Yellow-Throated Warbler
4 of 9 in the yellow warbler series
This little yellow-throated warbler is quite beautiful and inspiring with a voracious appetite for those insects we dislike.
He became part of a project I’m participating in: #writeout sponsored by the National Writing Project and the National Park Service. The project is for everyone who loves to get outdoors and notice the stories of nature and the connections we humans have with that nature. Learn more about the project here: NWP Writeout. There’s still time– started on 10/13 and is encouraged through 10/26
I invite all my artist friends here to join in– observing nature will be an inspiration to your art! I hope you participate.
My part today is a photograph and poem. The photo peeks through a cottonwood tree by the lake in our local Steamboat Rock State Park. It’s migration season for our little songbird friends, so I imaged this little guy coming from British Columbia on his way to Mexico, which could be my artwork: a Yellow-Throated Warbler catching a rest on his migration.
The photograph— imagine whose eyes are seeing this !
Miles To Go
Miles to go
stopping by the water
peering through the cottonwood
poking into the bark
for that beetle
More to find
crawling on the limb
pecking off the leaf
calling to others
for their feast
“Witchety, witchety, witchety”
Move in closer
Huddling in the yellow leaves
our yellow bellies
and black banded eyes
keep us safe.
“Witchety, witchety, witchety”
From British Columbia
nesting in low, wet shrubs
whisking away to warmer Mexico
following our remembered path
miles to go.
Now it is your turn to get outside — urban or rural, park or backyard, public or your space. And be inspired in art and story. Please share your work at #writeout on Twitter or IG and in the comments here!
You might even choose a new notebook for your observations!
I wonder, if I draw a line... 