to ground

and in a flash, you took off

you come for water on these hot days.

in the mornings, you've let me know your thoughts

as I fill your cup.

but

on this day,

as I sit in my loop,

something happened.

I don't know what scared you,

but you hit,

and you fell.

I ran out and saw you

and I held you

and I sobbed.

your little short feathers - precious.

your reds and yellows and browns - brilliant.

your little crossed bill - beautiful – but hurt.

your little dense body filled my hands –

with heat

and softness

and after some time

and

many

tears

– all at once –

as if you came from a deep slumber

you awoke

you moved your head and

our

eyes

met

and in a flash, you took off.

my heart soared.

I dreamed of you and worried for your little head.

but in the morn, you sat upon the wire.

you called in your flights between the fir and the dogwood.

and then as I gardened, you came where I filled your cup.

Red Crossbill on the edge of a bird bath with his beak pointing up and to the right, full of water with a pronounced cross where the top beak is over, and the bottom is under and to the side of the top. The coloring is a first-year coloring mix of reds and oranges and browns with stark shadows in the bath and a green background. A bead of water sits on his beak and neck, and his eye catches the sun.

With a mark upon your beak, I know you. I held you.

You looked at me today, and my heart was full.

Close up of a Red Crossbill with first-year mixed yellow and red coloring on a dogwood branch looking at the camera with feet vertical on the branch, beak in shadow and eye and body in the light.

Juvenile Red Crossbill diagonal from the top left corner leaning toward the center looking at the camera.

#birds #crossbill #nature #pnw #wildlife