Coastline Pilot

30 September 2005

 

Chasing the Muse

Catharine Cooper  

 

It started innocently enough – a kayak in the Elkhorn Slough.  Little did we (Emma-Cherril and Catharine) know, that that this simple dip into a Wildlife Refuge would lead to an all encompassing search, a few hundred miles of diversion, and hours and hours of laughter.

 

Piles of soft cuddly stuffed birds – squeaky toys, really – crafted by the Audubon Society filled the rack of the Elkhorn Refuge Visitor Center.  Each bird is a close representation of the actual species, rendered in poly-fuzz with the bird’s vocalization recorded on an internal device which can be activated by a soft squeeze.  We, of course, had to try all of them, futzing and farting around, until with great difficulty we decided on a robin for Emma and a red-tail for Catharine.  These were quickly attached to our respective backpacks and we headed north. 

 

By the time we reached Pt. Townsend, Washington, we were more than ready for a break from the road.  “The Constant Gardener” was playing at The Rose theatre and we were happy for the diversion.

 

Before the show, Emma and I engaged in our recently developed pastime – bird talk.  That simply meant that her squeaky-toy robin would call out, while my squeaky-toy red-tail would respond.  The wrinkle here is that a woman five rows back began to laugh and shared with us, that she too, has one of the Audubon birds.  That led to a woman in front of us admitting the same.  Suddenly, the birds were talking, a woman had developed a ‘squeak’ in her husband’s neck (ie, she’d squeeze and he’d squawk) and none of us could stop laughing.  We queried the five-row back woman for possible locations to obtain additional birds and marked down potential addresses for our morning walk.

 

Before the film, one of the theatre’s staff gave a brief introduction to both the film and upcoming titles.  He remarked, that due to popular demand, “March of the Penguins” would be returning for a 12-week stay. He was, of course, just kidding.

 

There were birds in Pt. Townsend - just none that we could take home.  The general store had two that were broken.  The toy store had birds – but not squeakies.  It was a dry day in birdland - although a walk along Ft. Warden’s shoreline gifted us a kingfisher, two heron, an egret and an otter (okay, an otter isn’t a bird, but he was such a sweet sight).

 

We headed for Sequim to hike the rainforests and ponder the bay.  Black oystercatchers chattered incessantly, a kingfisher screeched and fluttered from masthead to tree and a flock of Canadian geese honked overhead, then landed in the nearby pond.  A harbor seal (okay, again, not a bird) fished in the shallows near the cottage we had rented, and  surprised our early evening meditation when he surfaced with a salmon clenched in his teeth.    

 

The bird search continued with great success at the Dungeness River Wild Bird Center. Gifts for Emma’s grandson filled a small shopping bag.  On the Dungeness Spit we saw black brants – one of the refuge’s most important inhabitants.  The brant is a true sea goose, able to drink salt water and eat saltwater plants.  It depends on eelgrass for its survival.  Approximately 1500 brant spend the winter in the area, but during the spring migration, as many as 8000 can be seen on the tidal flats to the east and west of Graveyard spit.

 

200 plus geese on the bay the next morning, and we were headed south – not down the coast, but toward the pull of the Pacific Flyway – the migratory path that leads through Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.  Our hunch was right about an early migration due to all the odd weather.

 

We put our kayaks into the refuge waters and found ourselves surrounded by ducks, dragon and damsel flies.  Autumn breezes, heated by the vast volcanic valley, sent spent seedpods skittering across the surface of the water.  Redwing blackbirds raced and chattered.  A bald eagle winged across the ponds, his majesty as awe inspiring as promised.  Northern harriers, red-tails, gyrfalcons, willets, long-billed curlews, godwits, pintails, mallards, white pelicans, common and red-breasted mergansers, roadrunners, grouse, pheasant – and yes – the Canadian geese completed the scene.

 

We briefly stopped at the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center to gather additional information and there they were – the Audubon birds!  This time – no rationing.  A tiny quail for Catharine.  A bald eagle for Emma.  A bit more squeaky added to the packs.  A bit of silly fun to ease our transition toward home. 

 

Catharine Cooper loves wild places.  She can be reached at ccooper@cooperdesign.net