Difference between revisions of "Do They Crow It's Christmas"

North of Detroit, in the county above, the Detroit Audubon is having one of its annual Christmas Bird Counts. Counting birds as they migrate. At the meeting here, there is a table at the entrance to a large clearing. Well, a few tables staffed with volunteers handing out flyers, pens, and giving instructions. "We can only count what we see today. Please make sure to be careful about that."

Rayne tilts her head and has found herself curious over the annual bird counting, so she has shown up to... meet folks and to do something. Besides its always good for business to show community support!

Today is a day for relaxing. She doesn't need to give a lecture. She isn't /obligated/ to do this. Alma waves to people. There are some familiar faces from Detroit Biodiversity Network and of course the Audubon society. She's got her +1 too. Notion is out there somewhere having fun.

Max promised she'd be here, so, she's here. That she's reluctant to be here is obvious in the rigidity of her spine (concealed though it is in a goretex coat) and the squirrely darting of her eyes across the crowd. Max follows the lines to the table, right hand clenching the phone in her coat pocket tightly enough when she has to withdraw the hand to sign a paper, the imprint of the phone's case is plainly visible in the hinges of her fingers; a fact the volunteer notes by giving Max a strange look and then a shrug that says, 'None of my business.'

Properly equipped, Max finds a quiet corner of the crowd to occupy while she looks for someone who seems like a leader.

It is of course a rather cold morning to be outside all day. So there WERE reminders to layer up, and if people are showing troubles, well, one group was kind enough to set up a tent with a heater. Hopefully none of our heroes need it. The clearing is large, plenty of room for Max to spread out and be alone if she prefers. The LEADERS stay by the desk, and one comes over to Max. Pointing, the nice 60 year old woman smiles "There's room over there, on the west side, dearie." Alma is smiled at by another of the leaders, before that one's pressed into service to hand out flyers. Nobody feels the need to help her, which is probably a mistake, as you want to treat your most active people even better! Rayne is directed.. coincidentally to teh same corner Max is.

Alma is looking for lost people. She sees a few tentative first timers and encourages them to go to the volunteer tables. "They have fliers. And hot beverages! Be sure to get some oranges and granola. You'll get hungry." After a few rounds of that she steps out of the crowd of people lining up at the tables and looks around. There, there she is. She heads over to Max. "Uh, Hi," There is a nervous pause while she watches for Max's reaction, but she plows on through, "Do you want to borrow my binoculars? This is a lot more fun with binoculars. I've got my camera. Here? And they have this strap. You can click it at the back. It's a lot more comfortable. You'd be surprised." She digs around in her bag while she's chattering through this and pulls out a camera with a telescopic lens. "Did you get food?" She hasn't noticed Rayne yet. Max has her full, anxious, attention.

Rayne heads to a table and picks herself up a flier, along with some of the 'survival' snacks they offer, a tilt of her head as people talk about Binoculars and she smiles. "I did bring mine, and a cantina for hot coco." she says tapping her supplies.

Max smiles nervously back at Alma, but forces herself to relax (at least fractionally; the effort isn't terribly successful) when she notices Rayne. "Oh, hi," she greets. She doesn't QUITE stammer on the second word. "You seem like you're well-supplied, huh?"

The organizers are pretty pleased to see Alma end up with Rayne and Max. Their frazzled failure to help out Alma is rewarded! Once most folks are settled in, and things get quiet at the tables, one of them gets on a horn. "We are in the center of a 15 mile circle. This means any birds seen from here are all going to count, unless you're one of the X Men." Chuckles. "We're going to be here all day, getting in 8 hours. We're required at least 10 observers, and I think it's safe to say we have that covered. At the edge of the circle you will find posts. On the post is a map. People nearest each post, please take the map, walk the route on that map, and record every bird you see. If there's a large group, just do your best to estimate. Using bird calls is permitted. If you're not sure of a specific species, please take a picture and we'll help you later." At that, a large black streak flies across the sky. Ooohs come out from the crowd. "That, and I've been wrong in Crow or No before, is a Corvus Corax. They get that big in Alaska, but usually not here."

"Rayne?" Alma notices Rayne after things have settled. "Right? Notion is around here somewhere. Don't count her more than once." She looks at Max, "You haven't met her yet. She's the crow I mentioned." Alma takes the map from the post. She looks at Max and Rayne. "Shall we walk together?"

Rayne laughs a little at that, "I know next to nothing about actually surviving out in the cold, so brought what I thought I would need?" she asks "is it too much?" She then looks to the leader, and she grins a little "sounds like I am pretty ok..." she says quietly then she looks between them "sure, I do not see why not."

Max does a doubletake at Alma's introduction, but notices Rayne not seeming to notice anything odd about it, which makes her frown in thought; then she realizes how that looks, drops the frown, and just nods. "Nice to meet you, Rayne. Sure, walking sounds fine. Where are we going?"

The center of this event is in Metamora Hadley State Recreation Area. Some people even came out for a camping weekend after the event. The map posted by our protagonists takes them due west, down Cramton Road, past the Hadley Acres Golf Club, and around some large home lots. A mix of exurban terrains.

"As long as you have plenty of layers you should be fine," Alma assures Rayne. "We'll probably warm up after we've walked for a while." She shows the map to both of them and traces out the path. "We have an interesting course. You get some interesting biodiversity where suburban areas edge against wilder ones. The balance is different." Alma is starting to be less anxious as she settles into this comfortable role.

Rayne nods her head to Alma, as she mentions layers and she smiles gingerly "well I feel like a snowperson." she says "starting to get hot in here though, shall we go?" she asks the others.

Max nods at Rayne. "Sure, after you two," she invites. Her hands are deep in her pockets. "So how long have you known Alma?"

It is cold. Winter is coming.

Everyone's started on their trails for the most part. Notion decides to check out the two people following her human. Alma protests, "hey!" as Note lands on her scarf and untangles it to see if there's any food cached in there. There is not. Hmm. Human one. Oh yeah, shiny. Human two. She's new. Notion tilts her head at the new person.

Alma scritches Note and winds her scarf back up. "Max. Note." Alma introduces them. "Rayne met her when Note followed me into her shops. It turns out she's got experience with birds being fascinated by the place, yeah?" Alma smiles. She looks up suddenly. "Was that a Tape Belcher?"

Rayne shakes her head to Max "Do not really know her, her and the bird came into my shop... he broke a thing... its all payed for now though." she says as she looks up to the bird in question and laughs, "Hi!" she calls to the bird... then she moves to follow Alma as she seems to know where to go.

Oh oh oh. There's a crow. Not Notion, either. It's waay out yonder, pecking at a wrapper someone dropped at the edge of a golf course.

Rayne's explanation confuses Max, but she visibly decides she's just going to let this one go. She opens her mouth to respond, but is saved the trouble when someone spots a crow. She pulls out her phone and types on it, quickly, identifying it as best she's able from way out yonder.

Rayne looks up as she notices the crow, she makes a mark of it to her sheet, a smile to her lips as she looks about to see if there are any others.

It was probably a pine warbler. Tape belchers are pretty rare. Alma doesn't record that one. Oooooh. Crow with a wrapper. Alma lifts up her camera focuses in on the bird. Is it one of hers? She checks for leg bands. "Probably an American Crow. Sometimes we get Fish Crows. What do you think?"

"I, uh, I'll take you word for it, Alma," Max says, since she has no telephoto lens or binoculars to check through. She just has her phone, which she types on some more to amend Alma's previous declaration. "Are we calling it American or fish?"

Flying by Alma's telephoto lens is a large, shiny black blob. It's the raven from before! The large bird perches on a rock, and you'd swear the bird is looking right at Alma and Rayne. The bird flaps, then glancing at Max, takes off flying again.

Rayne smiles though she tries not to really make a big deal of the bird looking at her. She just rolls her shoulders, and continues to look, "Def a Fish Crow, did you see the size of its talens?"

Before Alma can answer Max, The big Raven interrupts and flaps off. Alma tilts her head at Note and then chins towards the flight path of the large bird. Note clicks a little and decides to head on over. And maybe she can interest someone in a chase.

That done, Alma looks at Max. "Maybe we can get closer. It would be easier to tell." She nods at Rayne. "The talens are a good clue. Maybe it will call out. They have a more nasal voice." Alma tries to hand over her binoculars to Max again. "It's okay, I'm using the camera to look." Alma decides to creep closer to the Fish Crow. Probably a Fish Crow.

Max accepts the binoculars to look at the bird, which she does the same way she would someone opening the hood of a car to show her its engine: that is, she nods knowingly and keeps her mouth shut. It could be an American crow, a Fish crow, or a phoenix for all she can tell, so she lowers the binoculars to look curiously at the raven everyone seems to be ignoring.

'A lot of subtext going on here today,' Max thinks to herself as she considers what her comrades are ignoring; but she takes their lead on that.

The large raven does fly off. Though when Notion catches up, the larger raven and the smaller crow circle around a bit, clicking some, before the large one flies off, and the small one returns to Alma to report that Jim can't talk in front of a stranger. The fish crow doesn't know yet that it's being snaked up on, as it tries to tear open the wrapper.

Rayne shakes her head, watching Jim more then the other two ravens. She smiles a bit before she looks around and then before she tries to find any other birds. Her binoculars up and she looks to be searching, though she will mutter 'I don't have any churros.' Why? well it was a thing to mutter for whatever reason.

Alma thought maybe Jim wanted to talk about something, and Note confirms that. She walks back to the group. Note flaps along and lands on a branch near the group. "I need to check from a different angle. I'll just be a moment." Note takes off and Alma follows.

"Oh," Max says aloud (quietly, but still aloud), finally getting it. She clears her throat and looks around for something to change the subject to. "Uh, churros?" she asks Rayne.

Jimarino was just being social, so there was no urgent business to relay to Alma anyway, nor to Rayne. Max he'll have to meet another time maybe? Anyway, the crow does fly off, with a big hunk of taffy in its beak. Leaving another piece of bright pink taffy for Notion! A sparrow lands 6 feet from Rayne and Max.

Rayne nods her head to the other woman and she smiles, "yah sometimes the city birds, they love them..." she says before she looks to the sparrow, marking it off in her book as she talks to Max.

Alma looks at Rayne, "Do you know my intern Jim? He's an electrical engineering student. I'm pretty sure he likes churros." She turns to Max, "I could introduce you if you like. He's working on the corvid project with me. He's building the audio listening stations."

Max considers the options here, then nods. "Sure, I can meet him some time, Alma." To Rayne, she says, "I didn't know that about city birds. Are there places in town to get churros from? We seem kind of far north for Mexican."

Rayne gives a nod of her head "At the Zoo.... and other places small vendors are likely to be, mostly the zoos here though". She smiles a little and then she moves closer to the Sparrow opening her hand and making a few click noises as she waits to see if she can lure the bird to perch

Alma chirps up, "Mexicantown too. Where I live. There are a few panaderias and we've got different street vendors. The ones selling churros would be out later in the day... uh, but you won't find as many during the winter. The tamale and hot cocoa vendors stick around though."

... and there was a lot of fun birdwatching.