June 03rd, 2020

Joy and I were out hiking with our cameras again today.  Bob came too.  This sign is very clear about horses but it said nothing about cameras so off we went.


We never know what sort of hike it's going to be ahead of time.  Each individual hike seems to have a theme but we never know what that theme will be early on.  We have hopes, of course, but we never know the outcome until it's over.  When  we've both gone to our respective homes and reviewed the photos that's when we realize what sort of theme that hike had.  Turns out this hike was mostly a botanical hike. With a few bugs and lizards.

We saw birds aplenty.  But they zoomed by so fast they were like little feathered rockets.  And we heard birds tweetytweeting in the trees but couldn't see them there, dang it. If it had been a listening safari it would have been in the top 5 category.  It was downright noisy at times! 

But the unique thing about this particular photo safari was what we heard. We kept hearing things that we absolutely could not identify.  There we were hiking along, always keeping an eye out for photographable things when we heard the first UHC (unidentified hidden critter) sound. 

Joy said, "Do you hear that?"

I stopped and listened hard.  "oh wow, yeah, I do!  What on earth is that?" fully expecting Joy or Bob to actually know what it was (coz they usually do).

Wide eyed, she answered, "I have no idea!" 

Wow!  That almost never happens!

We walked on further and heard, sometimes the same sounds, sometimes a different but still UHC noise, which again, nobody could identify.  So we began to guess.  The conversation when something like this:

  "Maybe it's a frog' I suggested, "it's kind of a froggy sound" 

"But there's no pond anywhere near here." Joy pointed out.

"True, but it still sounds kind of like a sort of frog to me"  I responded

"Or a duck" she suggested

"No pond, remember?" I reminded her

"Oh right.  Maybe there's a pond nearby that we just cannot see, like on the other side of the treeline". 

"Well  that's certainly possible" I agreed

And we would stand and stare through the forest thick with green growing things of all sorts and sizes as if we had x-ray vision (which we do not) and see absolutely nothing and all and we would walk further.

Then later, again hearing a totally different mysterious OHC racket one or the other of us suggested that perhaps it was a Cicada, since this is the year that they are supposed to return.  And the other one said the new sound was a little like a small yipping dog. And the first one said maybe cranes. And the conversation ended with the possibility of aliens.  But, even though these different unidentified sounds continued throughout our hike,  we never found out, for sure, what they were.   The hike is long over and Ii's still a mystery.

On the other hand, I did get some decent photos. And if you care to view them, I have a slideshow of them right here:

Anyway, that's it.  That was the photo safari this week!  It was kind of hot but the photos were totally worth it. Hopefully, there will be another and different report, next week!  And maybe, eventually, we will know what sort of OHC made those sounds!​

​Or not.