Birdcall like the chant of some demented sports fan: the yellow-billed cuckoo is back! The forest canopy must be full enough to skulk in.
The view from my front porch every morning, in 140 or fewer characters
Monthly Archives: May 2008
A black-and-white warbler’s two...
A black-and-white warbler’s two-syllable whisper; drumroll from a Good God bird. The clock is blinking—what time is it? The patter of rain.
Tagged black-and-white warbler, pileated woodpecker
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The same woodpeckers and nuthatches...
The same woodpeckers and nuthatches that we heard all winter, but with flickering leaves. The same wind as yesterday, but with golden light.
Tagged nuthatch
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At 6:00, the sky grows dark again as...
At 6:00, the sky grows dark again as a storm approaches. Wood thrushes start back up. The lilac’s white torches all point at the ground.
Tagged lilac, wood thrush
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Cloudy and cool. A tanager’s...
Cloudy and cool. A tanager’s plucked string; no glimpse of scarlet. Where are they off to, the hummingbirds that keep zooming past my porch?
Tagged hummingbird, scarlet tanager
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At first light, the silhouette of a...
At first light, the silhouette of a hawk in a dead tree above the corner of the field. A small rabbit grazes in the yard, ears twitching.
Tagged cottontail
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Cold and clearing. The black cat pads...
Cold and clearing. The black cat pads up the driveway, coyote bait still in her belly and the usual hungry, hateful look in her yellow eyes.
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Black-throated green: the warbler lisping...
Black-throated green: the warbler lisping at the woods’ edge, but also the woods itself, green-feathered, trunks running dark with rain.
Tagged black-throated green warbler
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Sunday, and one can hear between bursts...
Sunday, and one can hear between bursts of oriole song the creaking of wings, the drone of a bumblebee, a deer snorting a quarter-mile off.
Tagged Baltimore oriole, bumblebees, deer
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Two myrtle colonies are closing in...
Two myrtle colonies are closing in on what’s left of my lawn. In the grass, the green fists of bracken open complex fingers to the rain.
