Songs of Homecoming

First come jubilant skeins of of geese flying in from the south and singing their return before alighting in fields and parks, ducks splashing about in the melted alcoves of local rivers, much exuberant quacking in roadside puddles and ditches. A solitary heron perches hopefully in the reeds along the shore of the still frozen lake, and she wonders why on earth she has come home so early in the season. Trumpeter swans and loons won't return until there is more open water for them to paddle around in.

Then, there are larks and killdeer, beaky snipe and woodcock, a handful of plucky robins, the graceful "v" shapes (dihedrals) of turkey vultures soaring majestically over the Two Hundred Acre Wood and rocking effortlessly back and forth in their flight. From below, the light catches their silvery flight feathers and dark wing linings, and the great birds are as magnificent as any eagle.

A goshawk is sitting in a bare tree on the hill, and a harrier describes perfect, languid circles over the western field. Both are hungry after their long journey north, and they train their fierce yellow eyes on the field below, on the lookout for a good meal.

This morning, a cardinal is singing his heart out in the ash tree in the garden, and an unidentified warbler lifts its voice somewhere in the darkness. 

Even the cold weather foretold for this day will be a friend.