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Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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sharp-shinned hawk

December 13, 2014 by Dave Bonta

A sharp-shinned hawk flying three feet above the ground arrows up into the woods. The faint hint of sun disappears behind thickening clouds.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, hawks, sharp-shinned hawk
August 21, 2014 by Dave Bonta

Sun shining through fog and the growing tents of fall webworms. A sharp-shinned hawk sits atop the dead elm, his head swiveling all around.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags accipiter, elm, fall webworms, fog, hawks, sharp-shinned hawk
October 22, 2013 by Dave Bonta

Cloudy and brisk; the woods are full of falling leaves. A sharp-shinned hawk flaps and glides just above the treetops, heading south.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags fall foliage, hawks, sharp-shinned hawk, wind 1 Comment
April 15, 2013January 4, 2013 by Dave Bonta

Sleek silhouette of a sharp-shinned hawk. In the rosebush’s densely scribbled heart, the faint throbbing of something with very small bones.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags hawks, multiflora rose, sharp-shinned hawk 1 Comment
April 15, 2013February 26, 2011 by Dave Bonta

Gray sky. A gray breast feather floats down and lands on the snow. Ten minutes later, a sharp-shinned hawk appears in the big maple.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags accipiter, hawks, red maple, sharp-shinned hawk 14 Comments
April 15, 2013December 4, 2009 by Dave Bonta

A squirrel foraging in the leaves suddenly streaks for the nearest tree, barely escaping the sharp-shinned hawk hurtling through the forest.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags accipiter, gray squirrel, hawks, sharp-shinned hawk
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On This Day

  • September 2, 2025
    Sun floods the treetops. I sneeze so loudly it sets off the neighbor’s dog, a quarter-mile away. The scrabble of claws from a high-speed red squirrel chase.
  • September 2, 2024
    Crystal-clear and cool. A screech owl quavers in answer to a distant trill as sun floods the treetops. Autumn is here.
  • September 2, 2023
    Clear, cold, and still. Two hours after sunrise, the sun finally strikes my face. Random chirps from migrant birds. The first cicada starts up.
  • September 2, 2022
    Cool and clear except for wisps of shredded contrails. Sound is out of the east: rumble of a train, the quarry’s grind.
  • September 2, 2021
    And just like that, it’s autumn: clear and cool, the meadows yellow with goldenrod. A hummingbird visits the Mexican sunflower. How long till she’s off to Mexico herself?

See all...

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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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