September 27: Restless

Migrants' flight calls

within the evening fog.

Restless night alone.

August 19: Sleeping in

Late summer, late in bed.

Percolating coffee,

one goldfinch singing.

Posted with Blogsy

August 16: Vireo

No more singing.

The vireo too protests

summer's wane.

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August 15: Deceit

We don't think of Blue Jays as mimics, but they can imitate other birds, especially hawks, surprisingly well. The ones in our yard pretend they are Broad-winged Hawks, Ospreys, and Red-shouldered Hawks on a regular basis. You have to pause and listen carefully to be sure about what you're hearing.

 

Fog hides the mountain.

Unseen hawk's piercing call

or is it a blue jay?

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August 12: Lake

The song of the Eastern Wood-pewee sounds like the three-part whistle you makes when you're trying to get someone's attention: pee-o-WEE.

 

Crawford Lake

pewee's beckoning whistle

we wade right in

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July 20: Dawn

Awake too early.
Letting birdsong replace
the chatter in my head.

June 19: Heavy sky

Before the rain

birds holding their breath.

Sound of the river.

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June 12: First thing

On the back porch

drinking in bird song

with my morning coffee.

 

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May 26: Sora

Out on the island

car alarm cries

of a rail in the marsh.

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May 25: Singing in the rain

spring rain

catbird singing loudly

through the open window

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May 23: Bounty

Warblers singing.

The crabapple has never

bloomed so well.

 

 

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May 18: Spring fever

First hot day--

office door wide open

to birdsong (and one wasp)

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May 2: At the doctor

Still early enough

to hear birdsong in the woods.

Blood work.

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April 20: Birdsong

Noticing this morning

as if for the first time

songs of robins.

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April 16: Easter Sunday

Record warm day.

Kinglet singing on and on,

maple trees in bloom.

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March 2: Hearing things

Whisper in the pines

I turn my head:

not wind, but a small gray bird.

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February 16: Wren

Yesterday, snow and temperatures hovered around zero; today, rain and nearly 50 degrees. Even so, I wasn't expecting to hear a Carolina Wren calling loudly across the street when I left for work this morning. A southern bird that was a real rarity in Maine when I was a kid, over the past decade or so the resilient Carolina Wren has begun to settle in here; more and more seem to be wintering over. But it's not yet as established and abundant as the cardinal, another southern species that made its way north, or the Mourning Dove, which we take for granted now but which was an exciting sight for Maine birders back in the 1950s.

 

Even the wren

trilling loudly in the rain

sounds grateful for the thaw.

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April 23: Whistling

I thought he was whistling

as he walked up the walk

but it was a robin.

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February 14: Valentine

Valentine's Day--

pair of cardinals at the feeder,

starling's wolf whistle.

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October 18: Schoodic Head Trail

Raven alerts the woods--
our clumsy passage through
misty spruces and moss