In lieu of getting some extra sleep, I have instead been reflecting upon the beautiful voices I have been listening to over Youtube and my birdsong CDs. The vocal abilities of birds are so astounding and below are a collection of thoughts and words inspired by their amazing songs and my daily encounters.
Staring at me unusually with his brown bespectacled gaze, the Wood thrush fills the forest noon and sings for warmer days.
Sharply bleats the bunting, blazing blue and bright; assertive are his sweet refrains as he spreads his wings in flight.
Pops of noise explode from the tanager's red throat; he twitters kindly to the woods, pleasant are his notes.
Rising fast like morning mist, a Prairie warbler sings; his seeping notes cascading low to cause an echoed ring.
Ethereal and bright, the veery trills at dawn, her flowing notes slip easily in a saintly song.
"Drink your tea" says the towhee as he strolls amid the trees; never did I come across a more classy bird than he.
I would one day like to feast my gaze upon the grassy tones of a Henslow's Sparrow; their textured breasts and backs streaked with auburn like a marvelous clump of summer straw.
Today I sat upon the ground by the pond and observed the geese at length. Common, of course, they placidly grazed and stretched in the cool evening glow, eyeing me with caution. I inspected a large individual and made a quiet discovery: instead of an uninterrupted white plane where the snowy band wraps cheek-to-cheek and under the chin, he instead possessed a thin black stripe that divided the left half of such band from the right. A simple and unassuming marking yet unique to this gander; one that only meets the eyes if we are willing to look.
Some of my fondest memories of the summer are of sitting by the pond, watching and listening as the Chimney Swifts sweep past on their needle wings, bubbly notes dripping about like raindrops.
