crabapple

Saturday February 13, 2021

Dave Bonta February 13, 2021

Half an hour after sunrise, birds crowd into the crabapple beside the spring, flitting quick as thought through the network of branches.

Dave Bonta February 4, 2020

Unseasonably warm. The first half of a song sparrow’s song. Two titmice in the crabapple swipe their bills back and forth on their branches.

Dave Bonta December 14, 2019

Rain and fog. Gray-green lichen glows on tree trunks in the woods and on every twisted branch of the old crabapple beside the springhouse.

Dave Bonta May 2, 2019

Under heavy clouds, the big crabapple tree’s first blossoms are beginning to open. A honeybee makes a close inspection of my shirt.

Dave Bonta February 1, 2019 1

Snow fine as fingerprint powder; it’s almost zero. Two cardinals and a jay in the crabapple tree wait their turn to drink from the spring.

Dave Bonta January 19, 2018

From the other house, the squeak of a cloth on window glass. Juncos forage under the crabapple. The thermometer inches up toward unfreezing.

Dave Bonta April 24, 2016

Cold air, warm sun. Two male towhees tweet at each other in the lilac. The old crabapple is coming into bloom, as shockingly pink as ever.

Dave Bonta September 6, 2015

Fog rising from from the valley breaks over the treetops like silent surf. The weak sun finds hints of scarlet under the crabapple leaves.

Dave Bonta May 8, 2015

The old crabapple next to the springhouse is in full bloom, a mass of shocking pink abuzz with insects. The sharp snap of a phoebe’s beak.

Dave Bonta May 15, 2014 1

Leaves blow backward, signalling storms to come. Fallen crabapple petals litter the ground between the cattails like bloody thumbprints.