The Morning Porch

The view from my front porch every morning, in 140 or fewer characters

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Saturday May 04, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

0

Low clouds fly east to west. From above the road, the loud snap of a phoebe’s beak on the spot where some fly had been a moment before.

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Tagged clouds, phoebe

May·04

Friday May 03, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

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In a soft light filtered by high clouds, trees framed by a fog of new leaves. After each burst of wren song, the goldfinch commentaries.

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Tagged budburst, Carolina wren, goldfinches

May·03

Thursday May 02, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

2

Two male woodpeckers rattle at each other from 100 yards apart. A carpenter bee inspects the porch, its drone a perfect generator of unease.

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Tagged carpenter bees, downy woodpecker

May·02

Wednesday May 01, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

1

A bluejay imitates a titmouse, blaring the first note of its call, and drops down to drink from the sky-blue trickle in the ditch.

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Tagged blue jays, stream, tufted titmouse

May·01

Tuesday April 30, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

1

A blue-headed vireo foraging in a birch tree eats as it sings: slow and deliberate, a swallow of insect followed by a few, short notes.

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Tagged black birch, blue-headed vireo

Apr·30

Monday April 29, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

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A squirrel climbs to the top of a black cherry tree, samples a budding leaf and dashes back down. The aspens wear a new, gray-green fur.

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Tagged black cherry, gray squirrel, quaking aspen

Apr·29

Sunday April 28, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

3

I look up from my laptop just as a Cooper’s hawk launches from the tulip poplar, flashing through the treetops toward its nest of sticks.

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Tagged Cooper's hawk, hawks, tulip tree

Apr·28

Saturday April 27, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

0

From the greening-up lilac and the blooming forsythia, a steady chatter of goldfinches, their own plumage now turned from green to yellow.

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Tagged forsythia, goldfinches, lilac

Apr·27

Friday April 26, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

1

The fierce cries of a male kestrel climbing, fluttering and diving over the corner of the field. A crow hurries over to harass it.

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Tagged crows, hawks, kestrel

Apr·26

Thursday April 25, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

1

A series of high-pitched howls from down in the hollow: coyotes or children? It’s hard to tell. I watch a silent, nearly motionless crow.

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Tagged coyote, crows, neighbors

Apr·25

Wednesday April 24, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

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A chickadee carries a piece of gray down into their hole in the tree; its mate follows it in. A minute later it carries the down back out.

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Tagged cherry tree, chickadee

Apr·24

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

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Clear—but how clear? I notice a faint haze in the sky near the sun. Off in the woods, the white cloud of another shadbush coming into bloom.

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Tagged shadbush

Apr·23

Monday April 22, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

0

The hammer-blows of a pileated woodpecker opening up an oak. Peonies are sprouting in the garden, an infant’s pink, half-open fists.

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Tagged peony, pileated woodpecker

Apr·22

Sunday April 21, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

0

A towhee sits on a high branch at sunrise, his breast puffed out against the cold. His rufous feathers briefly match the color of the ridge.

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Tagged lilac, sunrise, towhee

Apr·21

Saturday April 20, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

0

A few degrees above freezing. The sun’s still shining when the snow begins to fall, small flakes sifting down through the flowering trees.

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Tagged snow, snowflakes

Apr·20

Friday April 19, 2013

Posted by Dave Bonta

1

The soft colors of trees just coming into blossom: birch, elm, shadbush. The bright yellow on yellow of a bumblebee visiting the daffodils.

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Tagged black birch, bumblebees, daffodils, elm, shadbush

Apr·19

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On this date

  • May 21, 2012
    A pileated woodpecker lands on the dead elm right beside the flicker den hole and knocks twice. A flicker pokes her head out. He flies off.
  • May 21, 2011
    A breeze stirs the tulip tree from top to bottom, its four-fingered mitts rocking, cautious as the queen of England's white-gloved wave.
  • May 21, 2010
    The clouds finally thin out at mid-morning. An orange skipper passes over the thin-bladed grass to settle on the sunny half of a dock leaf.
  • May 21, 2009
    A female indigo bunting drops into the cherry tree to snack on tiny tent caterpillars, reaching daintily into their vase-shaped nest.
  • May 21, 2008
    Sun! I hear the crow that thinks it's a duck, a catbird's simultaneous translation of a wood thrush song. Last night, I dreamed of bluejays.

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Detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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Other backyard and nature blogs

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My other sites

  • DaveBonta.com
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  • Woodrat Photoblog

 

New Year's 2011 self-portrait on the porch
on the porch, 1/1/2011
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