mallards leaving in the water rippled sky

after its first flight
the young gerfalcon's talons
tighter on my glove

the first flakes of snow
drifting down on the wetlands
Canada geese

dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush

false dawn
a ruffed grouse drums
the woods awake

a wild turkey
fans its tail
summer's end

spring rain
the measured step
of a sandhill crane

Tan-oak forest
a winter wren's warning call
near the broken sign

song sparrow
didn't know I'd missed you
all these years

Red-winged blackbird
defending his territory
with a song

under the eaves
a barn owl’s shadow
another

before we knew its name the indigo bunting

power outage--
a whippoorwill calls
from the tree shadows

winter chill
a sharp-shinned hawk
silences the dawn

a hooded crow
pecks just outside
the penalty area

Colder...
Purple finches flit tree to tree
not dropping a note

Above the shopfront
centered amidst the turmoil--
nesting barn swallow

in slow motion...
the great blue heron
stalks a frog

one
of
the
reeds
in
the
marsh
green-
backed
heron

a 3rd blanket unpacked and spread out a carolina wren's quick note

winter loneliness...
not even snow bunting tracks
in my garden

on the church steps
a mourning dove
with mother's eyes

barking
at the fisherman's dog
... a herring gull

paddle at rest
beads of water slide
from the loon’s bill

snowwhite valley
curving dark with the creek
water ouzel

riffles . . .
a belted kingfisher
splinters the light

the passenger pigeon returns
on a cancelled stamp

golden swamp warbler
downy willow seeds flurry
around his flight

graveyarduskilldeer

rivers to the sea
bending with the songs
of meadow larks

salt breeze
over the pickleweed
marbled godwits