Poetry Friday: Birdtober Day 31: Artist's Choice

 

There's only one Artist's Choice in the whole month of Birdtober, so it's hard to pick the bird to write about (this is supposed to be a series of prompts for visual artists, but this is the fifth year I've been using them for writing instead). This month I had four lifers, plus I saw the Shoebill for the second time (here's what I wrote the first time). But I had to choose my most special lifer of the month for today's post: the Bat Hawk.

 

 

Our friends invited us over 

to see a bird they had in their backyard.

We ate first,

yummy beans and posho on the porch,

with the baby hollering companionably 

in her high chair.

After dinner we headed out back,

four adults and four kids 

armed with binoculars

and a flashlight to illuminate the branches.

There aren't lots of these birds anywhere,

and certainly not in the city,

but there they were, swooping at bats

as night came.

Our crepuscular visitors

rounded out our evening splendidly:

dinner and birds. 

Not just any birds, either.

Bat Hawks, 

#610 on my life list!  

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey 

 

 

Here are links to all my Birdtober posts this year. Jone is our Poetry Friday host this week.