Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category
Greater Roadrunner — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Roadrunner
A cuckoo bird that lives for speed,
With your shaggy crest, what a site indeed.
Streaked feathers break up your silhouette.
And your unusual track, not your typical set.
A blue and orange patch behind your eyes,
You prefer to chase prey, instead of fly.
Your expressive long tail flips here and there…
Quail chicks and k-rats best beware.
It’s true, I often see you running about,
With a limp lizard’s tail hanging from your mouth,
Some have witnessed your familiar antics,
taunting rattlesnakes, eagles, and hairy arachnids.
But my favorite three things have to be,
Your curiosity each time you encounter me,
And how you turn your back to the sun for its heat
(like a tiny matador, feathers erect and sleek).
Finally, I think I must surely admit
That trickster track—your zygodactyl footprint!
How do I know which way you are going?
With two toes facing forward and the back two, back-going.
It doesn’t matter much to me you will see
I just look for the “X” in the sand to guide me.
On the trail of a friend, a cuckoo I know
the Greater Roadrunner, always running, on the go.
— Michelle Hedgecock
Like this:
Like Loading...
Hutton’s Vireo — Image by kenne
Hutton’s Vireo is a small songbird that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They can be
found in the Pacific coastal regions, where they tend to be richer green and yellow. However, in southeastern
Arizona, they are grayer like this one I photographed recently in the Cienega Creek Preserve.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Female Phainopepla In Sabino Canyon — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
White-crowned Sparrow — Image by kenne
I try to walk
with bird experts
when out in nature
so I can learn
the names
of those
I photograph.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Seagull Over Puerto Peñasco, Mexico — Image by kenne
Oh, the wild seagull, the bold seagull,
As he screams in his wheeling flight;
As he sits on the waves in storm or calm,
All cometh to him aright.
All cometh to him as he liketh best,
Nor any his will gainsay;
And he rides on the waves like a bold, young king,
That was crowned but yesterday!
— from The Sea-Gull by Lloyd Mifflin
Like this:
Like Loading...
Osprey — Mixed Art by kenne
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – (314)
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
— Emily Dickinson
Like this:
Like Loading...
Greater Roadrunner Portrait by kenne
Greater roadrunner
Is the court jester of birds
Funny bird to watch.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Gray Heron (Benson Sculpture Garden) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
And I rose
In a rainy autumn
And walked abroad in shower of all my days
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
Over the border
And the gates
Of the town closed as the town awoke.
― Dylan Thomas
Like this:
Like Loading...
Adult Male Eastern Bluebird — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The Eastern Bluebird is a small thrush with a big, rounded head, large eye, plump body, and alert posture.
The wings are long, but the tail and legs are fairly short. The bill is short and straight.
Male Eastern Bluebirds are vivid, deep blue above and rusty or brick-red on the throat and breast.
Blue in birds always depends on the light, and males often look plain gray-brown from a distance.
— Source: All About Birds
Like this:
Like Loading...
Cedar Waxwings — Photo-Artistry by kenne
To Waken An Old Lady
a flight of small
cheeping birds
skimming
bare trees
above a snow glaze.
Gaining and failing
they are buffeted
by a dark wind—
But what?
On harsh weedstalks
the flock has rested—
the snow
is covered with broken
seed husks
and the wind tempered
with a shrill
piping of plenty.
— William Carlos Williams
Like this:
Like Loading...
Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Drew (McNeal, Arizona) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Every man is his own Pygmalion,
and spends his life fashioning himself.
And in fashioning himself, for good or ill,
he fashions the human race and its future.
–I. F. Stone
Like this:
Like Loading...
Male Cardinal in Sabino Canyon, An Early Sign of Spring — Images by kenne
The Freeman
‘
Hope is a slave; Despair is a freeman.’
A VAGABOND between the East and West,
Careless I greet the scourging and the rod;
I fear no terror any man may bring,
Nor any god.
The clankless chains that bound me I have rent,
No more a slave to Hope I cringe or cry;
Captives to Fate men rear their prison walls,
But free am I.
I tread where arrows press upon my path,
I smile to see the danger and the dart;
My breast is bared to meet the slings of Hate,
But not my heart.
I face the thunder and I face the rain,
I lift my head, defiance far I fling, —
My feet are set, I face the autumn as
I face the spring.
Around me on the battlefields of life,
I see men fight and fail and crouch in prayer;
Aloft I stand unfettered, for I know
The freedom of despair.
— Ellen Glasgow
Like this:
Like Loading...
American Robin — Image by kenne
Who killed Cock Robin?
I, said the Sparrow,
with my bow and arrow,
I killed Cock Robin.
Who saw him die?
I, said the Magpie,
with my little teeny eye,
I saw him die.
Who caught his blood?
I, said the Duck,
it was just my luck,
I caught his blood.
Who’ll make the shroud?
I, said the Beetle,
with my thread and needle,
I’ll make the shroud.
Who’ll dig his grave?
I, said the pheasant,
it wasn’t very pleasant,
I’ll dig his grave.
Who’ll be the parson?
I, said the Rook,
with my little book,
I’ll be the parson.
Who’ll be the clerk?
I, said the Lark,
if it’s not in the dark,
I’ll be the clerk.
Who’ll carry the link?
I, said the Linnet,
I’ll fetch it in a minute,
I’ll carry the link.
Who’ll be chief mourner?
I, said the Dove,
I mourn for my love,
I’ll be chief mourner.
Who’ll carry the coffin?
I, said the Kite,
if it’s not through the night,
I’ll carry the coffin.
Who’ll bear the pall?
I, said the Crow,
with the cock and the bow,
I’ll bear the pall.
Who’ll sing a psalm?
I, said the Thrush,
as she sat on a bush,
I’ll sing a psalm.
Who’ll toll the bell?
I, said the Bull,
because I can pull,
I’ll toll the bell.
All the birds of the air
fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,
when they heard the bell toll
for poor Cock Robin.
— English Nursery Rhyme
Like this:
Like Loading...
Female Cardinal — Image by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Sanderling Wading Bird (San Diego 01-15-13) — Image by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
