October 13, 2021
by Cheryl MacNeil, March 2021
Blue jays party like a cast of characters at the feeder
and their band plays on.
A flutter of sparrows quarrel over the millet
scattering it to the flutter of juncos
while the mewing of catbirds and a chime of wrens
cause a cacophony of sound.
Chattering starlings cloud the sky
forming an undulating congregation.
A caucus of crows partake of storytelling
about the horde that hover and murder
taking eggs from the nuthatch jar
and blighted subdivision of house sparrows.
A bouquet of hummingbirds hover
sipping nectar from the hibiscus
as an outfield of phoebes call their name.
Kingbird courts shout tyranny
when a dole of doves form pairs
and the hangover of red-eyed vireos pass by.
A blizzard of snowy owls wonder about
the stable of barn owls and a jail of barred owls.
Hawks boil on the kettle and a jubilee of Eagles
soar, spreading a tower climbing ever higher over
a committee of turkey vultures at their wake,
just a sad cast on the current.
The gaggle of geese form a skein in flight
creating chevron and wedge formations.
A ballet of swans drift in their whiteness
listening for the cry of a water dance of loons.
In the shallows, heron pose, bitterns dash
and a skewer of egrets stand near by.