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Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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barred owl

September 17, 2017 by Dave Bonta

Out early, I listen to barred owls, watch the pulsing light of a glowworm crossing the walk like a satellite on an exceptionally low orbit.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags barred owl, glowworms 1 Comment
January 15, 2017 by Dave Bonta

A barred owl calls in the bright sun. Snow meltwater starts dripping onto the porch roof—a simple rhythm that grows increasingly complex.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags barred owl, snow
January 3, 2017 by Dave Bonta

Steady rain. Two drenched birders walk up the road, towels draped over their binoculars, and tell me they’d managed to flush a barred owl.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags barred owl, Christmas bird count, rain
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On This Day

  • July 13, 2025
    Another warm and humid morning. A brown butterfly lands on my book and closes its wings to show a row of eyespots: Little Wood Satyr. In the deep shade next to the springhouse, a twig snaps under a paw or hoof.
  • July 13, 2024
    Cool with murky, cloud-mediated sunlight. A hummingbird perches on a walnut branch for thirty seconds, head swiveling all about.
  • July 13, 2023
    Haze before the heat. The tulip poplar sprout in its circle of deer fence is waving its newest Mickey Mouse hands.
  • July 13, 2022
    Cool and clear. An asterisk of thistledown floats by—high time for the goldfinches to be nesting, I think. But they’re still gadding about in the treetops.
  • July 13, 2021
    Stifling humidity. With so many birds done nesting now, the catbird is the lone singer, echoing like a musician in an empty club.

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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.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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