June & Jeff Safford: Birds & Poems

Carol and Clyde took part in a panel in Bozeman recently and it was therethey introduced me to the term “landsnorkeling.” It resonated. A few days later Iwas skiing in the Bridgers with several other women and we took a few wrong turnsand low and behold decided we were lost. I succeeded in eliminating any fears bytelling them all that we were just snow snorkeling, how that’s related tolandsnorkeling and then what that’s all about. We managed to have fun finding ourway back, spending more time on decoding animal tracks than usual. It’s being a“landscraper,” one who rakes in what one sees from those holy placeson which we stand, walk or ski. Much of the time when I am outdoors, I combthe trees for sightings of birds. When I remember to bring binoculars with me,how exciting to focus on one that’s magnified; it’s then I identify the species andalso take pleasure in their sometimes colorful markings. Carol invited me to post arelated poem on this blog and with it a recent painting that includes binos and anaviary subject. Their web site is so inviting; I couldn’t turn her down. 

8 BY 40 MIRADOR

I married a man who watches birds.Before he ever focused on me came Christmasbird counts. Each specie an aggregatenumber on a list. The song sparrow equalto the great horned owl, the peregrine falconto the red breasted nut hatch. Yet, the 50th bird morewonderful then the 49th. While I watch so variously.Bright feathers do make a differencenot affecting flight but engaging my fancy.In reverie I’m reincarnated as a belted kingfisher.The female of this species striking in blueand orange, some dazzling white and a bitof craziness in the punk style head feathers.In the lens of my Mirador, the palette of birdlife slows down the shutter speed of my eyes.Who can sight a summer tanager and not delay?Surely the honey locusts here in the sun-blastedsouthwest stir when a Lucy’s warbler poseson one of its limbs. For my husband the next bird sightedmight add up to number 500. This lister- watcher,I decide, operates so much like the male species.And then he undercuts my brassy assumptionwhen I inquire of him what bird he’d liketo someday be. Surprise, “ a Black-Capped Chickadee.” - June Safford