TheBanyanTree: Looking Out My Back Door

[Sharon Mack]

I SEE THE RIVER...

I live along the Housatonic River.  There was much PCB pollution from
GE for a very long time and the wildlife died out slowly until the river
and its banks were virtually lifeless. 

Through grandiose efforts on the part of area residents and a few (very
few) politicians (I'm sure they were backed into a corner and the only
way out was to help) GE finally began clean-up.  They started just above
our property and have since traveled down the river several miles.  It
has been approximately two years and life is finally returning to our
part of the river.

The first sign of this was last year.  We heard a terrific mournful
whine.  It sounded like something dying.  It went on for quite sometime.
 It was a frightening sound.  Upon investigation, one of the
environmental scientists from the college I work for determined it to be
coyotes.  They had worked their way down from a construction site that
had demolished their habitat.  The sound was not their dying but their
yowl over a food catch.  They stayed for the summer and moved on in the
fall, probably looking for a quieter place to make their dens.

The next sign happened in the fall.  I saw three female and a male duck
(wild).  They floated on the river and stayed by the house.  It was a
sign that food had become available for them.  The funny thing is, I saw
them the entire winter.  They did not go south.  We had a harsh winter
this year in New England and I was surprised that they stayed, but there
they were floating between the ice flows that rushed down the river. 
The ducks seemed to take it in stride.  I now only see the male.  I am
hoping that that is because his female counterparts are nesting
somewhere.  For this reason, I hope our coyotes stay away.

I next heard, for the first time, the "peepers" singing their spring
song.  Each and every night their song gets louder and louder and more
vibrant.  It signals spring, though long in coming...and life, though
longer in coming, is indeed, coming back to our river.

Finally, and most delightful of all, I heard a "bob-white's" whistle. 
My windows were open and I could not resist.  I answered his whistle,
expecting an answer but never expecting to see him.  After the third
return whistle, I saw his little head appear over the embankment on the
riverbank.  He looked from side-to-side and rushed toward my window,
looking for a hopeful mate.  He was so close that, had my screen not
been in, I could have petted him.  Funny, but when my dogs spotted him,
they kept quiet.  I think they knew it was a special visit.  I kept the
bird close for a little while with an occasional whistle and called a
few friends and let them hear his answer over my cell phone.  We were
all enthralled!  I finally had to disappoint him and stop whistling so
he could go on looking for a real mate and get back to the cover of the
brush.

I am thrilled.  Life truly is returning to our river...like spring this
year, it has been a long time in coming!

Sharon Mack