Monday, July 6, 2015

"in nature there are few sharp lines: there are areas of   
primrose
       more or less dispersed;
disorderly orders of bayberry; between the rows
of dunes,
irregular swamps of reeds,
though not reeds alone, but grass, bayberry, yarrow, all ...
predominantly reeds:

I have reached no conclusions, have erected no boundaries,   
shutting out and shutting in, separating inside
          from outside: I have
          drawn no lines:
          as

manifold events of sand
change the dune’s shape that will not be the same shape   
tomorrow,

so I am willing to go along, to accept   
the becoming
thought, to stake off no beginnings or ends, establish   
         no walls:"

from Corsons Inlet
by A.R. Ammons 

A few days ago we were birding with a friend in the 
evening when we took the back lane into to the farm
to look for some wrens. We did not find them but we
did find a family of Mountain Bluebirds the first I have
seen there in 30 plus years of visits. It has been an odd 
summer in some ways. For over a week the sun has been
red and the sky overcast due to the fires in northern 
Saskatchewan and northern Canada in general. It is dry
here was well which has changed our landscape, shallower
water in the slough which had been abnormally high for
several years means not fish since the water freezes to the 
bottom and there is less influx of water from the larger 
sloughs and lakes. That means we have no Kingfishers and
Herons here and fewer on the larger sloughs. We also do not 
see Terns as in previous years. We also don't seem to have as 
many Vesper Sparrows in the field which seems strange 
since they are a dry land bird. We have lots of Purple 
Finches and Goldfinches but that maybe the result of the
fact that we have been feeding them since June. By staying
longer we do see a different cycle, When we came we could 
see 10 species of birds right next to the porch in a couple of
hours. Then the numbers declined as they started looking 
after their eggs. Now they are beginning to return with 
their young which is  fun to see.

And I think some Bluebird boxes are in my future.





"Out of the dry days
through the dusty leaves
far across the valley
those few notes never
heard here before

one fluted phrase
floating over its
wandering secret
all at once wells up
somewhere else"

from Unknown Bird
by W.S. Merlin

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