AS I DRIFTED UP OUT OF A DEEP SLEEP I became aware of a faint repetitive plik… plik… plik… plik…
Huh? What’s that? Water dripping?
I sat up and turned my head side to side, trying to ascertain the direction of the sound. There was a brief pause, then plak… plak… plak… plak… plak… plak…
I moved toward the front of the van, hoping it wasn’t a mouse gnawing on something. The sound seemed to come from outside. I had left a bag of collected litter by the door. Had a critter broken into the bag, (re)scattered the contents and was now trying to chew a discarded water bottle?
I stuck my head out the door. The bag was undisturbed. The elusive noise changed to DAK…DAK… DAK… DAK…
There were headlights about a hundred yards away silhouetting a figure at work. Ah, that’s it. Someone is trying to drive tent stakes into the rocky ground. Oh, the misery of desert pavement. Oh the misery of setting up camp in the dark. What time is it anyway? 2:38AM. Someone had badly miscalculated travel time, or had trouble along the way. Here’s wishing better luck from here on, amigo.
Good thing the lights were on in a distance, that mystery solution could have taken hours! Today’s useless piece of information: Owls ears are asymmetrical to allow pinpoint triangulation of sound source.
I can no longer tilt my head to locate sound. My hearing aids insist all sound be heard equally in both ears. Irritating.
Al, hi!
Love the article & the pictures are to die for !! May I please ask…what camera have U used ?
The first two were taken with an 11 year old Canon EOS T3i. The third is a stock photo.