September 30: Island wedding

When a professional birder gets married on an island that's a fall bird migration hotspot, there are more important things to focus on than getting him into his suit.

 

Wedding party

trying to help the groom

see a rare bird.

September 29: Wave action

Waves crashing

the length of the harbor.

Late night conversation.

September 28: Beauty enough

Heron preening

under the daylit half-moon.

What more do you need?

 

September 27: Restless

Migrants' flight calls

within the evening fog.

Restless night alone.

September 26: Foghorn

Feel it in my heart--

foghorn's long, low bass note

sounding above the surf.

September 25: Lunar photography

After nightfall

it's all out of focus--

trying to shoot the moon.

September 24: Card games

Cards on the lawn--

explaining what it means

when hearts are broken.

September 23: Butterflies

Searching for Question Marks--

existential dilemma

in the garden.

 

September 22: Equinox

autumnal equinox

in the trail smooth new chestnuts

offering balance

September 21: Ants

Trying to drink my tea

without disturbing

the sugar ants.

September 20: Storm

Wakened in the night

by wind rattling my door.

Ghost stories.

September 19: Focus

Morning meditation:

trying to find the green bird

among the leaves.

September 18: Island flora

island cemetery

where to find gentian flowers

disturbed soil

 

September 17: Fog

Fogbound island.

Watching painted ladies sip

at the zinnias.

 

 

September 16: Chrysalis

On the slop bucket

perfect chrysalis

embellished with gold leaf

 

 

September 15: Night sky

Rumors of northern lights

draw us out

under the Milky Way.

 

September 14: Class trip

Yesterday I helped lead a group of seventh graders on a nature hike in the Hodson Preserve in Camden, during which they were to record observations in a journal. What seemed to interest them: plants they could eat and the orderly lines of sap wells made by sapsuckers in birch bark. But mostly, as is natural, they were interested in each other.

 

Kids on a field trip.

I catch their interest

with Indian cucumber.

September 13: Red

How to ignore it:

up on the mountain

first glimpse of red leaves.

September 12: And so it goes

waning moon

boughs of ripening apples

long walk alone

September 11

Remembering.

Goldenrod shakes under

the weight of bees.

September 10: Long distance

Hurricane news.

Crows relaying calls

up and down the river.

September 9: Red alert

When we hear the crows making a racket in the yard, we never know what we're going to find back there. Sometimes it's an eagle up in a tree, sometimes a hawk or an owl, and sometimes a more terrestrial creature.

 

after crows harangued

the fox over the river

chorus of crickets

September 8: Hurricane 2

Hurricane season.

Radar shows clouds of songbirds

making their way south.

September 7: Hurricane

Tracking the hurricane.

Last night I dreamed

of staring ghosts.

September 6: Youth

heavy rain falling

young finches wait in feeders

chowing down, unafraid

September 5: Osprey

Atop the schooner's mast

osprey has a lot to say

to us earthbound souls.

 

September 4: Dark night

powerless

on a dark and stormy night

until we're asleep

September 3: At the restaurant

family restaurant

small girl at the door says "bye"

to all of us

September 2: Head Harbour

heart of stone

exposed by low tide

at the mercy of the moon

September 1: Bog

raven overhead

each pitcher plant a pond

in which we might drown