Water Wonder-bird
Shy mysterious one
Veiled by arrowhead forests
Your long slender toes carry you
Over fallen stems and water lettuce islands
Head low, your ruby eyes search
Here a tasty dragonfly
There, a tender spikerush shoot
Plump, but light ball of feather-fluff
Won’t you stop for an instant?
I want to gaze on your plumate back
A fine montage of rust, ebony, and white
You’re going
I wish one day to hear you call again
Until then I will listen
For your melodious whinny
To pluck my heart strings
And perhaps glimpse your wonder
Once again
Note: I chanced to see this lovely member of the rail family at Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Florida’s Palm Beach County. It emerged from the bulrushes where I had been watching Red-winged Blackbirds.It was a bird that I had never seen before. Later on, I listened to bird watcher’s chatter and learned that I had enjoyed watching, and photographing, a Sora. A member of the rail family, they frequent South Florida’s wetlands during the winter months. As you might tell from my poem, I consider the sighting of this bird a real treat.
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