I long to be a tree for just one day. To know how it feels to have bird toes alight on my branches. To share my abundant fruit. To provide safe haven for a bird to nest under cover of my leaves. I close my eyes and imagine like a child because you wrote this beautiful ode and showed me through gorgeous photographs—what that would feel like. Thanks for the smile.
What a generous way to read it, you've gone and become the tree. The bird toes alight on the branches, that's the detail I'll be thinking about all day. Thank you for reading it so fully, and for the smile.
Your very welcome, Bill. Like the Ruby-throated hummingbird I am watching right now, I try to squeeze every drop of nectar from your writing, as always—my pleasure.
I'm so glad that line found you. There's something freeing in the thought, that the gift comes regardless of whether we think we deserve it or want it.
That green between the recycling bin and the wall, that's the whole poem standing up in your own alley. Thank you for reading so closely, during such hard times.
They are a hard bird to find. I only see a few Fox Sparrows during spring migration. I was excited when this one showed up in my yard and then came in close.
Poetry and photos…a winning combination! A bushy tree here, the Cherry Laurel, produces abundant fruit. More pit than flesh. Unsurprisingly, more trees pop up every year. I’m glad for all the birds. Unlike folks with flower beds and gardens.
Good day, Bill, Our HOA requires mowing/edging of the small front yards of the townhouses on our cul-de-sac. Our back yard is ours and the birds. Our suet cakes attract birds year ‘round. Carolina Chickadees and House Wrens at present. A Hairy Woodpecker still visits. Great Blue Herons are visiting the small pond for minnows and snails, but they’re easily spooked being out in the open. With some camo and patience I’d like to view them with my binoculars. Thank you for your reply.
Thank you! I enjoyed the poem and the birds. I have a back yard full of birds, including hummingbirds. At 84 years of age, looking out my kitchen window and seeing everyone at the feeders is the best time of day day!
What a thing, to have a yard full of birds and the years to have watched them closely. The hummingbirds know a good house when they find one. Thank you for sharing your window view with me.
I love my “volunteer “ Mulberry. It always seems to be laden with fruit just when the Baltimore Oriole fledglings emerge from the nest, chasing their parents and clamoring for food. Watching the male pluck berries and distribute them into waiting mouths brings me such delight and gratitude.
Your photos are truly gorgeous - I’m slowing down the day to sit here and take them in.
The male oriole shuttling berries into all those open mouths, what a thing to have a window onto. And your volunteer timing its fruit to the fledglings, the tree knows exactly what it's doing. Thank you for slowing the day down here.
Lovely photos, best of all the catbird with a mouthful of berries! I miss the catbirds (who scorn the desert) who used to wander along the edges of the unkempt yard, occasionally popping out to let me see them.
I become more grateful for Catbirds every year. I have a pair in my yard that is getting used to me and now we have close encounters when I am in the garden. Just when I think they have settled down, they give their sharp alarm call and dive into dense cover. I wonder what your catbird equivalent is in the desert. I think there must be Thrashers that fill the same niche.
Yes, the Wilson's Warbler photo looks like it was arranged as part of a photo shoot. That is a rare occurence for me. I rarely know how things turn out in the moment. Everything happens so fast, I am just trying to keep the bird in focus.
That is certainly the case with this image. The grape vine was part of a dense tangle of vegetation the Wilson's Warbler was foraging within. He only appeared out in the open for a few seconds.
More berries, more leaves, more unkempt corners where they can grow, I'm with you entirely. The birds would sign the petition if they could. Thank you for reading.
I long to be a tree for just one day. To know how it feels to have bird toes alight on my branches. To share my abundant fruit. To provide safe haven for a bird to nest under cover of my leaves. I close my eyes and imagine like a child because you wrote this beautiful ode and showed me through gorgeous photographs—what that would feel like. Thanks for the smile.
What a generous way to read it, you've gone and become the tree. The bird toes alight on the branches, that's the detail I'll be thinking about all day. Thank you for reading it so fully, and for the smile.
Your very welcome, Bill. Like the Ruby-throated hummingbird I am watching right now, I try to squeeze every drop of nectar from your writing, as always—my pleasure.
This is lovely. Especially the idea that a tree "chooses us".
I'm so glad that line found you. There's something freeing in the thought, that the gift comes regardless of whether we think we deserve it or want it.
Wow! This took my breath away—the words, the photos. Thanks
This is kind of you, thank you. Knowing it landed makes the creative work even more gratifying.
How timely. I just noticed a profusion of green growing from the smallest bit off dirt between
the recycling bin and my building in the alley. How does this happen? And I had thought
I had completed my gratitude journal for today. The reasons for gratitude just keep
coming. As always, your photos are stunning and another balm for my spirit in these
deeply rapacious, anti-nature times. Thank you.
That green between the recycling bin and the wall, that's the whole poem standing up in your own alley. Thank you for reading so closely, during such hard times.
Perfect way to start the day. Thank you, Bill.
Praise to the wildly seeding mulberry trees.
The trees the rest of the world is busy cursing, you've gone and blessed, which feels like the right correction. I am grateful you're here.
I can appreciate the sentiment, but it is hard to love a Mulberry Tree when iI see its leavings splattered on my car.
Have you considered getting a purple car? Ha ha!
The Fox Sparrow! There was one reported nearby and I tried like heck to see it, but didn’t. What beautiful and detailed pictures!
They are a hard bird to find. I only see a few Fox Sparrows during spring migration. I was excited when this one showed up in my yard and then came in close.
Poetry and photos…a winning combination! A bushy tree here, the Cherry Laurel, produces abundant fruit. More pit than flesh. Unsurprisingly, more trees pop up every year. I’m glad for all the birds. Unlike folks with flower beds and gardens.
A tree the birds love and the tidy-minded don't, that's the whole story in your own yard. Glad you're on the birds' side. Thank you for reading.
Good day, Bill, Our HOA requires mowing/edging of the small front yards of the townhouses on our cul-de-sac. Our back yard is ours and the birds. Our suet cakes attract birds year ‘round. Carolina Chickadees and House Wrens at present. A Hairy Woodpecker still visits. Great Blue Herons are visiting the small pond for minnows and snails, but they’re easily spooked being out in the open. With some camo and patience I’d like to view them with my binoculars. Thank you for your reply.
Thank you! I enjoyed the poem and the birds. I have a back yard full of birds, including hummingbirds. At 84 years of age, looking out my kitchen window and seeing everyone at the feeders is the best time of day day!
What a thing, to have a yard full of birds and the years to have watched them closely. The hummingbirds know a good house when they find one. Thank you for sharing your window view with me.
I love my “volunteer “ Mulberry. It always seems to be laden with fruit just when the Baltimore Oriole fledglings emerge from the nest, chasing their parents and clamoring for food. Watching the male pluck berries and distribute them into waiting mouths brings me such delight and gratitude.
Your photos are truly gorgeous - I’m slowing down the day to sit here and take them in.
With gratitude…
The male oriole shuttling berries into all those open mouths, what a thing to have a window onto. And your volunteer timing its fruit to the fledglings, the tree knows exactly what it's doing. Thank you for slowing the day down here.
Lovely photos, best of all the catbird with a mouthful of berries! I miss the catbirds (who scorn the desert) who used to wander along the edges of the unkempt yard, occasionally popping out to let me see them.
I become more grateful for Catbirds every year. I have a pair in my yard that is getting used to me and now we have close encounters when I am in the garden. Just when I think they have settled down, they give their sharp alarm call and dive into dense cover. I wonder what your catbird equivalent is in the desert. I think there must be Thrashers that fill the same niche.
Yes, Curve-billed are 'common' garden birds, a few other species seen when out birding.
And we saw a catbird up in the national forest just yesterday-so they're around, just not garden birds in our garden.
My heart.
the wilson's snipe photo, the wilson's warbler photo, as photos
Yes, the Wilson's Warbler photo looks like it was arranged as part of a photo shoot. That is a rare occurence for me. I rarely know how things turn out in the moment. Everything happens so fast, I am just trying to keep the bird in focus.
I like how sometimes a photo’s background suggests, evokes, something about the foreground creature’s nature.
That is certainly the case with this image. The grape vine was part of a dense tangle of vegetation the Wilson's Warbler was foraging within. He only appeared out in the open for a few seconds.
I meant the all-yellowness too, as if something of the bird’s interior quality
We need more berries and their leaves for the birds. Delightful words!
More berries, more leaves, more unkempt corners where they can grow, I'm with you entirely. The birds would sign the petition if they could. Thank you for reading.
And for me, a wonderful way to finish my day. Bed time now. This post has given great joy. Thanks so much.
What a gift, to be the last thing in your day. Sleep well, and thank you for ending it here. I'm glad it brought you joy.