You’re in the gravel parking area where the trail starts. It’s cloudy, threatening. You hike toward the river, a mile away. No others in sight. You’ve got the woods to yourself.
Then it starts to rain. Turn back? Hell no. This is where you want to be. So what if it’s wet. So what if you’re wet.
You see a Rufous-sided Towhee on the ground. This bird is now called the Eastern Towhee. You dislike name-changing. But in fairness you grudgingly admit that it always felt dweeby to say “rufous-sided.”
Then you see a bird you didn’t expect. An American Redstart, actually a couple: the orange and black male and his yellow and brown female. You move on. Heading to the river.
Down there you see a Northern Waterthrush, or maybe it’s a Louisiana Waterthrush. They look alike. You’ll figure it out later with a birdbook. But you think it’s a Louisiana Waterthrush, and you’ll be right.
Then you see an Ovenbird. No doubt. Stripes and color on the head. It lets you look. There are Palm Warblers all over. And a Wilson’s Warbler that’s there and gone. You stand near the river. The leaves act like an umbrella.
You see a Green Heron along the far bank. Orange legs, red-brown body. Maybe some green on the back, but not much. You wonder why they named him a Green Heron. You try to think of a better name, but a beaver waddles across the trail.
You forget about heron names. This dark brown animal is big, the size of a chocolate lab. But round. You’ve been seeing gashes in trees along the river, bare white wood where these animals chewed. Chips on the ground.
The beaver slips into the river. Its wake reminds you of a submarine. This was a first: everyone notices beaver sign but nobody sees a beaver. They’re shy. Maybe on this rainy day he counted on privacy.
You hear woodpeckers but don’t see them. Another thing you don’t see is people. Maybe that’s why the day’s interesting. Wildlife lays low if people are around.
The redstarts are thinking: what’s wrong with that guy…doesn’t he have the sense to get out of the rain? They might have a point. You leave the woods. But not because you have sense. You stayed because you had sense. And you saw a beaver.
