their feathers so graceful in flight
powerful wings carrying bodies so light
attuned vision beyond my own sight
imagination cannot so delight

Poser: I watched this great egret (Ardea alba) stroll through the shallows before coming ashore and finding a spot to rest.

Satisfied: A yellow-crowned night-heron (Nyctanassa violacea) standing at a creek’s edge near White Rock Lake.  The bird had just finished eating a small turtle (which I didn’t think it could swallow without breaking the shell open, but it very much surprised me in that regard).

The same but different: A juvenile ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) on the left stands next to an adult of the same species.  I find it remarkable how different they look with only a year separating them.

On guard: A female ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) perched atop a fence wire as she watches me.  Taken at the family farm while the air was abuzz with hummingbirds, each of them frequently sizing me up as they defended the various feeders.