I feel the gentle pinch of grasping butterfly feet on my fingers before she walks on to taste flowers and freedom. She pauses as she explores a goldenrod for the first time and sways in the wind before lifting off to fly a short distance. Is it a test flight? The Monarchs were more than […]

This year, I rarely see an adult Monarch butterfly in the fields or in my butterfly garden. There are some out there because they leave evidence– a few tiny Monarch eggs deposited under milkweed leaves. It I search long enough, I might find three or four eggs in an hour. Sometimes I don’t find any. […]

As the sun moves toward the horizon, seven people sit around a table on my son Anthony’s stone patio—two women, four men, and one white haired crone. Two of the men are my sons, but I haven’t been with both of them at the same time since December. That afternoon, David and I buy food […]

As darkness descended, the last Mourning Dove baby peeked over the rain gutter edge. Its sibling had already left the nest. That morning, I saw a parent feed the nesting baby by regurgitating half-digested seeds into the baby’s eager mouth. It must have tasted like heaven, like chocolate cake or peanut butter and jelly. The […]

I watch the birds nesting near my home. Are they OK? Will a House Sparrow kill the Bluebird babies like it killed the Tree Swallows? I saved one newborn Swallow out of six in that nest. Then there are the Mourning Doves in a nest of sticks in the rain gutter outside my bedroom window. […]

He stands on a wood fence near my back porch, fluffing his feathers and waving his head side to side. He struts back and forth keeping an eye on his Lady Love who watches his every move. Soon he goes for the big persuasion. He stands close, puffed and fluffed, and bows under her head […]