waking up early
sitting in the stillness of the lake
with the birdsong
of 9 different birds
captivated.
—
“your head is a living forest full of song birds”
-ee cummings
—
art credit: beth conklin – Song Birds
May6
Category Archives: birds
Apr13
with feathers.
i’ve had a feathered visitor
a robin
courting me for the last two days
wonder what he wants to tell me?
will he return today?
hope that i’m home if he calls.
—
* robin symbolism means different things in different cultures and the message robin brings has different meanings at different times. A robin brings hope, renewal, and rebirth. Robin symbolizes new beginnings, new projects, and a sign of good things to come. – bring it.
—
“hope” is the thing with feathers –
that perches in the soul –
and sings the tune without the words –
and never stops – at all –
-emily dickinson
Jan19
for peanut.
peanut on the farm – rip, old girl and world champion
Peanut, the world’s oldest chicken, dead at twenty-one: The Chelsea, Michigan clucker, certified as the oldest living chicken by Guinness last January at age twenty, died of natural causes on Christmas morning, according to its owner, Marsi Parker Darwin of the no-kill farm Darwin’s Eden. In an article last year, Darwin credited her neighbor, Todd Gillihan, with bringing global attention to the hen she rescued from a cold, abandoned egg. He “pestered me,” she said, to go for the world record, resulting in coverage in publications as far flung and prestigious as the Smithsonian Magazine’s website, Washington Post, and the Times of London. A retired librarian, Darwin authored a picture book, “My Girl Peanut & Me,” which is available for on the Darwin’s Eden site.
—
“if i hadn’t started painting, i would have raised chickens.”
-grandma moses
—
source credits: ann arbor news, smithsonian.com, ann arbor observer
Oct18
taking flight.
when playing outside
the kinder found a dead bird
they called out to everyone to come over to see it
they said goodbye to the bird and told her that they were sad that she had died
we put a circle of pretty leaves around her to keep her safe on her journey.
—
“teach them to be kind to animals and they will grow up to be kind to people too.”
-rumi
Aug25
mocking – birds.
they are way too clever and a have a flair for sarcastic humor
—
” at a wildlife rehab facility i met two crows that said, ‘caw’ in a human accent.
they said it like a human reading the word ‘caw’ aloud.
the tech shook her head and said,
“they’re making fun of us. people say ‘caw’ to them all day,
so they’ve started impersonating us.”
-cryptonaturalist
—
image credit: google images
Aug21
dove.
why does the dove sit and visit
day after day
her answer is
this rustic nest
built atop the rail
tucked way beneath the tomato plant
a safe and shaded home
for the baby doves
soon to be welcomed into the world.
—
“and there my little doves did sit
with feathers softly brown
and glittering eyes that showed their right
to general nature’s deep delight.”
-elizabeth barrett browning
Jul29
early birds.
fresh fruit breakfast for the early birds
watching the early birders watching the birds
—
“when you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all.”
- e.o. wilson
May10
spring chickens.
the kinder, who are spring chickens, check out the other spring chickens
and the other spring chickens check out the kinder.
—
“the sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken!”
-bob dylan
Mar23
nests.
robin’s nests created by the kinder using natural materials
clay, twigs, pinecones, clippings
any robin would be happy to raise her babies in one of these beautiful homes
—
“wildness we might consider as the root of the authentic spontaneities of any being. it is that wellspring of creativity whence comes the instinctive activities that enable all living beings to obtain their food, to find shelter, to bring forth their young; to sing and dance and fly through the air and swim through the depths of the sea. this is the same inner tendency that evokes the insight of the poet, the skill of the artist, and the power of the shaman.”- thomas berry
Aug5
owls.
Meet the owls that lived in the Smithsonian Castle
These barn owls used to live in the Smithsonian Institution Building, AKA the Castle, in the 1970s.
The Smithsonian Secretary in the 70s, S. Dillon Ripley, was an ornithologist and thought the owls could hunt the rats attracted to the new garbage cans on the National Mall. He named them Increase and Diffusion—a nod to the Smithsonian’s mission of “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”—and they lived in the building’s west tower.
The pair hatched three owlets in the spring of 1977. One of those new owlets fell out of the tower, but was recaptured and brought safely inside by a staff member. After raising their family, the owls departed and never returned.
This Smithsonian Institution Archives photo shows one of the pair refusing to take a message.
(Not to be confused with the previous Castle owl residents, who were known to crash into windows and swoop down on guards on the National Mall at night, and whose extensive droppings caused the collapse of the floor of a tower. They remain nameless.)
—
In honor of International Owl Awareness Day
—
I didn't have my glasses on.... 