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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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American crow

February 4, 2021 by Dave Bonta

A crow mob on the move—their angry cries. Sun stripes the snow. I hold my head still to watch the slowly shifting points of glitter.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, snow
January 28, 2021 by Dave Bonta

Bitter cold. Clouds hide the sunrise, but the crows still herald it. The squirrels appear to be staying in their nests.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, clouds, cold, gray squirrel, sunrise
January 8, 2021 by Dave Bonta

A pileated woodpecker banging its head, crows denouncing a raven, a chicken cheering for her latest egg… the local dinosaurs are restless.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, chickens, pileated woodpecker, raven
January 7, 2021 by Dave Bonta

Cloudy and cold. The sound of crows trying to call up a mob. A squirrel perched on a high branch scratches behind its ear with a hind leg.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, gray squirrel
December 31, 2020 by Dave Bonta

Overcast with the temperature right at freezing and a faint new dusting of snow. Crows and a raven trade insults up on the ridge.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, raven
May 31, 2020 by Dave Bonta

Gloriously cool and sunny. A doe grazing at the other end of the yard stiffens and cocks her ears at a crow call—a sure sign she has a fawn.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, deer
April 22, 2019 by Dave Bonta

The tall tulip tree has burst its buds—shining green nubbins against the deep blue. Two crows chase a raven, diving, jeering themselves on.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, raven, tulip tree
March 16, 2019 by Dave Bonta

I dreamt I was awoken by the first phoebe of spring. Instead, snowflakes blossom on my coat, and two crows argue back and forth.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, snowflakes
March 10, 2019 by Dave Bonta

Crows call through the fog. I open my book to a haiku about crows calling through fog. Having melted a bit, the snow is again a blank page.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, fog, snow
February 17, 2019 by Dave Bonta

Today the icy snowpack can just support my weight. Crows down at the end of the field remind me of Twitter: two’s company, three’s a mob.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, snow
September 12, 2025December 26, 2018 by Dave Bonta

A corvid morning: crow, raven, and jay under a heavy gray sky. The half-cooing, half-scolding sound of gray squirrels in courtship.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, blue jays, gray squirrel, raven
December 8, 2018 by Dave Bonta

In one direction, the waxy chatter of goldfinches; in the other, a mob of crows. I go in before the sun comes out—my legs are too cold.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, American goldfinch
October 2, 2018 by Dave Bonta

Over at the neighbors’, a chainsaw whines and grumbles through a tree, waves of noise rising and falling like the years. A distant crow.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, chainsaw 2 Comments
September 28, 2018 by Dave Bonta

Cold and damp. The distant rumble of the heating oil truck’s diesel engine coming up the hollow. Voices of crows. Voices of children.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, trucks
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On This Day

  • February 14, 2025
    Bright sun belies the bitter wind. A tiny but perfect snowflake lands on the back of my hand, that watchword for familiarity gloved in the…
  • February 14, 2024
    Cold and clearing off for sunrise. From some sheltered spot, a Carolina wren is duetting with the wind.
  • February 14, 2023
    An hour past sunrise, it’s mostly clear and quiet except for two red-bellied woodpeckers, their whinnying starting to sound almost like purrs.
  • February 14, 2022
    Instead of the gloomy morning I was expecting, the sky’s clear and there’s a fresh inch of dry snow. The crows are still exclaiming over…
  • February 14, 2021
    Tentative footsteps at the edge of the porch, first from a gray squirrel, then a Carolina wren, each obviously annoyed by my presence.

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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