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Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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Dave Bonta May 17, 2016

A phoebe catches insects right in front of the porch with a sound like the snapping of fingers as each exoskeleton is crushed in its bill.

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Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged phoebe
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On This Day

  • August 18, 2024
    Everything drips and glistens after last night’s storm. Red-bellied woodpeckers exchange calls then lapse into silence. A distant train.
  • August 18, 2023
    Just after 8:00, the sun breaks through the clouds and a breeze springs up. From the powerline, the hollow knocks of a pileated woodpecker breakfasting…
  • August 18, 2022
    Crystal-clear, with leaves still wet from rain: I carry a chair up into the woods, luxuriate in the shimmering green and gold.
  • August 18, 2021
    Rain and warblers. An earth-shaking blast from the quarry two miles away. The soft susurrus of tree crickets.
  • August 18, 2016
    Sunny and cool. Blowflies, hover flies and paper wasps takes turns landing on my bare arms; the wasps have by far the silkiest touch.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

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