I took a walk today in the Francis Carter preserve. The trail was marked as a 0.7 mile walk called the Grassland Loop. In truth it is probably at least a two-mile trek. I decided to take a short cut because I had a longer walked planned for the next day and didn’t want to overdo. I’m still a novice hiker. I walked 1.7 miles, climbing over rocks and detouring “off piste” around several downed trees. Despite the rocks, the trail was fairly flat and seemed well-groomed to me, not good for birding. Grooming crews disturb the avian peace. When I walk in the woods, I don’t have to see birds, but I do want peace and quiet. I want to commune with nature. It’s bad enough when people bring their dogs (off leash), but I can’t abide people chatting on their cell phones while they are hiking.
Today there was a woman, on her cell phone, who passed me who had two noisy teenage girls straggling a bit behind her. I waited as the trio passed me and took a different trail only the have them lap me again. All merrily chatting away on their phones. Loudly. They might as well have been on the treadmill at the gym. With all that chattering, I didn’t expect to hear any tweeting, much less spot any new birds. I was right. The birds of Westerly leave phone chatting hikers to their own devices. Another Zen of Birding lesson.
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