little fella.

We continued walking, searching for owls, but all for naught. We parted ways and I went back to the bird feeders, hoping to find a cardinal couple on the same branch.

What’s that? You ask if I’m to leave you hanging for much longer on why I am a snitch? My apologies. I got side-tracked.

You see, as I rounded a corner, so to speak, I could smell smoke and hear the crackle of fire. I took a few more steps and there they were. Two “yutes” with a pretty decent fire. Another gent comes up beside me. “Are they allowed to make fires here?” I ask, knowing full-well the answer is “no”. This is a bird sanctuary. We’ve had enough trouble with people disturbing the owls last year, trying to shake them out of their trees. The man grumbled along-side me.

As we started to exit the arboretum, I decided to dial 9-1-1 and let the fire department know. While the boys were on the edge of the park, I feared they might get over-exuberant. The gent said he was of a mind to call as well. “Do,” I said. “More than one call will make it serious.”

I don’t know if he did or not, but as I walked on the other side, I heard them approach…

…and keep on driving. “What the–” I was too far to flag them down. I waited for a bit and kept on walking to the edge of the river, wondering if they would turn around.

Knowing the sunset would not be happening, I started walking back to my car when I got a call. It was the fire department. They couldn’t find the fire. I told the dispatcher that I had seen the truck drive right past and figured they would turn around eventually. He couldn’t understand where it was so I explained in detail how the park was set up, telling him the truck could not drive into said park, that they would have to go by foot. Once it seemed all was clear, we hung up and I kept on walking, turning around to see if they showed up.

They did.