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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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American crow

November 30, 2012November 30, 2012 by Dave Bonta

After weeks of near-absence, crows call and quarrel in all directions. It must be the gut piles, venison viscera festering among the leaves.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, deer, hunters 1 Comment
October 18, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Four crows around the houses are voicing loud displeasure at something or other. I hear bemusement in the croak of a raven high overhead.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, raven
August 15, 2012 by Dave Bonta

cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket CROW CROW CROW cricket cricket cricket crick

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, crickets 4 Comments
April 28, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Cold and overcast. Up above the blossoming hawthorn, three crows walk back and forth on the forest floor as if searching for a lost trinket.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, hawthorn 1 Comment
April 19, 2012April 19, 2012 by Dave Bonta

The green blush deepens on the hillside; shining motes of pollen speckle my laptop screen. A crow flaps up from the black currant bushes.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, black currants, pollen 5 Comments
April 3, 2012 by Dave Bonta

An old strand of caterpillar silk at the wood’s edge shimmers in the sun. A crow keeps saying something urgent in four syllables.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, caterpillars 2 Comments
February 4, 2014March 30, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Frost has silvered the grass where a rabbit grazes, one hop away from a spreading patch of sun. When a crow flies over he flattens his ears.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, cottontail, frost 3 Comments
February 18, 2012 by Dave Bonta

The sun glints off periwinkle leaves in the yard where snow has just melted. All sounds come from a great distance: crow, woodpecker, train.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, myrtle, pileated woodpecker, snow, train 1 Comment
February 14, 2012 by Dave Bonta

This morning it’s the titmouse’s turn to sing his spring song—an ode to tedium. I’m grateful when it’s drowned out by a mob of crows.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, tufted titmouse 1 Comment
February 7, 2012February 7, 2012 by Dave Bonta

The deep, soulful croak of a raven high above the ridge, side by side with its mate, heading east. Far behind them, a rabble of crows.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, raven 1 Comment
January 24, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Five degrees above freezing; a steady tap of meltwater on the porch roof. Crows. A blue, eye-shaped hole in the clouds eases shut.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow 1 Comment
January 12, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Cool and damp. The low-hanging clouds catch on the treetops. Crows signal their locations with almost every wingbeat.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, fog 1 Comment
February 4, 2014January 6, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Clear sky, bright sun, and the temperature well above freezing. A crow’s shadow scuds over what’s left of the snow like a dark promise.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, snow 3 Comments
December 5, 2011 by Dave Bonta

Crows and ravens squabble over deer gut-piles in the woods. Dirt flies at the woods’ edge as a groundhog enlarges the entrance to its den.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, groundhog, raven 1 Comment
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On This Day

  • January 12, 2025
    Not far below freezing. The sun appears through a keyhole in the clouds. A gray squirrel reaches into the snow and extracts a black walnut.
  • January 12, 2024
    The Carolina wren who sleeps above my laundry-room door forms a one-bird cheering section for the sunrise. Then the cloud-lid closes, and only the creek…
  • January 12, 2023
    Fog prolongs the dawn well past sunrise. How long will squirrels keep scolding after a cat has slunk away? Ten minutes and counting.
  • January 12, 2021
    A mixed flock of winter birds flitting though the yard. The mockingbird comes flying over the house and joins them at a half-frozen seep.
  • January 12, 2020
    A yellow gash appears in the clouds to the east and heals up again. The cardinal attacks his reflection. Military jets howl over, unseen.

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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