I know the fallen trees as well as the standing ones. The architecture of the woods creates spaces like rooms in a house, familiar places where I can go.
I sit on a rock in one of those rooms.
It isn’t quiet. There is birdsong, lots of it, but also the faint hum of cars on Route 22.
Until one revs its engine. It’s so loud, it’s as if I can feel the sound vibrate through the rock I’m sitting on.
Why do they have to be so loud, I wonder, what is it about making a lot of noise?
As the engine noise fades away I hear the woodpecker again.
It’s just a small bird, but I can hear it all the way back at the farm, all day long, banging on the trees in the woods. It make so much noise, I was sure it had to be a big bird. I imagined a Pileated Woodpecker.
So one day went looking for it.
What I found was a shadowy movement in the tree tops, the smallest of woodpeckers, beating the biggest drum. Finding food, but also claiming its territory. This is mine, this is mine it boomed over and over again.
That’s when I realized the person driving the loud car and the woodpecker were basically doing the same thing.
I’m here and I’m big, they warn, get out of the way and stay off my turf!
Oh, so true. I endure the same spike in traffic volume with several identifiable vehicles holding their single-car parade through town, looking for attention but not appearing to note the response they elicit. However, I noticed a swing toward balance in that recently, several other vehicles (car, motorcycle) who habitually use the street I live on as a bypass of the main one, have backed off racing acceleration to go the 500 yards from stop sign to stop sign if I’m outside walking with the dog. Apparently having noticed our flinching reactions in the past, and gracing us with some consideration?
I still prefer the echoing sounds of the three woodpecker species in my nature sphere, tho…
Its heartening to hear that you’ve noticed a difference in the speed of the traffic where you walk. Maybe they are paying attention. I’d like to think that’s true. Thanks for your thoughtful words Amy.