Monday, February 22, 2016

Selective Listening

Who amongst us hasn’t been accused of selective hearing.  Who me?  Well, at least once…. or twice.  Or maybe you immediately think of someone you know who has selective hearing.  Children are masters. 

It occurred to me the other day that I, thank heavens, have a good dose of selective hearing.  ‘Listen’ to the next two paragraphs as you read them. 

Damp, foggy morning.  A hazy orb bright in the sky tells me the sun already rides high.  Across the pond a crow yells out, “Caw!” Farther off another responds, “Caw, Caw!”  Mallards fill the air with a sweet mellow mumble.   A lone goose flies in low from the south.   “Honk” … “Honk.”  Its call is loud, lost, and lonely.  Most geese are paired now.  Where is its mate?  The goose hits the water with a loud splash and he/she quiets.  A small flock of Brewer’s blackbirds feed nearby.  Their occasional call notes say all is well.  Suddenly I hear loud “Whop, Whop” – one of several geese at the far end of the pond is taking a bath.  I don’t need to see the goose to know it’s a goose.  A duck sounds more like an electric eggbeater on overdrive and sends water flying in all directions.  


Morning stillness easily carries the hum of cars rushing on the busy street beyond the pond – never ending.  Nearby someone’s car beeps out a dozen beeps; hard wheels whir on the smooth cement of the nearby skateboard rink.  Happy voices of children.  It is Saturday and they get to play.  Coughing comes from an old gentleman sitting on a bench near me.  His large black plastic bag says much.
Both paragraphs are from notes I took yesterday while standing at the edge of the neighborhood pond near my house.  The pond is a favorite where we grab an hour or two outdoors and Oregon is dishing out good weather in small doses.  One side of this pond is beaten nearly bare.  Pigeons, ducks, and geese gobble bagfulls of bread scraps and French fries; the long parking lot has a mix people watching in their cars and empty cars left by joggers, walkers, duck feeders. 

Fortunately for us, half the pond has a much wilder edge – marshy grasses and a grove of trees.  Only rarely does a human venture over there.  In addition there is second pond just barely connected to this one. An asphalt path circles half of this second pond, but not too close.  Walkers and bicyclists are usually ignored by the pond’s wildlife. 
This rather civilized pond is one of the best places for me to sketch and we get a variety of wildlife photos there.  When I first step out of the car I tend to be aware of many human sounds, but soon a goose catches my attention, or I realize the coot are squabbling, or alarm calls tell me the otter had come out into the pond.  He kills an occasional duck along with fish and whatever else he munches on – crayfish? 

I have to admit the ambiance here is never as pure as being out in the wild, but it still is a good dose of nature.  I come home remembering: the iridescence of the mallard drakes' heads, the togetherness of a mated pair of Canada geese, a sleeping goose, turtles spooked by the arrival of the otter.   If I’m lucky I will have watched a cormorant gulp down a fish or the green heron easing its way along the far shoreline. 



.... and dusk at the pond always makes my heart sing.  



Tuesday, February 9, 2016

New Book: Fran and Frederick Hamerstrom

Those of you who know me personally, or have been reading my blog for quite awhile, realize I have unusual parents.  Because of this I thought I'd briefly write about a book which has just been published by the Wisconsin Historical Society as part of their Badger Biographies Series, "Fran and Frederick Hamerstrom: Wildlife Conservation Pioneers."  The book is written for young readers .... about roughly 6th grade, though I'm no expert on that subject.

Susan Tupper has done a careful job of writing a very interesting book that captures my parent's unusual life.  Both came from proper New England backgrounds and both studied under Aldo Leopold.  My parents chose to live in old farm houses in rural Wisconsin so that they could be near prairie chickens.  By the time they retired from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources they were well known ornithologists, known both for their prairie chicken research and their raptor research.  The book is full of birds, challenges, and even road kill.

About the Author:  Susan Tupper lives in Wisconsin.  She was a library media specialist for the Rosholt School District for 26 years and also has a degree in Broadfield Social Studies from the UW-Stevens Point.  She served on the Advisory Board of the UW-Madison Cooperative Children's Book Center for three years and is a former recipient of an "Excellence in Teaching: Fellowship Award form the Herb Kohl Foundation. 

Books can be ordered through The Wisconsin Historical Society or Amazon.com

for the Wis. Historical Soc try copying and pasting the following link.  For some reason you can't just click on it --
http://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/productcart/pc/home.asp

For more about my parents go to my blog posts:

May 7, 2015:  Mother's Day  --  about my mother

March 21, 2015:  Two Books Ready -- announcing my book "Hamerstrom Stories" and a new edition of my mother's children's book, "Walk When the Moon is Full."