Grouse on Grouse on Grouse

When it was still warm outside (so many months ago now), my husband and I were sitting on our back deck with our end-of-the-evening cocktail.  Relaxing. Chilling. Comfortable silence.

Until we heard a sound... khkhkhkuuoo-uuoo-uuoo-uuoo

We're thinking "Owls.  Cool, we have owls!" 

But the sound continued... khkhkhkuuoo-uuoo-uuoo-uu  khkhkhkuuoouuoouuoouu
And we were no longer so sure about owls.  It was a different sound. But still really cool. 

And the coolest part was that the sound flitted around us, as a 'call and response'.  We'd hear it from a house or two above us, then from the direct left, then from somewhere to the right and down a little ways.  Finally, we heard the sound from a scant 7 feet away, in the underbrush of our 'natural' back yard. ('Natural' just means we've given up trying to tame the dandelions and thigh-high grasses that flourish up our little hill.)

And we realized that these sound-making things were very low to the ground. Couldn't be owls at all. 

So what could they be?  Seemed vaguely bird-like.  But it was night and pitch-black all around us. So definitely not starlings or robins or woodpeckers... and not your typical birdsong anyways.

So we listened.  And thought.  And wondered.  Until...

OMG! We have grouse!

OMG! OMG!  Of course we have grouse! Because we live on the side of (wait for it...) Grouse Mountain! 

It was a magical moment and a magical night.  The grouse trilled and warbled and communicated. Their many points of sound created an aural web around us while we savoured our G&Ts.

Shortly after that night, the boy was hired on Grouse Mountain. He works in the cafeteria as a cashier and busboy.  He has a nice blue shirt, a tidy black fleece and a name tag that says "Will - North Vancouver" on it.

At first, he'd come home with only a few tidbits about his new work experience, due to an overall air of uncertainty that kept him surprisingly short on words. This was his first job, so he had some things to learn about being an employee and taking instruction from others.

But after a handful of shifts, he began to feel at home in his new environment and his tongue loosened considerably. His stories came faster and furious-er and were more characteristically... embellished. (After all, one should never sacrifice a good story on the altar of the truth!)

He trilled, he warbled. He recounted his words, his co-workers' words and his supervisors' words in his own version of 'call and response' with his colourful descriptions of a worker's life on Grouse Mountain...

Most importantly, he communicated.

And we enjoyed the wall of sound as we savoured our G&Ts.



PS - this grouse is pretty cool also: