Osprey nest. Feeding the young. Paul Goldfinger photograph.
Osprey
leave their claptrap nests, on high poles,
in late summer to winter-over where
the climate’s warmer and fish plentiful
and leave us to await their thrilling spring
return to renovate their claptrap nests…
John Williams and Itzhak Perlman: “Theme From Il Postino”
This is from an email to George Held from me:
George:
You may know this, but Eileen
found an ap called Merlin. It can record a bird song and then tell you what bird it is. So we sit by our kitchen window, overlooking her garden, and see what the songs are. We had a red/yellow wing blackbird there today, and he was singing “Melancholy Baby” but without piano accompaniment.
The ap told us that we have a “Laughing Gull.” But we couldn’t see that gull, nor do we know the punch line. Either that boid is a figment of the CPU’s imagination or the gull is embarrassed to show his face, but even Milton Berle sometimes bombed.
And the song? Nothing about birds, but I just like the music. And it is played by a Jew and a Christian with 54 Oscar nominations. We need that these days.
The Osprey in the photograph was occupying a clap-trap nest near the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Island , Florida. There birds are the star attractions. The nest in my photo, like so many down there, have been built by conservationists to help save the species. They were threatened due to pesticides.
Osprey subsist on fish, so they need to be near clean water, and Ding Darling keeps an eye on water quality.
George Held is a retired English professor who has shared many poems with Blogfinger. This poem,”Osprey” is from his 2024 book called Some Birds. George offers 46 poems, each one about a different species of bird. And each poem is accompanied by a photograph of each bird.
At Blogfinger we thank George Held for allowing us to publish his poetry here in Ocean Grove on Blogfinger.net.
Frank Quevado the Executive Director of the South Fork Natural History Museum wrote the Introduction to the book. He says,”In ‘Some Birds’ George brings us into the rhythm of avian life, offering a poetic exploration that goes beyond mere observation. I encourage you to delve into the simplicity and beauty of his verses, where each poem captures the essence of a particular bird.”