Note: I was trying to get my post up about this little "mystery" before Laura and Susan did, but Blogger was being a pain about uploading my photos. Still--here's my side of the story!
You remember the "mystery egg" I found on the marsh a couple posts ago?
Well, um... it wasn't an egg.
It was a little plastic ball.
How could I have been so incredibly wrong? you ask. I'll tell you why: Because I didn't touch it! I thought it was an egg, so I figured I'd better not touch it! I couldn't really tell, but it looked like an egg to me.
So of course Susan, aka Science Chimp Junior, just pushed aside the grass, grabbed up the "egg," and noted the -um- plastic seam on it:
"Hmmmm" indeed! "Sure," I said, "laugh it up!" But if it had been a rare egg, and I had scared its mother away with my scent... yeah, they wouldn't be laughing then!Laura and Susan came into town for my commitment ceremony with Kat, and on Sunday morning they came out to the Marsh House and went birding with me! What a blast we had. Here are a few of the very few photos I took, as I was too busy laughing and scaring birds. We did find some more interesting "mysteries" to investigate on the marsh:
Here, Grissom and Willows work a particularly bloody crime scene:
I love the serious look on Susan's face here. She and Laura wondered whether it was a tree swallow--look at this brilliant irridescent blue feather:
They decided it was likely a mallard. (Oh, and note that Susan is wearing her Ruthie J-knitted gloves.)There was evidence everywhere, including blood:
We also came upon some coyote poo! Susan pointed out the fur:
and the bits of bone and grassy matter:
It was so much fun being with someone else who has to pick up everything and touch everything and try to figure stuff out. I thought I was observant, but these two are far more watchful and knowledgeable about things than I am. It was a real pleasure to bird such familiar territory with new eyes.Even if they did bust my mystery egg wide open, and what "yoke" there was, it was on me.
11 comments:
OK, for starters I would not have touched anything!
This story of the egg reminds me of a time when my friend was all freaked out because she thought she had a dead mouse in her house.
I had to talk to her on the phone for about an hour, coaxing her on how to deal with it.
When she finally got a broom and a dustpan, nudged it in and brought it outside to dispose of it, she realized... that it was one of those "realistic" mouse toys!
Yeah, I wouldn't have touched the egg either. It would forever have remained an egg if it were left up to me. (Though Bucko would've come along and burst my bubble soon enough.) I'm just not a toucher. Except for plants. Especially the soft, tender, new growth on evergreens.
I got a really good laugh at that pic of you holding the "egg."
I hope the girls also told you it is a commonly held myth that the mother bird will smell your scent and abandon the babies/nest.
This sounds to me like something mothers told kids to keep them from bothering nests.
If you find a nest blown out of a tree it is okay to put it back the best you can. You will have to touch it n this case.
Fran--oh gees! I've had to deal with dead mice before, but to make it easier to ID, we always get the kitties crazy-colored fake mice, so there's no false alarm! Perhaps you could suggest that to your pal.
Earl--isn't that always the way? You try to leave it alone, and someone else always comes and bursts your bubble. Ooohh, I do love the young growth on evergreens, and I also love the early growth on our tamarack.
Patrick--et tu?
Lizard--you're killing my one and only justification for my idiocy! Ixnay on the actsfay!
That crime scene looks interesting...
I would have died thinking about that mystery egg if I was there on my own, never touching it and never knowing what it really was :P
Oh that is too funny about the egg.
I bet you all hooted about that, and scared even more birds away.
You are a good egg to have such a sense of humor!
Mel--well, it was pretty tempting to touch it, but I just wasn't sure. Susan, however, had no such hesitation.
KGMom--Eggstremely funny...
Oh- that is funnnny! I can't laugh to hard though because I've done many things that would fall into the same category.
It could have been an egg from a platic bird. (You never know.)
I'm so sorry I didn't read this comedy last week when I really needed a laugh! Delia, that photo of you hold the ping-pong ball is PRICELESS! An egg? LOL!
You guys really must zing each other constantly. What fun :o)
Post a Comment