A change of plans

I was a bit apprehensive about birding with four other 19 and 20-year-olds. As it turns out, my apprehensions were not ill-founded. We were up against tremendous odds.

To start out, we had one pair of binoculars between the five of us – not an ideal situation. Then, few of us knew much about birds, and some knew nothing at all. To make matters worse, the formerly peaceful iron bridge road was filled with semi-trucks and construction.

Although at first depressed over the sad state of affairs, we soon managed to improve things by changing the tone of the outing. Andrew and Ludwhig ran off to find some way to get on the railroad tracks, and Michaela, Fjord, and I walked down the road talking.

We came to gate 29, and we decided to enter. The beauty on the other side had been left untouched. We walked on and on, reluctant to turn back.

When we turned around to leave, Andrew and Ludwhig came charging down the road, armed with branches. The boys kept Michaela and me puzzling for the rest of the trip over the strange behaviors of males. They hit rocks with sticks and balanced on oil pipes. They foraged through the woods, sticks in hand, ready to fight off any dangers that might appear. They found an old pipe and used it as their victory horn.

We slowed down a bit to enjoy the sunset over the lake. Then we walked through the darkness.

Before going back to campus, we decided to stop at Sonic. We should have seen the earlier directional difficulties as a foreshadowing, though. It took us several tries to get there.

So the evening was a success after all. We didn’t do much birding, but we had a great time being together in God’s creation. Life is good.