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FIVE BIRDS
The cold winter breezepalm fronds shivering at dawnegrets remain still a thousand birds landengage in conversationa foreign language arriving at duskwhite ibis strive to decidewho is the alpha the cat sits watchingthe sandhill crane approachesthey speak to each other a single ibisstruts across newly mown lawnsdinner now awaits
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FASCINATION
They strut across the yard as ifimagining themselves peacocks,trying to attract the eye of anyonewho might glance in their direction.The day is slowly fading, the sunreluctant to depart hoversover the waiting horizon fascinatedby these large birds on stilted legs.The cat, ensconced on the lanaiwanders over to the screenand calls out quietly, invitingconversation, always willing to…
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AFFIXED
I can only begin to imaginehow utterly strange I must lookto the Great Blue Heron standingin the wetland behind our home.What must he make of this odd creaturewith thick legs that seemdisproportionately short comparedto their bodies, why their neckshave such limited mobility, whythey cannot look behind themselvesor scratch their chins with their toes.But the birds…
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ONE
He hated that they always said “one step at a time” as if it was possible to take two steps at a time. Maybe when we were quadrupeds, he thought, but it cannot work for mere bipeds. That is why he believed birds were the most lucky species, with cats a close second. The freedom…
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AT THE APEX
He reminds us that we are alsoapex predators just like the raptors,bald eagle, hawks, osprey, and whiletheir numbers have once again grownfrom the edge of extinction, we havemoved ever closer to it with our chemicalsolution to problems, our greed,our demand for what we desire,our environment be damned.He says the birds would speak to usbut they…
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DREAMING OF FLIGHT
As a child I, like so many others,imagined we might have wingsand could take flight at will, unrestrainedby gravity or parents, a freedomboth denied us: for our own goodthe parents said, silently by gravity.We would look at the sky, the clouds,the birds cavorting without seeming careas we were called in for homework,piano practice, household chores.Now…
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BONUS CHRISTMAS POST: THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM
They are meeting for the first time. Neither anticipated this meeting, but neither has shied away from it. They come from two different worlds and yet they seem to fascinate each other. Neither care is that we are watching them for in this moment, in this place, this is their world. And mere feet apart,…
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HEY, HUMANS
The birds huddle lowin the brush of the wetlanddelaying their morning departure.You caused this, theywant to say but cannot,knowing we are linguistically challenged.What they mean is that wehave robbed themof so much of their habitat,carving out small areasas a balm for our souls,or that this shockingly coldmorning, they know, isa product of human activity,as much…
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EXTINCTION
The days are shorteningas they should, going forwardon their slow march from equilibrium.The birds arrive and leaveas they should, caring nothingfor clocks or calendars, merelyreading the sky and weather.They know their worldis changing, hotter daysand nights and the stormsthey must outfly growingever stronger, more dangerous.They know that we are the cause,our greed, our arrogance,and they…
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IN PASSING
As we walk along the shoreof the man-made lakein the planned community’s “town,”the birds array themselvesin a ragged single fileas I pass and I imagined eachlooks up at me posing.Once I would’ve stopped,raised my camera, capturedthem, or their facsimilebut those days are donefor I no longer blog themone thousand posts gone byand my back and…
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an old writer and his words 