A pre-dawn visit to the Shawangunk Grasslands in Ulster County, New York, on Thanksgiving morning was well worth the long drive in the dark, especially as it was just a little bit out of my way en route to my folks’ house for Thanksgiving. Short-eared Owls are crepuscular hunters so if you want to see them you need to try either very early or very late in the day. Choosing early turned out to be a good decision.
Pre-dawn lightening
Crescent moon and ghostly wings
Over frozen fields
…
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
I am impressed by the beauty of the Haiku to accompany the picture and your morning. In Japan, the highly honored haiku always indicate the season. Well done.
Well, in all hoensty, I still struggle with my search for poetry in Haikus. I don’t deny it is there, I just don’t find it – so it’s me, not the Haiku. I am probably too imprinted on the classic Western style of poetry.
However, as David above has mentioned, I was also struck by the beauty of the words you found. Very well done, the first Haiku I enjoyed.
Now send me a Short-eared Owl in return. You’re only 40 behind me in the year list competition, it must not lose my focus.
A different post which does create the sense of being there too.