Thursday, November 12, 2009

To a sanderling

by way of explanation...


You're inescapable here
water comes and goes
hisses like fat
you run straight through it
(mostly ahead)
watching your toes
or the grains of sand that fall between



I love your frantic grace
your controlled panic



That you take the roaring alongside for granted
as if the world
is bound to shake every so often


Your world shimmers
is minute
and vast
your beak focused
preoccupied
looking for something, something, something
a single-minded obsession

(You're mine.)


OK... fess up! What common birds do you obsess over?

(I also have a thing for skimmers and blue jays. And all manner of ducks.)

;-)

7 comments:

bobbie said...

The little sanderlings are fascinating to watch. So fast! and seemingly untiring.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Beautifully written Laura.
You know how I love my Turkey Vultures. My eyes are drawn to them.

NCmountainwoman said...

What a beautiful post. I could never express it so eloquently, but I obsess over the Pileated Woodpecker. We see them every single day and hear them in the forest with their jungle call. Such beautiful birds as they make their graceful and colorful swoop through the forest.

RG said...

Junco ... they come down from the Mtns in the fall and hop about the flat feeders like little Mario's ...


..or .. maybe the redwirtl???

(my Word Verification..)- nuts - I got so excited I typed it wrong and now it's redgesix .. what's going on? Is it Fri the 13th or something?

R.Powers said...

Very nice!!

Swallowtail Kites.

Anonymous said...

Stunning photos, Laura. I need to learn more about sea birds.

Chickadees are a favorite, but I like so many others.

Dave said...

Just catching up on my November blog subscriptions, and wanted to say what a great post this is, pictures and writing both. I love the water hissing like fat, the frantic grace and controlled panic, the world being bound to shake. Profound.