BIRD BRAINS....

Over the past 19 years (gasp, YES, we've been in Campbell River, B.C. for that long!) these are some of the birds visiting my back yard.  I have a great view of the mountains, the rainforest, valley, and these birds ...

Black headed Grosbeak

"I would like to paint the way a bird sings...:" -Claude Monet

Nest gathering

"By coming and going , a bird weaves is nest.." -Ashanti

Mr. and Mrs. Finch

"You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams..." 

                                                                                                                 -Haruki Murakami

White crowned Sparrow

"Tomorrow the birds will sing. Be brave. Face life..."

                         - Charlie Chaplin

Dove grey, always together...

"After the sharp-eyed Jay and the roaring Lion, peace will come on dove's gentle wing..." -Erin Hunter

Stellar Jay

"Nothing but the silence of the tree, and then he is gone.." -Mary Oliver

Annas Hum Hum

"Powered by its own life and its own motivation..." -Abdul Kalam

Flicker

"The birds of heavens dwell in the trees.." - Psalm 104:12

Grackles "Cowbirds"

"If birds glide for long periods of time, then why can't I?"_Orville Wright

Pileated Woodpecker

"A woodpecker's drilling Echoes to the mountain clouds.."

                                                   -Dakotsu lida

Towhee

"I like the idea of taking off like a bird...." -Florence Welch

baby sparrow, I believe...

"Are you my mother?" -P.D. Eastman

Varied Thrush

"Every spring I hear the Thrush singing in the glowing woods...." - Mary Oliver

Robin red breast

"The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off." -F. Hodgson Burnett

American goldfinch

"Faith without works is like a bird without wings; though she may hop with her companions on earth, yet she will never fly with them to heaven."-Francis Beaumont

Cooper's Hawk

"Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, bright the hawk's flight on empty sky..." -Ursula K. LeGuin

                     FLY...............

Pine Siskins

"I wake up every morning, free as a bird..." - Ashley Cole

Rufous Hum Hum

"I'm youth. I'm Joy..." - James M. Barrie


                                                          Eagles

“The Eagle does not escape the storm. The Eagle simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It spreads its mighty wings and rises on the winds that bring the storm.” – Jack White

Photographs 2025 All photos taken in Campbell River, B.C.
 

HUMMERS in the CHERRY TREES

 "May my faith always be at the end of the day like a hummingbird, returning to its favourite flower..." Sanober Khan "Turquoise Silence"

 Rufous and Annas Hummingbirds darting, dashing through cherry blossom trees. Searching for the perfect nectar. Sometimes madly swishing at each other. But usually keeping to their own paths.....buzzing like fairies madly trying to count the petals on the trees.

 THE FAERY FOREST (1911) by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

 The faery forest glimmered

 The violin drew wefts of sound

 Airily they wove and wound

 And glimmered gold.............

 against the gloom.

 I watched the music turn to light,

 But at the pausing of the bow,

 The web was broken,

 and the glow

 Was drowned within..........

 The wave of................

                       Light.....

 "A flash of harmless lightning.A mist of rainbow dyes.The burnished sunbeams brightening. From flower to flower he flies..."
                                                         -John B. Tabb

 Photographs 2019

A Day with the Hummingbird

 THE HUMMINGBIRDS  by Amy Lowell (1874-1925) 
Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry.
    
Up UP water shooting....

 Jet of water, white and silver.

 Tinkling with the morning sun-bells

 Red as sun-blood, whizz of fire,

 Shock of fire-spray and water.

 It is the humming-birds flying against the stream of the fountain.

 The scarlet-throated trumpet flowers explode with humming-birds.

 The fountain waits to toss them diamonds.

 I clasp my hands over my heart

 Which will not let loose its humming-birds,

 Which will not break to green and ruby,

 Which will not let its  wings touch air.

 Pound and hammer me with irons,

 Crack me so that flame can enter

 Pull me open,

 Loose the thunder

 Of wings within me.

 Leave me wrecked and consoled.

 A maker of humming-birds.

 Who dare bathe in a leaping water.

 "The Hummingbirds" is from a collection of Amy Lowell( 1874-1925) poetry edited by Honor Moore, 2004.(American Poets Project) Absolutely beautiful poetry. Beautiful images. Worthy of immersing yourself in her imagery.

Photographs 2018