Archived Thoughts for 04/09/06

Thoughts of a Rural Woman

Of Eagles & Counters
by The Editor, Rebecca Brown

As we drive about our little corner of the world, the coastal alder trees are covered with their dangling pollen tassels & filling up with Bald Eagles -— Haliaetus leucocephalus, as they gather for their Spring migration north.

As we drive about our little corner of the world, the roadside (& there really is only one coastal road) is filled with eagle counters — Accipitridae humanae abacii, bedecked with binoculars, folding chairs, clipboards & excitement.

As we drive about around the Winter-wet coves & headlands, still & silent in the tree tops sit these great birds of prey, wings folded, talons clamped about thick branches, staring Straitward toward Canada, waiting & watching.

Along the shoreline road to the farthest most tip of this land, beside sparse Winter underbrush already adorned with tiny greening buds, the humanae abacii park their gleaming, beetle-like conveyances, stealthily taking census of these diurnal fishing birds, both counters & hunters teaching this special rite of Spring to their juvenals.

March came in a chilly roar of Pacific Lion Storms, beating massively upon our shingled shores, downing trees & power lines, & threshing the last of Summer's foliage, preparing the mulch for the coming resurrection of Spring, & left in a sheepish, balmy peace.

We're all watching the land turn green again with carpets of Oxalis oregana; hosts of sunny Skunk Cabbage – Lysichiton americanum, stubbles of sweet-scented Coltsfoot – Petasites palmatus; huddles of Prunella vulgaris; clumps of aromatic Fringecups – Tellima grandiflora; flashes of shy Trillium ovatum; rugs of False Lily of the Valley – Maianthemum dilatatum & the bright flowering Currants – Ribes sanguineum, R. Lacustre, R. racteosum, R.laxiflorum — all harbingers of Spring & all sirens for the much–awaited return of the South American Pigeons(I call them Doves) – Columba fasciata & the blessed Hummingbirds – Selasphorus rufus.

Rebecca