Sherrie decided that she had nothing to lose, and joined Robirda, following up on a mysterious message about a rare Grey Hawk sighting supposedly dropped carelessly by Birdin', along with a random pen. They managed to decode the message and headed deeper into the woods, only to discover two disappointing facts:
Fact #1 It was grey all right, but not a Hawk.
Fact #2 There was already someone there, a couple who did not look remotely like birders, calling themselves "drhaas" and the gentleman muttering something under his breath about "all this time chasing this and I could have had TEN smileys! We should have dumped it!"
Both Sherrie and Robirda had to agree, there really are some hobbies that bring out stranger folks even than birders. Smileys? What the heck? Does that count for anything, the way a birder's life list does? How nuts is that?
Scratching their heads and hearing the calls of many nesting warblers in the area, like American Redstarts, Blue-Winged Warblers and Common Yellowthroats, Sherrie had an idea...
"We're already here, the mayflowers are gorgeous, you have your insanely huge binoculars, let's just make the best of a bad situation and see what birds we can find here."
Though Robirda took umbrage at the snide binocular comment, she could agree...the birding and wildflower show seemed to be excellent here. Away they went, binoculars and all.
They'd settled into a comfortable truce, the Yellow Throated Vireos and Wood Thrushes soothing all differences of opinion when...there was a rustle in the brush. What could it be? Too big for a squirrel. A deer, maybe? As they crept through the brush, a voice cried out...
"Oh, this is the ruination of hours of patience! How dare you two!"
Once their hearts had slowed to a normal pace after this startling encounter, they realized it was Birdin', crouching as if to shoot........a photo.
"I've been sitting here all morning, staking out a Pileated Woodpecker and waiting to have it lead me to its nest site and now you two come and scare it off! The nerve!"
The ladies explained sheepishly what they'd been doing and Birdin' just laughed.
"Aha, now I get it. Well, if it's a mystery you want, try this one on for size."
She handed them a message in a strange script. Will they take the bait? Will you?
Find out where Birdin' took the two rare birds with this last strange message and see what they discovered for yourself. Enjoy the tromp through the forest, especially beautiful...and birdy...in the springtime. Keep your ears open, you never know who...or what...you might find in the woods!
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to James Dalton of the Wisconsin DNR. Geocaches placed on Wisconsin Department of Natural Resouce managed lands require permission by means of a notification form.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.