I first heard the expression that I assumed was a Dutch specialty “Are you made of sugar?” (Je bent toch niet van suiker) in the Netherlands, but apparently the phrase is also used elsewhere in Europe to tease those who rather not go outside in the rain. When I balked at heading out in dismal weather to Blue Spring State Park yesterday for a bird walk with a local club, Arthur teased me into going anyway – I’m not made of sugar, after all. The unexpected lack of rain at the park didn’t prevent the club’s walk from being cancelled, a fact only realized after we called the trip leader to double-check we had the right meeting point. We had a nice walk anyway, the two of us, and though I secretly and uncharitably hoped we’d find a rare bird during our visit to the park, I was very satisfied with our best bird of the morning: a dozen or so Wild Turkeys foraging in the grass near the parking lot.
I’m still not used to having such great views of these big birds. I come across them quite often along the Spring-to-spring Trail on my regular bike rides, and I just love seeing them. The flock at Blue Spring yesterday was our first sighting of the species at that park.
By the way, we did end up seeing a fantastic, somewhat rare bird yesterday, it just wasn’t at Blue Spring. More on that sighting in a future post!
