a life-list first: sandhill cranes

As the result of a posting on Facebook (in New Brunswick Birders), my husband and I took a drive to the Canaan Forks area of New Brunswick to see if we could see any of the sandhill cranes spotted there. We had given up on finding them and were on the road out of the area when my husband spotted two in a field between us and the river. I wish I was a better photographer: they were so elegant and deliberate, walking the edge of the field. As they walked and fed, their legs and necks were in a strange sort of synchrony. They appear quite ‘muscular’ and could be confused with a deer if their heads are down feeding.

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Both birds had the red patch on the front of the head. They stayed together, turning to retrace their steps when they came to a small ditch between fields.

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The sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) can now be added to my life list!!!!!

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Have fun watching the birds now returning from their migrations!

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All my best,

Jane

soundscape and birdsong

These last two weeks have been fun for bird watchers. I saw my first dark-eyed junco, just back from a winter spent to the south. I also heard that lovely, impossible-to-imitate song of a winter wren. And I have cleaned up our feeding area so the spring birds will be easier to watch.

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This weekend, I am looking forward to talking with other bird watchers about my new poetry book ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong.’ 

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I am looking forward to the event, hosted by the folks at the L.P Fisher Public Library, who have been so supportive of my writing through the years! Wish you could come and hear me read …

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All my best!

Jane

including ‘sound’ in writing

I am so proud of my new poetry book ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong’ (Chapel Street Editions, 2024) because it focuses on including sound in writing. Of the five senses (vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste), most creative writing focuses on vision. It is a bit of a challenge to include the other senses in order to give a more complete idea of the sensations contributed by your surroundings.

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My book includes bird song as a main part of the soundscape. It also includes other sounds: the singing of a rock skipped across a frozen pond, the call of the spring peepers, the clinking of ice in glasses, the sound of a kettle boiling over a woodland fire.

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For ways of including sounds in writing, you can look at some of my earlier posts here, and here.

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I think my favourite poem in the ‘mnemonic’ collection is about my Dad who took us along the Yarmouth shore to find iron pyrite (fool’s gold). The sounds in this poem focus on the shorebirds. Here is a short excerpt:

4.

he takes us prospecting

we wedge into crevasses

keen for pyrite gold

cube within cube

embedded in stone

we always forget the hammer

we chip and scratch with fingernails

reach across rock

dare the waves

5.

a sanderling cries

quit quit!

6.

shorebirds

befriend me

a dowitcher sews a seam with her bill

bastes salt water to shore

the sanderling shoos back the tide

terns

plunge into the ocean

and complain they are wet

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I hope you will have fun incorporating sound into your writing.

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All my best,

Jane

mnemonics – soundscape and birdsong

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I am looking forward to another presentation, this Saturday, of my new poetry book, ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong.’ I will be at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto for a few hours, to share my book and some favourite birdsongs. When you enter the store, listen for some of our well known birds and their songs. I will be using www.allaboutbirds.com to demonstrate how well established mnemonics mimic the sounds we hear in the woodland and seashore.

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I enjoyed working on the poems in this book for four reasons:

. I feel strongly that we should include all of our senses in our writing; sounds are a significant component of our surroundings …

. my life has been enriched as I have come to know the birds in the morning bird chorus and to listen to the chorus with understanding …

. bird songs have accompanied me on many of my life journeys and are symbolic of various important milestones in my life …

. I love to draw birds, to try to show the softness of their feathers and their sturdy bodies in pencil …

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I look forward to seeing you at the reading and hearing some of your favourite ‘mnemonics.’

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Thank you so much to my publisher, Chapel Street Editions, for the lovely work they have done on this book!

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All my best,

Jane

book reading and signing

This week I am preparing for a launch of my new book ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong’ at Westminster Bookmark in Fredericton. The poems are enjoyable to read and I look forward to talking about one of my favourite topics – birdsong!

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Preparation means thinking about what I will say, choosing the poems to read within the time given and deciding what to wear. It also means letting you all know about the reading.

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As you can see, I will be reading with another author whom I have never met: Christine Higdon. Her book title is fascinating and I am looking forward to reading her story of four Vancouver sisters in the 1920s. Reading with another author is great: it introduces you to someone you may not know and their books. It means the audience is treated to two readings instead of one. And it usually increases numbers of listeners.

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My talk will focus on the idea of using mnemonics to remember bird songs and calls. Mnemonic means ‘a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something.’ Mnemonics are a well-know way of identifying bird calls.

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This idea has been with me as long as I can remember. When my Mom heard a white throated sparrow, she would always answer with, ‘I love dear Canada, Canada, Canada.’ And I have always known the chick-a-dee by its name-sake call. In later years I have come to love some particular mnemonics and the birds they help identify: ‘who cooks for you?’ by the barred owl, ‘yank, yank, yank’ by the white-breasted nuthatch and ‘whirr-zip!’ by the northern parole warbler. A bird call I have never heard is the ‘cheer, cheer, cheer, purty, purty, purty’ of the northern cardinal – I have never seen a cardinal either! What are your favourite (or unique) bird call mnemonics?

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Some of the best sources for mnemonics are Audubon Vermont https://vt.audubon.org/sites/default/files/bird_song_mnemonics.pdf and Stanford (South Bay Birders Unlimited) https://web.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/birdsong.html a great place to listen to various bird songs is All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/browse/topic/sounds-songs/

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I am looking forward to the opportunity to read and talk to the audience on Sunday! Hope to see you there. And hope to hear an afternoon chorus of bird song mnemonics from the audience!

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All my best,

Jane

new poetry book: ‘mnemonic’ …

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squirrel-proof

As a result of our focus on feeding the birds this week, my head is full of birds and squirrels and deer. Hence, a poem…..

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squirrel-proof

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plan for success

buy a feeder, smarter

than any squirrel

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fill the feeder

laughing

all the way

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drive into town

to buy more birdseed

confident, smug

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left turn

into the driveway

shadow 

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white tail

brown thighs vanish

around the corner

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feeder empty

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Photos are from years past. We don’t have much snow here in southern New Brunswick!!!!!

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All my best!

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

drear November: feeding the birds… and other wildlife!

Every winter, we feed the birds. I have records going back to 2011 and I have photos of birds visiting the feeder for many years before. I notice that I get chickadees, nuthatches and bluejays when I feed with only sunflower seeds. I also get finches, grosbeaks, sparrows and juncos when I feed with a mixed seed variety. Both grey and red squirrels visit our feeder. And a white-tailed deer.

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Last week we bought a new feeder, so I could have both sunflower seeds and the mixed seeds at the same time. I filled both feeders when we arrived home, later in the afternoon. The next morning, not a seed in either feeder. By the tracks all around, I know a deer cleaned out both.

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I don’t mind feeding a bit to the squirrel and deer. But not the whole lot! So this morning, I altered my tactics. I put the mixed seed feeder on a hook off our deck, so high the deer can’t reach it. The sunflower seed feeder can stay in its place, but after this I will only put a quarter of the usual feed there. That way, the birds can get feed during the day and the deer can nibble on left-overs without ruining my budget. The squirrel will be able to reach the feeder on the deck, but I will lure him away with peanuts.

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Do you feed the birds, and do you have any strategies for making certain the squirrels and deer don’t get there first?

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All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)

a storm of birds

We are expecting major snowfall/freezing rain in the next couple of days. I think the birds must sense this because there is a veritable storm of birds at the feeders this morning.

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We have evening grosbeaks, a downy woodpecker, chickadees, nuthatches and mourning doves. By far the largest numbers are the redpolls and goldfinches. We also have red and grey squirrels, but they didn’t show up this morning.

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The birds fly in from our surrounding trees and feed for a while, coming and going. Then a dog barks or a car goes by and the whole flock leaves at once. Only a few brave grosbeaks cling to the feeder. Eventually, all the birds return and begin to feed.

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We keep the feeders full during the cold weather and feed with nyjer (thistle) seed and black-oil sunflower seeds.

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Watching the birds is lots of fun. Each species seems to have its own feeding-personality:

• the chickadees land, grab and leave as quickly as possible;
• the woodpeckers cling to the feeder and only leave when they’ve had their fill;
• the finches (redpolls and goldfinches) arrive as a flock and stay, to feed mostly on the fallen seed under the feeders;
• the grosbeaks, much bigger than the finches, mingle with them and hang on to the feeders even after other birds have been frightened away.

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Bird watching is a great way to spend time during these days of pandemic lockdown. Still haven’t seen my first cardinal! And this year I haven’t yet seen a purple finch, so common in previous years.

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All my best,

Jane

bird songs in the grey wood

Today I sat on the back deck and listened to the birds. I can’t stay for long because our robin who has returned for year three gets upset with me. The photo below was taken in 2018, but taking a new photo just gets the robin very agitated.

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So, here is the list for today:

mourning doves – hooo hooo

northern parkland last – whirrrrr-zip!

robin – cheer cheer cheery weee

ovenbird – t-cheer, t- cheer, t-cheer

hairy woodpecker – pit, pit, pit … this fellow has been beating on the metal flashing of our roof daily. This morning he began at 5:30. Just before sun-up. I took the photo below in 2017.

All the best to you,

staying home and

in my two household bubble.

Jane