DAILY PHOTO: Botswanan Bee-eater on a Branch

Taken at Chobe National Park in Botswana in May of 2017

Parakeets [Haiku]

hanging off a ledge,
parakeets fall into flight
to their next perch

Preening Hawk [Haiku]

a hawk preens --
a break from unflinching
vigilance

Colca Canyon Condor Haibun

The condor soars, riding the updraft, its back sun-gilt, its wings stretched taught and flared at the tip, its head and eye swiveling seemingly independently, as if able to pierce any point with militant precision of vision. The condor is pure power, but knows the economy of the glide. The condor seeks something meaty, for to land on a desiccated pile of bones and fur is the worst kind of insufferable, and so he glides and watches... and glides and watches...

with piercing eye
and readiness to dive
the condor soars

Flight Sound Haiku

spastic flapping,
SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-snapping
then silence

DAILY PHOTO: Pigeon Power!

Taken in the summer of 2018 in Kathmandu (Durbar Square area)

POEM: Baby Owl in a Tree

Baby owl in a tree
you may lack your elders’ sagacity,
but for cuteness, they ain’t got nothing on you —

 

And
yuh blend.

POEM: Crow in a Combative Stance

metallic beak —
rough striations worn smooth
like rough iron, burnished

feet planted wide–
one fore & one back,
in a combative stance

head low —
beak pointed accusatorily,
swiveling to resettle the eye

then, with flapping wings,

it’s gone

DAILY PHOTO: Two Black Crowned Cranes, Amboseli NP

Taken in June of 2017 at Amboseli National Park

DAILY PHOTO: Kingfisher on a Riverbank

Taken in Assam in April of 2017