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Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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cottontail

January 24, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Treetops sway wildly at first light, squeaking and clattering. A rabbit zigzags across the yard, pausing at each dark patch of bare ground.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cottontail
January 12, 2009 by Dave Bonta

The moon comes out, and there’s the rabbit, crouching next to the lilac. It races across the driveway and disappears into the cattails.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cattails, cottontail, lilac
January 9, 2009 by Dave Bonta

At first light, a rare glimpse of a rabbit below the porch. I can hear the ice shattering as it chews on a clump of dead brome grass.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cottontail, gray squirrel
May 14, 2008 by Dave Bonta

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.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cottontail
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On This Day

  • June 3, 2025
    A lurid sun glimmers through high-altitude haze. Somewhere in the deep grass a hen turkey calls to her poults, as goldfinches party it up in the treetops.
  • June 3, 2024
    Cool and overcast, without a breath of wind. A branch breaks under the weight of a squirrel, who leaps to safety. A cerulean warbler and a field sparrow trade licks.
  • June 3, 2022
    A front blew in overnight and now it’s gorgeous and cool. Strong sunlight infiltrates the forest. The common bird calls sound symphonic.
  • June 3, 2021
    First light. Near where the stream gurgles under the road, a song sparrow sings a dream version of his usual song.
  • June 3, 2020
    Thunderstorm just past, many leaves on the maple and black cherry trees remain upside-down, like pale, open palms turned toward the sky.

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.

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

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