May 19: Grackle

morning sunlight

the iridescent grackle

illuminated

May 12: World Migratory Bird Day

spring bird walk

remembering the many 

shades of leaf green 

March 13: Saguaro NP

cactus forest

following songs of sparrows

losing myself

March 12: Sabino Canyon

in the canyon

listening for owls

after dinner

March 11: Vermillion

walk with a friend

vermillion flycatcher

flashing in the mesquite 

January 14: Ebb

Late afternoon, ebb tide.

Silhouettes of feeding ducks

drift out of sight.

December 16: Sea smoke

Hidden by sea smoke

long conversations

of long-tailed ducks

Rockland Breakwater this morning

November 13: Snowy Owl

Holiday planning.

A friend texts

about his first Snowy Owl. 

September 27: Restless

Migrants' flight calls

within the evening fog.

Restless night alone.

September 19: Focus

Morning meditation:

trying to find the green bird

among the leaves.

September 8: Hurricane 2

Hurricane season.

Radar shows clouds of songbirds

making their way south.

August 31: Nighthawks

Fall migration is underway for many birds, including Common Nighthawks. These agile fliers can be seen now at dusk, wending their way south over fields and rivers in loose flocks of five to five-hundred. Most will spend eight months or so of their year in South America, which might more appropriately be called their "home" despite the fact that they nest and raise their young here in the U.S.

 

driving home near dusk

nighthawks flitting overhead

also heading home

 

Version 2:

 

driving home near dusk

nighthawks flitting overhead

thoughts of flight

August 20: Constellations of water lilies

walking on water

walking among stars

sandpiper on lily pads

 

 

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July 28: Bluebird

Above the berry patch

shadow of a bluebird

slipping through the leaves.

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June 4: Blagden Preserve

Old twisted lilacs

mark where the farmhouse was.

Nearby, owls calling.

 

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June 3: Mount Desert Rock

Lightkeeper's house--

on calm seas

imagining the storm surge.

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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 19: Offshore breeze

On the island

blown by the wind--

leaf or a hummingbird?

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May 12: Ruffed Grouse

"Everybody knows that the autumn landscape in the northwoods is the land, plus a red maple, plus a ruffled grouse. In terms of conventional physics, the grouse represents only a millionth of either the mass or the energy of an acre. Yet, subtract the grouse and the whole thing is dead."

--Aldo Leopold, from SAND COUNTY ALMANAC

Spring landscape--

male grouse drumming

its heartbeat.

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April 23: Rare bird

My husband and I spent almost the whole day standing in a backyard in Sheepscott with dozens of other birders hoping to catch a glimpse of a Fieldfare. This bird was first observed a few days ago, and has never been recorded before in Maine. So it would have been an exciting sighting. But it was not to be.

 

However, we enjoyed our day of waiting, seeking, and hoping. We caught up with birder friends who had shown up from all around the state while soaking up the first sunlight we'd seen in days. And while we may not have seen the Fieldfare, we did see pairs of Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Tree Swallows, Bald Eagles, and Red-tailed Hawks, and were serenaded by Ruby-crowned Kinglets and bluebirds. Love was literally in the air. And we saw a fox, which was shooed away by a loud pair of Canada Geese.

 

We didn't see the rare bird

but perhaps that's not

what we were there for.

 

 

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