Spring

Everything's fledging
Woodpeckers, robins ... the lot
Empty nests everywhere
 

Summer

Dozens of sea gulls
Out of the blue, as it were
And as quickly gone

Deep blue birdshit stains
On the lips of front porch stairs
Wild berries are ripe

Midsummer heart pang
Both mother and mentor gone
Wind birds turn southward
 

Fall

Nonchalant ravens
Stroll in autumn leaf litter
Full moon past, no frost

Rustle on the verge
Not a squirrel. Not a deer.
Coyote lopes by

White gull glissando
& minor cormorant notes
Wild keyboard

Double crested cormorant
Riding the outgoing tide
Fall's liveried footman

Turkey vulture floats above
The littered highway
Waste management

Tufted titmouse springs the trap
Meant for red squirrel
Furious little bird

Thrush's watery burble
Swept dry by oak leaf rattle
Winter on my mind

Crows punctuating
Bronzing, yellowing forest
Look at this! See this!
 

Winter

Hundreds of rock doves
Huddled on turnpike wire
Red-tailed hawk stymied

Last night's palimpsest
Moon sponged by shadow and cloud
Gradually erased

Goldfish suspended
As slow in winter water
As chickadees are quick in air

A trio of hawks
Rough-legged, harrier, red-tailed
Bent on one purpose

It's a kittiwake
Not any number of gulls
It's a kittiwake!

Elegant pintail
Upended, elegant still
With purposeful intent

Small horned grebes passing
Oblivious to surf's roil
Serene old couple