Friday, February 12, 2021

THE TWELVE MONTHS OF COVID: Nature's Gifts in a Time of Pandemic

A Poem with Pictures - worked up for Bird Tales, an event sponsored by Friends of the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, and presented via ZOOM on 2/11/21


Listen to Maeve speak her poem at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ex2yGv6QGDetdwGboLqFfde-Gpzxqm8K/view


MARCH   

In the first month of COVID, my true love said to me:

Drivin’ around for birding just isn’t gonna be

Sure hope the birds start travelin’ 

and come here to you and me.

The first were Red-winged Blackbirds 



with epaulets of red and yellow ... 

and then some streaky females



burnt orange blushes 
at the boldness of the fellows.

and then one Eastern Bluebird,
curiously peering down

as ready as we were, to welcome spring to town. 


APRIL


In the second month of COVID, my reason said to me  

‘Tis time to cancel two great trips – 
          oh, woe is me!!

But birds didn’t know my misery ... They just kept feeding busily


And belting out their spring time songs!




The Goldfinches were hedging their bets 
holding on to winter’s old ...




while little bits of brand-new yellow
turned themselves to gold.
















And then one lonely vulture,
the first one of the year,
Soaring, tilting, searching 
For a winter-killed deer.



And dapper little Chipping Sparrows


Sapsuckers! Winter Wrens! 
and a different kind of black bird – the kind that we call cow-  



While Grackles glared and strutted, 



daring winter to come back now!

MAY

And in the third month of COVID, 


IT DID!  

The grey skies of a cold May
brought gray catbirds, 
gray on gray,


muted with muted,
Quaker quiet.

And then a splash of color!! 


Black and orange and yellow!

shocking to our eyes!

Baltimore Orioles, returning north 

Hey! What gives???

and finding only SNOW, 
were desperate to know 


Where’s all the fruit and insects
that we badly need, to live?? 

We rushed outside to give 

them what they desperately sought:
We put the suet back outdoors,
A dozen oranges bought! 

We were dizzy with the colors!  
We were dizzy with the numbers! 


We watched them finish two pints of jelly
that I’d made last summer


The gifts for us of this pandemic - 
       The gifts of backyard birding!

And then more colors!  

And still more! 

And the warblers 

spirited rainbows of spring
chasing the too-long enduring black and white 
as the trees lost gray and black 
and spring’s flowers and green came back! 

JUNE and JULY   
For the next two months of COVID,
My true love and me,
we lived inside our gardens

As busy as we could be –
We filled the freezer and the pantry, 

our plates and bellies too! 
But we were always on the lookout 
to see a bird or two! 
Birding while gardening

AUGUST

In the sixth month of COVID, my true love asked of me, “What’s that bird up in that tree? It looks so odd to me!”


A Scarlet Tanager!
All mottled in its molt
The first ever in the yard 

and then another!!

SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER 
The autumn months of COVID
treated my love and me
to another wave of migrants,
including kinglets three - or more!

The autumn months of COVID
challenged my love and me 
with fall warblers in great numbers,

Cape May Warbler

in just about every tree! 

Tennesee Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Our summer regulars lingered 
Common Yellowthroat adult

With all their summer offspring 
juvenile Common Yellowthroat

The catbird couple munched wild grapes
but Junior, their teenager
twirled a baton 

and played 
at being a drum major.   

NOVEMBER 
The ninth month of COVID,
Featured birds we rarely see 
Evening Grosbeak

For this is an irruption year 
For my true love and me. 
Red-breasted Nuthatch


DECEMBER
In the tenth month of COVID
What’s happened to the birds????
We got the regular species  



We got the regular numbers - 

But they didn’t stop to visit 
They didn’t stop to linger
They didn’t stop to eat a seed out of Bernie’s fingers. 

What airborne danger made them wary?
We looked but couldn’t see.
It could have been a hawk or owl 

a-sittin’ in a tree.

JANUARY  
The eleventh month of COVID 
Treated my true love and me 
To four and twenty Redpolls 

As pretty as could be!
  


And Pine Grosbeaks in a spruce tree! 
 

FEBRUARY  
The twelfth month of COVID
Brought snow and snow - and snow.

Our little redpolls just aren’t ready
To go!


It’s the twelfth month of COVID
And my love and I agree:
This virus has overstayed its welcome, 
It’s time for it to flee!

We find ourselves a-wondering,
what does the future bring?
And we assure ourselves of one true thing,
One thing of which we’re sure: 
For so many fears and worries
Nature has the cure.

View and listen to the other presenters including Maeve at http://friendsofmissisquoi.org/birdtales/

photos by Bernie, words by Maeve - inspired by this post of Bernie's

comments e-mailed to us:
That was beautiful and so true.  Betty
That was lovely and the pictures were fun.  Thanks  JA
I enjoyed it so very much!    E










3 comments:

  1. Such a joy to read this on a cold, snowy day! At least the bird world goes on. Thank you for brightening up such a strange year!

    Eve

    ReplyDelete