Just Sitting on the Roadside: December 24, 2011

Ford's Pond, Douglas County, Oregon

Often on Christmas Eve we are off on a seafood gathering expedition to the Oregon Coast to pick up crab, oysters and fish. But we took advantage of good weather and did that two days ago, and feasted on it while it was fresh. So a simple supper is planned for tonight. We’re looking forward to dinner with friends tomorrow. We’re so far from family we’ve given up trying to get together at Christmas time. Meanwhile we have one more clear day predicted before a week of rain is supposed to set in. We’ve come to a nearby pond, Ford’s Pond, to photograph birds. Dale has gone in one direction looking for sparrows. I’m that funny lady sitting on the shoulder of the road torn between photographing and sketching. I’ve got my camera to my right and my fanny pack on my left. It froze last night. The ground is cold and a little damp, but there is a little wintery sunshine. It occurs to me sitting here is an odd thing to be doing on Christmas Eve.

Sketching wins for awhile. Most of the cattails fluffed out before the falls rains came. They look a little bedraggled now, but still pretty. Their long stems are doing all too good a job of hiding a Virginia Rail. I can hear him, maybe ten feet from me, but all I see is an occasional wiggle of a cattail stem. I’d love a chance to sketch him!

Coot will have to do.

Sometimes I’m guilty of taking coot for granted. They are a plain bird. They spend much of the day swimming about and diving here and there to come up with soggy strings of aquatic vegetation. It’s a busy life. When I sat down on this cold shoulder I saw one duck, some coot and one shy pied-billed grebe on the pond. Suddenly the coot grab my attention.

We’ve all heard the old adage, “two is company and three is a crowd.” Well five is also a crowd. This little pond has five coots swimming about, two pairs and a loner. The paired coot aren’t happy about that fifth coot. Head low, one of the coots swims in a bee line towards the unwelcome coot. When near, both erupt into a mad scramble across the surface of the water. Water flies, green feet flash, coots squawk. Mr. Unwelcome heads for the cattails. The water settles back into gentle ripples.

But life isn’t quiet for long. Head low and stumpy little tail held low, one of the coot is making a beeline for the extra coot. Mad spashing and off they scramble again.

This time the fifth coot heads to my right. Apparently that portion of the pond isn’t valuable real estate. The chaser turns and joins his mate.

Oops! Now two coot are ganging up on that fifth coot. Side by side they cruise towards the odd coot. They just aren’t going to give him any peace.

Away goes Mr. Unwelcome again! Does he keep coming back hoping to make an impression on a female? Or is this just the best feeding spot? In any case, I gave up sketching and am concentrating on trying to get photographs.

Eventually the aggressors win and peace settles on the pond. I’ve lost track of Mr. Unwelcome. I suspect he is resting somewhere in the cattails, gearing up for another round of being chased.

And I’ve discovered we’re not the only people enjoying this lovely day. While we’ve been here two other cars with birders from our small birding group and stopped by to check out Ford’s Pond. We all seem to be thinking that savoring a day out in nature is a good way to appreciate the spirit of the season.