Intertidal Meanders

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts   

Low tide opens up the whole world of usually unseen.

Barnacles, ingrained with the rocks, multitude of them, closed in their shells.
 When the high tide comes,
   they open their doorways, and join the outside world.

Snails know where they are,
  with the house which is closed during low tide.

Living on the rocks with the water swaying back and forth makes the solid house a godsend.
   Open it up when drowned and close it when drained.
 
  Quite the opposite from what I would do... 

The Poetry of Flying

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts

  ... in the streams of breaths through the feathers...  

Infinite and Ancient

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts

Osprey is in the air above the salty pond, a piece of ocean hugged by grasses
  where egrets and many others spend tranquil summers...

Cruising, hovering, with the steel focus on the pond...
   then, in a matter of seconds, thrusts herself into the water,
         and comes out with a fish...
 
       Freezes my whole state.

    And the bird is only doing what she must...  

A Pause

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts
  
Hidden among rocks, almost invisible... these are Sandpipers,
 the shorebirds that summer in Arctic lands and winter in Central America... 
 
Now is the time when they embark upon this long voyage, with a few stops of respite,
  and to fatten-up for the rest of the flight of 4,000 km to their winter homes...

    ... so special to see them here, among these rocks, having a pause...  

Is It a New Day?

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts

... opening up...

 

After the Storm

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts

Arriving on the Island right after the last night's storm... clouds and sounds are still here...
   I hear the roaring ocean and feel the tremors in my throat...
    ... surging, crashing, spuming, with the resonance of imperial authority... in silence... 

Feels Like Spring

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts

... on this warm winter day...

How indispensable our one or two flocks of geese in spring and autumn! What would be a spring in which that sound was not heard? Coming to unlock the fetters of northern rivers. Those annual steamers of the air.

HENRY D. THOREAU, Journals, April 15, 1852

Intermission

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, Massachusetts

On the 11th of January: Winter interrupted by record warmth in Northeast.
   ... the temp has climbed above +20°C (68°F) for just the second time in recorded history...
 
   ... oddly out of place... the time to visit the Ocean...