Coopers!!

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Cacklers,

I found this in my email box today and thought you all might enjoy it.

From David Alinson in BC:

Thought some of you would get a kick out of this...

Over the weekend, I was returning home after walking my boy Mischa
down at Albert Head Lagoon. And as I turned off Metchosin Road onto
Latoria Road in Colwood I heard a voice calling out to me. I saw a
neighbour of mine who was going the other way and turning at the stop
sign there. She was pointing frantically behind her, and all I heard
her say was "COOPER'S!"...and again "COOPER'S!"...and then I heard
her yell "HAWKS!". I thought Wow, I never knew she was a birder and
how great it was that she can recognize and identify a hawk. As I
slowed and pulled up beside her, I stuck my head out the window
expecting to see a huge kettle of hawks over the gravel pit...

However, the bubble burst when she yelled out one last time and I
realized what she was actually trying to tell me over the wind and
traffic noise...

Are you ready for this one?!

"COPPERS"..."COPPERS"..."COPS"...and then with some exasperation in
her voice, "COPS HAVE A SPEED TRAP AT TOP OF HILL!". I smiled and
waved in appreciation and then burst out laughing. And no, I did not
get a speeding ticket.

[Think about it: the word 'cops' has a similar sound to 'hawks' and I
also just thought she was mispronouncing Cooper's with 'coppers'.]

I might have to send this story into Bird Watcher's Digest...

David Allinson
Langford, BC