Here are links to all the Birdtober poems I wrote in October. It was fun! I hope to do it again next year!
Day 20: Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill
5 hours ago
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Birdtober Day Thirty-One: African Wood-Owl
Day 31. I could write about a Burrowing Owl, which I've seen and loved, but I decided instead to write about the owl in my own yard here in Kampala. I mostly hear this species, but I've also seen it, in the Botanical Garden in Entebbe.
Photo Source: eBird.com
Awake, 2 AM
Hoots menacing, comforting
You're awake too, owl
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Birdtober Day Thirty: African Green-Pigeon
I love green birds. There's something so tropical about them. I haven't seen this species in a while, but I really enjoy them. In the past I've seen them at school more than once. Listen to their sounds in the video below. (Bonus: there's also a Red-eyed Dove calling, starting halfway through the video; you can read about those sounds here.)
Photo Source: eBird.com
African Green-Pigeon
You are cute beyond belief;
Green, but noisier than a leaf.
Bluish eye and purple wing,
And that growly, cackly way you sing!
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
One more day of Birdtober! See you tomorrow!
Monday, October 28, 2024
Birdtober Day Twenty-Nine: Roseate Spoonbill
Photo Source: eBird.com
Roseate Spoonbill
Bird of cotton candy pink.
bending down to get a drink,
using your bill like tongs in salad
and singing your weird, croaky ballad:
Milliners once sought your feathers,
but now your birdy get-togethers
are safe and calm; you may seek fish,
mollusks, crustaceans, what you wish.
You won’t be made into a hat,
and we can all be glad of that.
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Birdtober Day Twenty-Eight: Mosque Swallow
I had really hoped to see a Mosque Swallow during our recent trip to Lake Mburo because it was one of the likely birds listed. Unfortunately, I did not see one.
A page from Birds of East Africa
I found this poem called "Masjid/Mosque," by Urdu poet Akhtar ul Iman. There's a swallow in the poem:
Or a swallow, at the approach of winter,
Seeks the mosque out for making its nest;
And curling up for hours in the broken arch
Tells the story of cold countries.
The mosque in this poem is abandoned, and no longer used for worship. That fits with the Mosque Swallow, which, according to what I've read, prefers abandoned buildings if it chooses to nest in a building. It also likes hollow trees, particularly baobab trees. But the swallow in the poem can't be a Mosque Swallow, because they don't migrate from cold countries, though they sometimes move around based on where it is raining. I am starting to think, after mostly unsuccessfully hunting for references to swallows in mosques, that the name comes from an attempt to place these swallows geographically, since they are found in Africa and Asia, often in areas where mosques would be frequent. Swallows in general do have a reputation for nesting around humans, hence the name Barn Swallow. There's a reference in Psalm 84 to a swallow nesting in the temple: "Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you" (Psalm 84:3-4).
Mosque Swallow
The swallow
has found
a home
in the abandoned
mosque.
She swoops
and
soars
to catch
termites,
makes
a chewed
clump of bugs
for her babies,
waiting for her
in their nest
of mud.
Blessed,
blessed
is she.
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Birdtober Day Twenty-Seven: Striped Kingfisher
Today's calendar says "Artist's Choice," meaning that I have to choose what bird to write about. There are so many I could have picked. I decided I wanted to write about one of the lifers (birds seen for the first time) I've had this month. We have a week off in October, and my husband and I went to Lake Mburo, in Western Uganda. There are many species in that part of the country that we don't have here, and during that trip I got fifteen lifers. They were all exciting, but I decided to write about the Striped Kingfisher. On the 4th I told you that I had seen nine different kingfisher species (in three countries). While at Lake Mburo I saw my tenth! It was the Striped Kingfisher.
Photo Source: eBird.com
Striped Kingfisher
Halcyon chelicuti
Halcyon bird
of blue and brown,
my Kingfisher species
number ten:
welcome to my list
of treasures.
Outsiders found you in 1814
in Chelicut, Ethiopia,
but you’d been around long before.
They added you to their list
of treasures.
I found you in 2024,
when the guide pointed up at you
where you watched, impassive,
from your tree.
I know you don’t care,
but I sure enjoyed
seeing and hearing you,
Striped Kingfisher.
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Here are the ten kingfisher species on my life list:
Belted Kingfisher - US
Ringed Kingfisher - Paraguay
Amazon Kingfisher - Paraguay
Green Kingfisher - Paraguay
Pied Kingfisher - Uganda
Woodland Kingfisher - Uganda
Malachite Kingfisher - Uganda
African Pygmy Kingfisher - Uganda
Giant Kingfisher - Uganda
Striped Kingfisher - Uganda
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Birdtober Day Twenty-Six: Red-tailed Hawk
I'll never forget the day I first saw a Red-tailed Hawk. In Haiti they call them Malfini, though a bit of Googling suggests that the Malfini is used in other places for the Broad-winged Hawk. We were out hiking in February of 2020, and we met a man who offered to show us a nest. I thought he meant a Palmchat nest, because I had been asking him questions about one of those, but when after a little bit of a walk he pointed upwards, an enormous head appeared in my binoculars' viewfinder. For a moment I thought there was something wrong with my eyes, since the head was so very much larger than what I had been expecting to see. And then a few minutes later, the bird I had seen and its mate whooshed down at us because we had come too close. Our guide introduced us to his employer, who lived in a house right nearby. We were invited in for mint tea, and our host teared up when he told us that the Red-tailed Hawk nesting within sight of his home was the best thing that had happened to him that year. The whole experience felt magical to my husband and me. It was one of the best things that happened to us that year.
Protective parents
Dive-bomb human intruders
Screeching warningly
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Poetry Friday: Birdtober Day Twenty-Five: Cedar Waxwing
Here are my Birdtober posts so far:
Week 1 (October 1-4): (Plush-crested Jay, American Robin, Mountain Bluebird, Giant Kingfisher)
Week 2 (October 5 - 10): (Eastern Plantain-eater, Red-winged Blackbird, Cardinals, Black-headed Heron, Gray Crowned-Crane, Speckled Mousebird)
Week 3 (October 11-18): (Red-billed Firefinch, House Wren, White-necked Crow, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-eyed Dove, Rüppell's Starling, House Sparrow)
Week 4:
Day 20: Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill
At most of these links you can find the prompts I'm using.
Today's bird is the Cedar Waxwing. I've seen them eight times, in South Dakota, Kentucky, and Tennessee. They are such lovely birds.
Photo Source: eBird.com
Cedar Waxwing
The natty Cedar Waxwings,
while always quite well-dressed
sometimes steal other birds’ supplies
when building a new nest.
They eat so much delicious fruit
that they get drunk on lunch
but also dine on flowers
or a bug or two to crunch.
They give small gifts while courting
and hang out after snacks.
They’re dapper in appearance,
with wings tipped, bright, with wax.
Disreputable bandits
yet charming, friendly fellows:
natty Cedar Waxwings
in grays and browns and yellows.
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Come back next week for links to all my 2024 Birdtober posts! Carol has this week's roundup.
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