• Avian,  meadowlark,  poems,  poetry

    After the Last Note

    May 24, 2024

    I leave the chaos to enter the sanctuary of nature,
    aware this spiritual life is about our experiences.

    I listen as the meadowlark sings from their heart,
    the wind carrying their notes to all who will listen.

    I learn, after the last note fades into the past,
    to stay present, just as the meadowlark,
    listening to the gift of silence.

    mws

    I saw two extraordinary events yesterday afternoon at Pineridge Natural Area. While scanning the area with my binoculars I watched a large raptor, which I believe was a Golden Eagle, flying straight at me with a prairie dog in their talons. Golden Eagles are common in the area but this was my first sighting of one. Later, while journaling on the bench about the eagle there was an increase of chatter among the magpies just below me. I looked up from writing and see a bobcat. This was the first one I’ve seen in this area even though there are several in the area. I took no photos, just memories that remain in the present! Enjoy your weekend!

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  • Avian,  landscape,  meadowlark,  poems

    For Solitude

    April 10, 2024
    A meadowlark perched on the fence sings from the light of its soul

    May you recognize in your life the presence,
    power and light of your soul.

    May you realize that you are never alone,
    that your soul in its brightness and belonging
    connects you intimately with the rhythm of the
    universe.

    May you have respect for your own individuality and
    difference.

    May you realize that the shape of your soul is
    unique, that you have a special destiny here,
    that behind the facade of your life
    there is something beautiful and eternal happening.

    May you learn to see your self
    with the same delight,
    pride, and expectation
    with which God sees you in every moment.

    John O’Donohue from “To Bless the Space Between Us”
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  • Avian,  meadowlark,  quotes

    The Quiet Miracles

    April 3, 2024

    Take time to see the quiet miracles that seek no attention.

    John O’Donohue

    Clear skies and sunshine this morning in Colorado. Listening to the meadowlarks send their songs across the open meadow, urging us to seek the quiet miracles all around us.

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  • Avian,  meadowlark,  nature

    My Favorite Bird

    May 25, 2023

    Western Meadowlarks seek the wide open spaces of native grasslands and agricultural fields for spring and summer breeding and winter foraging. I find them along the weedy sides of roads, marsh edges, and mountain meadows on the eastern plains and along the foothills. They seem to share the marshes with the red-winged and yellow breasted blackbirds. Which make sense as they are in the blackbird family. Since their diet consists mostly of insects and seeds they really are almost everywhere. As you can tell in this image this one has dinner already. They were perched on fence post as I drove along Weld County Rd. 15. Their song is my favorite of the song birds. It just resonates with me. I was surprised to hear it sing even with the worm in it’s bill. Again, have a super day!

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  • Avian,  Mary Oliver,  meadowlark,  poems

    You sing, I listen

    April 29, 2022

    Meadowlark, when you sing it’s as if
    you lay your yellow breast upon mine and say
    hello, hello, and are we not
    of one family, in our delight of life?
    You sing, I listen.
    Both are necessary
    if the world is to continue going around
    night-heavy then light–laden, though not
    everyone knows this or at least
    not yet,

    or, perhaps, has forgotten it
    in the torn fields,

    in the terrible debris of progress.

    Mary Oliver, Meadowlark Sings and I Greet Him In Return

    We need rain. So far for the month of April we have .1 inch of rain. Dixon Reservoir is really low at Pineridge Natural Area. As I watch the sun rise four mule deer graze before me. And, the meadowlarks sing and I listen.

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