Tag: flycatcher

poetry

conscious breathing

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conscious breathing

Every time you breathe, you exhale some 25 sextillion (that’s 2.5 × 1022) molecules of oxygen – so many that with a day’s breathing you will in all likelihood inhale at least one molecule from the breaths of every person who has ever lived. And every person who lives from now until the sun burns out will from time to time breathe in a bit of you. At the atomic level, we are in a sense eternal.

Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants

breathing in the breath
of every being
that has been
fueled the same way
as despots and saints

breathing out the breath
that will become
part of every being to be
we are not so different
not so separate
not so alone

I take in courage and compassion
send out forgiveness and love
in case you need it

you –
my sons
Rosa the flycatcher patient on her nest
the bright orange wallflower feeding the fritillary
the garter snake sleeping sound under the tree roots
the man who tossed his cigarette butt on the trail today
the unmasked righteous person somewhere in my path
breathing out sentences nobody sees

photography

Many Days of Photos!

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Due to the fact that we were in Louisville for the past few days, I got behind on adding photos to the blog. I decided to do it all in one burst, and I am now posting 18 photos; my largest post ever. It includes several encounters with Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Red-winged Blackbirds and hummingbirds in Frisco, amazing sunsets over the mountains, our first Townsend’s Solitaires in Leadville, chickadees and hummingbirds on the deck, and a Cordilleran Flycatcher outside the driveway.

This photo was taken on the 10th, one of the few recent times when “Goldie” put in an appearance.
Goldie appeared to be sunbathing, and seemed to be unnaturally flat.
We found this Red-winged Blackbird in Frisco. It was my first RWB of the trip.
Also in Frisco I found this perched male Broad-tailed Hummingbird. You can tell it is a male by the red throat, which you cannot see well in this light.
On the 11th we got a truly spectacular sunset over the mountains.
The sunset combined orange, white, purple, and pink, for a veritable firework show above the peaks.
This is probably the most spectacular sunset we have seen here, but may not be the last.
This is a Townsend’s Solitaire, the first one we have seen at the cabin. It is a member of the thrush family and a close relative of the robin.
The Mountain Chickadees are continuing to appear at the cavity on the deck.
The Mountain Chickadees also like to perch on the sundial on the deck near the cavity.
We are still commonly seeing hummingbirds, and they have allowed me to get quite close.
The hummingbirds are very active and commonly fight over the nectar.
The hummingbirds also commonly perch in the aspen tree near the deck.
For a long period of time, Goldie strangely posed like this.
We have absolutely no idea why Goldie hunched over like this.
One theory of why Goldie hunched over like this was that it was digesting, but we cannot be sure.
Yesterday we saw this Cordilleran Flycatcher perched near the driveway.
A Cordilleran Flycatcher is in the Empidonax genus, one of the hardest to identify groups of birds in the world.