Bird Watching
I went bird watching today with my translator couple and some of their students. My translators met at a bird watching club, got married, had a kid, and now chauffer the dumb foreigner around. They are actually really really nice so I was actually a bit excited to go; well actually I was more excited about the barbeque afterwards. We went to a really beautiful valley sandwiched between mountains that also had a gorgeous river running through. We hopped on with a tour group and trekked around the area. The fellow bird watchers were equipped with huge telescopes, special binoculars for hawk watching, and really cool fanny packs. So I was with a bunch of pros. About ten minutes in, the group stops and sets up their tripods. Spiders are all around me, so I try to keep on walking, but realize, they aren’t going to continue because they’ve spotted something. I make my way back to the group, which is rotating the children to look through the telescopes. I got onto this carousel and took a look at this fine bird, perched atop an electric line. To my utter amazement, I had traveled across the Pacific Ocean to Japan so I could see a sparrow.
They next bird they spotted was a turtle dove. “You mean a pigeon?” I asked.
With every bird they saw, the adults and children would mark a sheet of paper with a list of birds in the area. You either mark if you saw or heard the bird. My paper stayed folded in my back pocket.
The third magnificent bird to be marked off the list was the great black crow. I don’t remember, but I think Naoki had another name for it, like brown crow or something.
The fourth bird to catch the attention of all the bird society members was the cunning and nimble swallow. The group watched it fly by and behind a house. Naoki kindly told me, “That is a swallow.” Thanks.
The next bird was actually from Japan. It’s called a Great Eenki (something like that). Now this would’ve been cool except there are shit loads of these birds around my house. When I first saw them I asked if they were cranes. Disappointed, I was told they were not cranes, and that cranes won’t be around until a few more months. So basically these are imitation cranes. So, obviously not worthy of being marked off on the list.
Bored to shits of “bird watching,” I began spider watching. I found some gigantic spiders and was taking pictures of them, while the group set their tripods up to view the pigeon 200 yards away. So I was some how leading the group, trying to edge them on, when I spotted it soaring in the air. That’s right; I’m the bastard who spotted the hawk. Now hawks aren’t terribly exciting, I mean we have them in America, but after looking at sparrows through a thousand dollar telescope, it’s quite the find.
Zen moment of the trip: As we walked the trail I came upon a dead cat that must’ve been sitting there for at least a week. I waited for Naoki to catch up to catch his reaction. He had no reaction. So I waited for the elementary students to turn the corner. I couldn’t wait to see them freak out, but out of nowhere, one of the older ladies tells them to stop, and another woman runs up to the cat and covers it with straw and grass so the children wouldn’t see. I was thoroughly disappointed, but somehow, thought it was really nice of the woman to cover up the cat. Then I started to doubt her actions. Yeah that cat looked pretty disgusting, but that’s what happens to bodies after they die. The little girls were 10-12 years old, so I think they could’ve handled seeing it. It just made me wonder why death had to be hidden from the girls. Maybe I over read the situation, but I can imagine a type of Japan where they wouldn’t fear children seeing a dead cat. But the woman made me feel better about the situation because after the children passed she slid the cat off the road. I thought that was giving a lot of respect to the cat. Respect the local people obviously didn’t have.
