Monday, October 20, 2008

American Robin


Robin
Originally uploaded by paynehollow
If I can stop one Heart from breaking I shall not live in vain If I can ease one life the Aching Or cool one Pain Or help one fainting Robin Unto his Nest again I shall not live in Vain.

~Emily Dickinson

When I look at ugliness, I see beauty.
When I am far from home, I see old friends.
When there is noise, I hear a robin's song instead.
When I am in a crowd, it is the mountain's peace I feel.
In the winter of my sorrow, I remember the summer of my joy.
In the nighttime of my loneliness, I breathe the day of my thanksgiving.
But when the sadness spreads its blanket and that is what I see,
I take my eyes to some high place
until I find a reflection of what lies deep inside of me.


~Navajo saying

Northern Flicker


Northern Flicker
Originally uploaded by paynehollow
A common ant-eating woodpecker of open areas, the Northern Flicker has two color forms found in different regions. The yellow-shafted form is common across the eastern and northern parts of North America, while the red-shafted form is the one found in the West.

It is the yellow-shafted (ie, it has a bright yellow coloring under its tail) seen in this photo and on the farm.

Mourning Dove


Dove
Originally uploaded by paynehollow
Abundant and widespread, the Mourning Dove is well known throughout most of North America. Its mournful call is heard from deserts to forest edges, from farmlands to inner cities.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Wild Turkey


Turkey Closeup 2
Originally uploaded by paynehollow
"I froze and saw a few turkeys heading away, up a hill. More foraged farther up, and others to the right were threading their way through shrubs and boulders. Spread out across the hillside, the flock moved slowly to the left, noisily raking their feet through the leaves...

My approach drove half the flock over the crest of the hill; the rest went over a stone wall to the left. Suddenly, I was alone on the hillside, and all was quiet. An eerie peacefulness pervaded the scene—had they really been here, these feathered dinosaurs?

The proof was all around: dozens of bare circles of earth rimmed with leaves, a swath covering the full breadth of the hillside, bordered by a stone wall to the west, a road to the east. It was, I thought, an avian Stonehenge, and I had seen its creators at work."


~Robert Winkler