The Quiet Forest

Here is a short poem I made today as part of a Literature test. I thought it was nice enough to put on this blog, which so many nature-lovers follow.

The Quiet Forest
A Poem By Tucker L

“I took a walk in a forest so calm and so still
There were no noises, perhaps it was ill

I listened intently but didn’t hear a thing
But then a thought inside me began to ring

Perhaps there were things here both big and both small
But I had not the ears to hear them at all
So I decided to look on the trees so tall for those things which were so small

On the bark I saw many bugs crawling along,
I listened and heard them singing their song,
So quietly scuffling their way up the trees.

Perhaps this forest was not ill at all.

It took not long to find a bee buzzing by,
And a pair of doves cooing in the trees so high.
A mouse scampered by and the fleas followed with

Perhaps this forest was not ill at all, but maybe it was me.

Maybe I was the one who was ill, the one that detached my own self from the things of the trees, and, immersed in music and movies, drowned out the faint call of the wild, which was whispering as quietly as a small child, telling me to take a look into these things which most of us nowadays have been unable to see.”

Last of 2009 and First of 2010

Last night while driving to Sioux City I saw an owl fly over the road in the fading light. I watched it as it coursed over the farm fields out of sight and finally identified it as a Short-eared Owl. This bird was the last one I saw in 2009. I usually don't keep track of the last bird but I couldn't help but notice this one.

The first birds of 2010 were nowhere near as eventful as the last bird of 2009 was. The first three birds I saw were as follows-Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow, and European Starling! Talk about a bummer. Too bad a Varied Thrush wasn't around :-)

I took a short trip to the creek near my house this afternoon and saw some better birds than the ones mentioned in the paragraph above. A good number of hardy Mourning Doves were flying around a cattle farm along with the usual Eurasian-collared Doves. As I was watching the doves a Cooper's Hawk sure got things stirred up.

I am going on a Christmas Bird Count tomorrow and can't wait to see what shows up there. I am going to have to dress warmly since the low tonight is going to be -23 degrees farenheit and it is only going to "warm up" to -3 for the high!

Once in a Blue Moon...

The moon last night was called a blue moon. This does not mean that it was blue but that it was the second full moon to occur in a one month period. They occur every 2.5 years but only every 19 years does one happen on New Year's eve. I got this picture of the blue moon from my yard last night.