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early morning birding at Lake Artemesia

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Lake Artemesia under early morning mist.

This morning I rode with an acquaintance up to Lake Artemesia for some birding. Once there, we walked our bikes, and just enjoyed being out on the path (nearly) alone. The lake was beautiful, and we spotted a female Wood Duck out in the middle just after we arrived. Our next sighting was of a couple of baby rabbits, and shortly thereafter, of a tree absolutely crawling with Cedar Waxwings. While I’d seen a Waxwing twice before, I hadn’t seen them in the large groups they travel in, nor had I been able to see them so clearly without binoculars.

A short way down the path, we found the place in the sun where the warblers were hanging out and spotted several in quick succession, including two new life birds for me. I found a Yellow Warbler in a treetop, and then, a bit farther along, a Blackpoll Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, young Oriole, and male Wilson’s Warbler all flitting around the same vine-laden tree lakeside. We hung out watching them until the Waxwings descended en masse, and then moved on.

Once my friend continued on to work, I biked slowly around the rest of the lake before heading home. I saw a couple of other familiar birds—Kingbirds and Tree Swallows—and found a Blackpoll Warbler again, after hearing its call in shrubs quite close to the path. I was just thrilled to have seen the warblers, and happy to head home for breakfast at that point.

My trip home was somewhat marred by having to have another ‘f* you, it’s an g-d crosswalk, *hole!’ ‘conversation’ with a driver while crossing Paint Branch Parkway. I don’t mind (that much) when drivers don’t stop to let pedestrians (or cyclists) cross when they’re waiting, but for the love of the baby Jesus, you are required to stop for me when I am already in the road because cars on the other side of the street have stopped to allow me to go. Also, just a thought: how about slowing down a bit and clearing me with no inconvenience? Or, maybe, just don’t speed? I see that you’d rather hit the accelerator and lay on the horn (scaring the bejeezus out of your passenger, I note), but maybe you’re not aware that it’s freaking illegal! One of these days, I am going to be not so blinded by rage that I will actually follow the car and take a photo of the license plate without fearing that it will lead to me instigating an, um, altercation.

Despite that unpleasantness, it was a great morning. I look forward to repeating it, and riding onward to the Patuxent Wildlife Center, on Friday.

early morning birding at Lake Artemesia

wild irises at University Hills pond

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Wild yellow irises along the pond bank.

On Sunday afternoon, I took my recently repaired and returned to me babycam up to the University Hills pond. This past week irises have popped into bloom all around the banks of the pond, which pleases me greatly. Irises are my favorite flower, and yellow is my favorite color, so I couldn’t have asked for a nicer development.

Besides the appearance of the flowers, things at the pond have been pretty status quo. The goslings haven’t hatched yet, and the two ducklings are nearly doubling in size each time I spot them. I’ve seen a couple of interesting birds—a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird visiting the irises and a Red-shouldered Hawk circling above the trees—but no new life ones. I’ve continued to see plenty of turtles on each visit, ranging from the large Eastern Redbelly Turtles sunning themselves out in the water to the small Musk and Mud Turtles, one of which I surprised at the edge of the reeds. And, every now and then I catch sight of a Bullfrog, but I have yet to spot any other frog species. I suspect the bullfrogs have totally colonized the place, and being cannibalistic bullies, they don’t coexist peacefully with many others.

No sign yet of the Snapping Turtle I saw there last summer, but I keep looking!

wild irises at University Hills pond

new life birds & hatchling turtles at the pond

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Today was another beautiful day at the pond. I went around midday this time, and saw three more life birds! This is the first time I’ve actively tried to catch species on their spring migration, and so far I have to say it’s been well worth the effort.

Before I reached the pond, I saw a Baltimore Oriole, in the neighborhood about two blocks from the park. This time there was no mistaking its bright orange plumage, especially after seeing the more rust-colored Orchard Oriole the other day.

Once I arrived at the pond, I found the Yellow-billed Cuckoo still hanging around in the trees that were dripping Eastern Tent Caterpillars. This time I got a good look at its distinctive tail (not that there was any confusion, with its equally distinctive beak). I also saw a couple of Cliff Swallows dashing around, which I’ve only seen once before, at a barn in Dexter, MI. They’re relatively distinctive, though, with their dark square tails and light bellies.

About halfway around the pond I accidentally flushed an American Bittern. At least, I think it was a bittern; I peered at it from the other side of the pond, but it was pretty well into the reeds. Its head looked like a bittern, but the coloring could have also made it an immature Green Heron. I’ll look for it again and hopefully get a firmer ID one way or the other.

Back at the pond entrance, I spotted a couple of swallows on the electrical wires, which turned out to be Rough-winged Swallows. At first I thought they were just the Cliff Swallows at rest, and nearly didn’t look at them through the binoculars. I’m glad I did, though, as they had the distinctive dusty color and forked tail.

Besides the birds, I saw a decent selection of the turtles that appear at the pond. Just after discovering the wader, I spotted a hatchling turtle swimming around near the bank. I couldn’t resist plucking it out and taking some photos of it. It was a Red-eared Slider, a lovely little pastel green color. After photographing it and showing it to the two other people who passed by, I plopped it back into the water, where it promptly swam away into the mud.

I also saw at least one adult Eastern Redbelly Turtle, along with several Painted Turtles and Red-eared Sliders. As an aside, I hadn’t realized that Mud Turtles were so small; the ones I thought were Mud Turtles last fall were likely actually Eastern Redbelly Turtles, and the ones I thought were juveniles were likely actually the Mud Turtles.

new life birds & hatchling turtles at the pond

back in the (bike) saddle along the Anacostia

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This past week I got back on my bike—Pearl—for the first time in over a year. I didn’t ride her at all in 2006, only 4 times in 2005, and not at all in 2004. In 2003, I did the Tour de Friends AIDS ride from North Carolina to DC, and rode Pearl all the freaking time. And, I only got her when we moved out here, in May of 2002. Which means that on average I’ve ridden her over 100 miles a year, but really I haven’t ridden her regularly in 4 years. Pearl is a Raleigh c500, a hybrid that I selected because it was light enough for me to carry up and down two flights of stairs in the apartment we were occupying that year. I’ve replaced the seat (with an old school Liberator that I’ve had for a decade now) and added handlebar extenders, but otherwise she’s just as I bought her.

Well, except for being covered with stickers. Pearl goes undercover as a beater bike, something that made me feel better about locking her to signposts in the District when I first bought her. At the time I started training for the AIDS ride, I had stickers from surf camp (the Surf Diva and Yoga for Surfers logos) and a ‘No Plot? No Problem!‘ one that I was dying to put to good use. Onto Pearl they went. Since then, she’s become a bit more political (NOW, Rails to Trails, a ‘Debbie Dick’ sticker from the Haring shop on Lafayette Street, bought just 2 months before it closed) and advertises the places she’s been (Canada, Chincoteague Island).

At any rate, I pumped up her tires, oiled her chain (I really should clean it before I ride her again) and took her out three times this past week. We are much closer to the trail system up here than we were in the District, which is nice; I used to have to ride several miles one way to get to any trail. University Park is located right at the base of the ‘Y’ made by the Northwest and Northeast branches of the Anacostia River, which means easy access to the path system that follows the tributaries. This week, all three of my rides were along these trails.

My first ride, last Wednesday, was up to Lake Artemesia and back, which took me about 45 minutes (it bears saying: I ride slowly). From my house, I was able to stay on neighborhood side streets until the College Park metro, and then ride down Paint Branch Road to the trail access point at Linson Pool. I’d heard from neighbors that the lake itself is a beautiful place to bike or jog, and I wasn’t disappointed. I spotted all kinds of familiar birds, including Tree Swallows using the nesting boxes, but no new ones (I was handicapped by not having my glasses, let alone binoculars or the bird book, so the likelihood of conclusively identifying something new was slim to nil). Nonetheless, I’m sure there are some relatively common ones around that I personally haven’t seen yet (the Wood Duck springs to mind), and I’m looking forward to going back up there for bird-watching purposes. As a ride, it was on the short end, but there are trails that continue past the lake that I can explore in the future. All in all, it was a lovely way to get back on my bike.

On Saturday, I took Pearl over to the new community garden to water my wee pepper plants (more on that later), and then made a loop back to my house on the Northeast and Northwest Branch trails. Riding along the river was lovely, and very different in a wide-open way from what I’m used to when riding the creek trails through woods. I saw barn swallows galore, but not too many other humans. I also violated one of the cardinal rules of biking and hiking when I made the transition onto the Northwest Branch, which is: ‘When greeted by a used condom at the trailhead, turn back!’ All’s well that ends well, I figure. The ride did end well; I ended up at my pond, and then had to face the climb back to higher ground. The steep hills right at the end of the ride are my least favorite thing about riding along rivers, but I can’t complain; cycling on the flats was getting a little boring, not to mention making my legs beg for a nice downhill break. Which I got as I cruised through my neighborhood back to my house (with the exception of the very last block, which is also uphill from the creek at the end of our street).

On yesterday’s ride I went exploring in a different direction, taking the Paint Branch Trail north from Lake Artemesia through College Park. I wasn’t super thrilled with the route and probably won’t ride it again. The trail itself was perfectly well maintained, it just wasn’t that interesting and the surrounds were quite suburban. The winding around to avoid the roads also made it hard to build up speed, so it felt more like a meander than a decent ride. But, I learned a bit more about my local geography, so that’s always good. And, I saw some fresh-out-of-the-egg (still brown and yellow like ducklings) goslings at the Paint Branch Golf Course, so that was a nice surprise. On the way back home, I stopped in at my new local bike shop and discovered that a guy who used to work at my old local bike shop—and fixed up my derailleur after Pearl tumbled off the top of a car—now works there. He recognized me, and once he made the connection I remembered him as well. So that was a pleasant surprise. While there I confirmed that, despite my fixation to the contrary, my front left brake pad does not in fact rub against the wheel (this was the purpose of my stop).

This coming week, I think I’ll ride over to Silver Spring on the Sligo Creek trail, and/or continue further north on the Northwest Branch trail. I’m planning to stick with hour long rides for a while, and build up to making a loop of DC on the trails (something I’ve wanted to do for years). I’ll keep you posted on how that works out.

back in the (bike) saddle along the Anacostia

Virginia Tech shootings & my friend Jay

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These past few days, I’ve been touched in many ways by what’s happened at Virginia Tech. I keep thinking about my years in college classrooms, as a student and as a professor. The image of a 76 year old man blocking entry to his classroom stays with me, and I try not to dwell on wondering what I would have done, what my students would have tried to do.

Mostly, this week, I am thinking about the kid himself. I am thinking of all of the faces in all of the classes I’ve taught, and how no matter how old or serious or bereft they are, they all seem like kids to me, even when they are younger than I am by only a few years. In thinking about him, I am feeling awful for his parents. What a terrible way to lose a child.

When I was 18, my friend Jay shot himself. He’s not the only person I know who’s killed themselves, but he was the first. He was a couple of years older, and I hadn’t seen him since he’d graduated from high school three years before. But we’d been close, that year that I was a sophomore and he was a senior. Jay had a pickup truck, with a speaker on the top of the cab. We’d pile into the bed of the truck, and drive around town startling people by belting things out through the speaker, as you could without getting stopped or arrested in 1990 in a small town in Indiana. I was one of only a couple of friends who went to Jay’s house after his high school graduation; I remember his mother being so happy to meet us, and Jay being slightly sheepish. Jay’s younger brother had a developmental disability; I’m not sure if we even knew Jay had a younger brother before that day, but it was clear that he had learned to be protective of his family’s privacy. Later that summer, when I was staying with my grandparents for three weeks, I talked to Jay on the phone every few days. Not about anything in particular: the nothing he was doing in Indiana, the nothing I was doing in Ontario.

What I didn’t know about Jay back then was that he owned guns. The word ‘suicide’ was never spoken at his closed-casket funeral. His obituary says only that he died alone in his apartment, and that he was a member of the NRA. As in Virginia, it’s not hard to buy guns in Indiana, and owning several of them does not automatically trigger concern; at least, it didn’t back then. I should say, it doesn’t trigger concern for most people. I didn’t know that Jay owned guns. I did know that he thought more about death than the rest of us, even with our posturing and our various life challenges. He was the only one of us who wanted to sit through all of Faces of Death; the rest of us talked a big talk about being hardcore and disillusioned, but it freaked us out nonetheless.

I say all this because I’ve been thinking about Jay a lot these past couple of days. Jay didn’t kill anyone else, but I see him in the kid from Virginia Tech. This isn’t about guilt or blame or what might have been. For me, it’s about holding the weight of the reality of their experiences; it’s about the deep sadness that comes with knowing that whatever it is in us that allows us to face that choice and go a different way, they didn’t have it. If they ever had it, they lost it at some point and couldn’t get it back, the ‘it’ that keeps that path on the other side of unimaginable. I do know, though, that it’s not the kind of thing that returns with a phone call from a friend, or a ride in a pickup truck on a summer day, or because you realize, finally, how very much your family loves you.

In the end, I find myself wanting to say to the Cho family: I am so very sorry for your loss. Please know that you don’t have to face this alone.

Virginia Tech shootings & my friend Jay