October 17: Vultures

Vultures soaring southward—

how to watch them

and not think of death?

September 27: Restless

Migrants' flight calls

within the evening fog.

Restless night alone.

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 18: Spruce Head

Lobster shack lunch.

In the saltmarsh sandpipers

feeding at low tide.

Posted with Blogsy

August 7: Plover

The plover--and its poignant cry--was a familiar trope in classic Japanese poetry.

 

island beach

water's too cold for swimmers

first migrating plover

 

 

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April 14: Early bird

While we're talking on the phone

season's first Osprey

flies downriver.

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March 8: Migration

Restless hawks

making their way northward

as we drive south.

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October 28: Migration

Zugunruhe--

she thinks of me when she sees

a flock of blackbirds.

 

 

Zugunruhe: a German word that means migratory restlessness

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October 20-B: Hunger

Geese flying overhead.

Our neighbor pulls a wagon

to the food pantry.

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October 20-A: Wild geese

geese flying overhead

their heart-stirring calls

an ancient poetry

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August 14: Scarborough Marsh

Sweltering salt marsh--

how can the plovers

already be headed south?

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April 27: Found object

Spring migration.

The boy takes the dead thrush

to school in a paper bag.

 

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April 24: Sunday Morning

On our usual walk

escorted by thrushes

up the mountainside.

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April 21: Seasonal progression

Chasing down a warbler,

distracted by a hawk...

Spring is a motion.

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April 13: Osprey returns

First osprey of spring

keening loudly overhead:

I'm back. Remember?

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September 27: Blame it on the moon

Is it the full moon

making me so restless?

The sea too stirs and sighs.

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September 26: Full

under this full moon

apples ripen

birds dream of the jungle

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September 2: Nighthawks

On my drive home from Quebec this afternoon I noticed several nighthawks flitting overhead, diurnal migrants heading south.

 

Driving south, homeward,

following the nighthawks' path

along the river.

 

Posted with Blogsy

August 23: On the mountain

We took the chairlift most of the way up Sugarloaf Mountain today, then hiked the rest of the way to the summit on ski trails blanketed with stones, bunchberries, crowberries, cranberries, and flowering alpine cinquefoil. Just below the summit we were surprised to see a Whimbrel, a largish shorebird, fly past us. 

At the summit, out of breath,

sustained by berries

and flights of birds.