In Touch With Nature – Common Buzzard
Posted: February 24, 2026 Filed under: Animals, Bird Watching, Birds, In Touch With Nature, Nature, Photography, Poetry, Wildlife | Tags: African Wildlife, Animals, Common Buzzard, In Touch With Nature, Nature, Robbie Cheadle, Writing to be Read 54 Comments
Nothing common about this buzzard
What a thrill to see you perched atop a tree
scanning the area; you have exceptional vision
head rotating, your eyes pass lightly over me
irrelevant in the context of your meal decision
I watch you staring at the mound filled earth
seeking signs of movement, either mouse or mole
your wings gracefully spreading once prey is found
the effort rewarded; of rodents there is no dearth
their silhouettes outlined as they emerge from a hole
in stealthy pursuit you soar gracefully to the ground
seizing your unsuspecting prey with grasping talons
tearing it apart with your sharp, hooked beak
one creature must die in order for another to live
one of nature’s most effective mammal assassins
your quarry succumbs without so much as a squeak
you, the victorious combatant, your prey unresistive
***
Tourist bird, I enjoy your annual visits to these shores
in migrating flocks of up to twenty of your comrades
gliding effortlessly over large expanses without pause
with a predetermined flightpath, you aren’t nomads
though your arrival may be met with strong resistance
from smaller birds who view you as a potential threat
mobbing you repeatedly until you relent and fly away
not much of a welcome after covering such distance
your feathery bulk the cause of much upset
an illusion to disguise how little you really weigh
a monogamous creature, you usually mate for life
your partner smaller, and suited to hunting prey
while for three weeks your chicks you brood
working as a team, you experience little strife
knowing he’ll deliver small morsels without delay
until they fledge and you join the search for food
About Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.
Roberta has two published novels and a collection of short stories and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).
Roberta is also the author and illustrator of seventeen children’s books, illustrator to a further three children’s books, and the author and illustrator of four poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/.
Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robbiecheadle.bsky.social
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5
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This segment of “In Touch with Nature” is sponsored by the Midnight Anthology Series and WordCrafter Press.
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Birdwatching: My Best Bird Photos
Posted: February 16, 2026 Filed under: Bird Watching, Birds, Nature, Photography, Wildlife | Tags: Birds, Birdwatching, Kaye Lynne Booth, Nature Photography, Writing to be Read 5 Comments
For many years I have been a birdwatcher, mostly due to the fact that there are so many different kinds of beautiful and fascinating birds that visit my yard and make the surrounding forest their home. But one thing about my flighty little friends is that many are skittish and don’t willingly do photo ops. But, every once in a while, the perfect opportunity arises and I get a really good picture. The rest of the time, the photos I get may be barely passable, if at all.
The good ones, like the one above of a red-tailed hawk, each have a story behind them, or at least the birds featured in them do. The story behind the photo above is a sad one. The only reason I was able to get close enough to get that photo was that the hawk had run into some power lines and electrocuted itself, disabling it from taking flight. I took several photos while waiting for the rescue workers from a local bird sanctuary to arrive. Unfortunately, they were unable to save him. He was a beautiful and majestic bird.
The young flicker in the photo below was another rescue that I made one spring day. The baby bird somehow ended up in my water garden pool, which is only has a small amount of water in the winter. In the photo, you can see its wet feathers, which were preventing him from flying back out, so it huddles by the drainpipe, cold, wet and afraid. I donned a pair of gloves and removed him gently, setting him on the ground to dry.
Not all my photo opportunities result from rescues and not all result in good photos. Flickers are in the woodpecker/sap sucker family of birds. Other birds in that family visit my mountain home, such as the downy woodpeckers, shown in the photos below. These guys just stop by from time to time for a bite to eat from my suet cakes. The one on my trellis must have been during mating season as he was flying from spot to spot on the trellis making strange clicking sounds to attract a mate.
Then we have my resident ravens, who are very camera shy, but I manage to snap one every once in a while. The ravens are characters. They fly by and yell at you, “Caw! Caw!” and I’m just crazy enough to caw back at them. They watch the activity around my yard, often fly by real low to tease the dog, and steal things that you leave lying about, especially if it is shiny. One watches from the trees when I walk the dog, and wait until we are right below, then screams out a caw and flies away, thinking it a pretty good joke he played.
They are social birds. They frequently gather in large groups in neighboring horse fields, sometimes with their crow cousins, and jump up and down, cawing and acting silly. I call these little bird parties Raven Raves. Ravens mate for life, and at first, I had four resident birds, but a neighbor kid shot one down with a bb gun one summer. Those ravens flew madly, cawing and cawing for days afterward. They were in mourning. 😦
Most of the photos I get of the ravens are in flight, and they appear as small specks of black against a sky of blue and white. They don’t sit still often when they know you are watching. But I did get one nice photo of a pair perched in my tree, and a carefully placed game camera near my feeders caught a single raven swooping in to steal a bite.
Another bird rarely caught on camera except in flight are turkey vultures. As carrion eaters, turkey vultures have gotten kind of a bad rep. Their role in nature isn’t pretty, and neither are they, with their bald red heads, which actually serves a purpose of cleanliness for the birds. Just think how bad they would be if their bloody meals stuck to the feathers on their heads. They are commonly seen riding the wind currents on blustery days. I am not a fan of wind, but they truly enjoy the weather that makes me want to stay inside.
Other resident avians include juncos, chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays, which are her year round, and robins make their appearance each spring. Visiting birds include evening grossbeaks, colorful western tanagers, rock doves, and western bluebirds.
The blue jays are the neighborhood bullies. They fly in in flocks and take over the trees, chasing the littler birds such as juncos and chickadees away while they devour all the food I put out. They are a noisy bunch. That’s for sure.
The chickadees are what I call my little forest bandits, with their little black masks around their eyes. They are bold little birds, as the picture of the chickadee on the deck shows. That little guy was about an inch away from my foot. I have had them land on my hand and one summer, I sat and read in a sombrero with birdseed in the brim and the chickadees came and landed on the hat. They are real characters, and the inspiration for my children’s book, Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home.
Nuthatches are my little acrobats, able to go down the tree trunk headfirst or even navigate branches completely upside down. Their black and white coloring reminds me of formal dinnerware. They are so cute. They are the inspiration for the character Nicholas Nuthatch in the above-mentioned book.
Juncos are mostly winter birds, although I see one or two occasionally in the summer. In the winter they flock in, feeding mostly on the ground rather than hitting the feeders in the trees, although they certainly are able.
I feel like I have raised several generations of robins. I watch the babies grow up each spring, then I see them return and have their own brood the following spring. I know because I get to know their markings.
But my favorite seasonal residents are the hummingbirds that stop by on their tract up from South America. These tiny birds are really amazing when you think about the massive distances they travel. I have two different kinds of hummingbirds that visit my mountain home. First arrivals in the spring are the rufus hummingbirds. Then, mid-summer we see the Allen’s come in, which are louder and more aggressive than the rufus, and the skies around my home become an ariel warzone as the Allen’s guard all the feeders. Apparently, they don’t like to share, but their arial antics never cease to amaze me. And of course, they are the inspiration for my children’s book, Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend.
Hummingbirds mate twice a year, so I get to welcome in two sets of new generation youngsters, and twice a year I get to enjoy their amazing courting dance as the males dive and swoop in their arial courting dance. They build their nests of grass and bark, and they are very well camouflaged. In fact, even with hummingbirds by the dozens every year, I’ve only once been able to spot a nest.
One fall we had a really early snow which caught us all by surprise, including the hummingbirds, which were huddled on snow cover branches, stuck and unable to fly in the storm. I placed a feeder under my porch so they could get to nourishment in a sheltered area and boy was it a big hit, as you can see in the video below.
Then there are the birds which just drop by occasionally to say hi and partake in the seed and suet cuisine at my bird sanctuary. Frequent visitors include Rock Doves, Bluebirds (which are much smaller than Blue Jays), Western Tanagers, and Sparrows.
Although they do not appear in my yard, the waterfowl in the area is pretty amazing, too. Below, are photos from my many trips to nearby Lake DeWeese, Canon City’s Centennial Park, or Salida’s Sand Lake.
I also see wild turkeys in the area, and they have wondered onto my property on occasion. They travel in flocks and roost in the treetops.
That’s what I have to share for this month. Are any of you at there birdwatchers? Tell me about the birds in your area.
Until next time…
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and book 1 in her Time-Travel Adventure series, The Rock Star & The Outlaw, as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource.
Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press, where she edits and publishes two short fiction anthologies and one poetry anthology every year amidst her many writing projects. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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A Day at the Lake
Posted: June 17, 2024 Filed under: Animals, Bird Watching, Nature, Writing to be Read | Tags: Bird Watching, Ducks, Geese, Kaye Lynne Booth, Storks, Waterfowl, Writing to be Read 2 Comments
I always enjoy going places where I can see different birds from those that visit my yard. Recently I visited a lake in Salida, Colorado, where ducks and geese frequent. I spent a pleasant afternoon walking around the lake and I was fortunate to be there at a time when the storks stopped by for a visit. You can see them perched in the photo above. They are quite large, and interesting looking, but oh, so graceful in flight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture their departure as they lit out for their next stop. But I did get some shots of the cute duckies and geese below.
I found a better picture of the majestic stork. Different trip, different lake. This one was spotted on Lake DeWeese, just outside Westcliffe, Colorado.
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About the Author
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Tales From the Bird Sanctuary: Summer fun
Posted: August 21, 2023 Filed under: Bird Watching, Birds, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Uncategorized | Tags: Bird Watching, Birds, Kaye Lynne Booth, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Writing to be Read 9 Comments
It was a busy summer in the bird sanctuary, with many, many visitors, some the old reliables I’ve I’ve seen before, but also some new faces and today, i’d like to share some of them with you.
- I’ve had the little yellow-bellied warblers in the first photo this year for the first time. I think they are warblers, but have been unable to identify the type as yet.
- White Nuthatches are year round residents. The one in the photo is a juvenille. I always talk about seeing babies, but in truth, I never see the babies. If they are old enough to be where I can see them, they are juvenilles, but they are still awfully cute and I enjoy watching them.
- The third photo is an unidentified baby or juvenille. I would guess it to be some type of wren. You can tell it is a young one because of the ruffled appearance caused by the fine baby feathers which haven’t all been shed.
- Black-Headed Grossbeaks are summer residents and I’ve seen several youngsters raised each summer. They are gluttons who like to clean out my feeders. The one in the photo sat there eating for a long time, hogging up the whole feeder.
- I watch for the American Robins to return as a sure sign that spring has arrived. They have babies twice a year, so I’ve watched several Robin families grow up, and although I can’t be sure, I think the babies return as adults to raise their own families the next year.
- The Western Tanager is one of the most colorful birds I’ve ever seen in the wild. Although I have seen them in years past occassionally, this year, I had them in droves. I believe I mentioned this in my last post from the sanctuary, when talking of my colorful trees.
- Woodpeckers are frequent visitors, and some years they nest in the sanctuary. The one in the seventh photo is either a Strickland’s or a Nutall’s Woodpecker. I’m not sure which.
- Hummingbird’s and welcome visitors every year. The green-backed Rufus Hummingbirds arrive in the spring, even earlier than the Robins. In July, I get the Allen’s Humminbirds, which are orange and more aggressive. When they arrive the skies become a flyzone as the Hummingbird wars begin. The one in the eighth photo is a Rufus Humminbird who stopped to perch atop a Mullien plant and say good morning.
- The Turkey Vulture was a surprise visitor which I had only seen one other time. They are birds, but not the kind I put out food for, so they usually don’t pay the santuary much mind. But this guy dropped in unexpectedly and hung out a few minutes, long enough for me to snap some photos. When he flew away, his wingspan was huge. They are ugly, but majestic birds, bigger than hawks, but perhaps about the size of eagles.
- In the first picture below you see both a woodpecker and a Cassin’s Finch. Woodpeckers often hang on the bottom of the feeder as their size makes perching difficult. They also hang from the hummingbird feeders, not for the nectar, but for the ants that it attracts. The Cassin’s Finch always look to me like someone splashed red paint over their heads, a glimpse of bright red or pink in a sea of green pine boughs.
- On the ground in the second picture below is a juvenille mourning dove from the second batch of babies I’ve seen this year.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; and book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.
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Tales from the Bird Sanctuary: Spring Inspiration
Posted: May 22, 2023 Filed under: Bird Watching, Poetry, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Uncategorized | Tags: Birds, Birdwatching, Poetry, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Writing to be Read 2 Comments
I love April. It’s National Poetry Month, which always puts me in a state of looking for and appreciating the beauty in the world around me, so I can express it in my poetry. And what better time to focus on the beauty in the world, than when things are just starting to green up, and the migrating birds are flocking in to the bird sanctuary.
“But, what does a bird sanctuary have to do with with National Poetry Month?” you might ask. After all, this is a “Tales from the Bird Sanctuary” post, where talk of poetry may not seem to fit. The truth is, since I started this blog series last year, I’ve been wondering what it was doing on a blog about books and writing. But as I spent most of April preparing and launching Poetry Treasures 3: Passions and compiling my own poetry collection, Small Wonders, and watched all the migrating birds coming in for the summer and the green of my tulips popping upm through the soil, it occured to me that Spring is the season of new beginnings, in nature and in my writing endeavors.
You Know It’s Spring…
You know that it’s Spring when new birds start appearing in pairs
You know it’s Spring whe the first Hummingbird buzzes by your head
You know it’s Spring when green pokes through brown whereever you look
You know it’s Spring when the sun warms the days, but the nights still carry a chill
You know it’s Spring when the buzz of insects fills the air once more
Bird Tales
This year, the first Hummingbird was spotted on April 4th, which was a bit early in the season, but I welcomed him, putting up the first nectar feeder of the year to accomodate my early guest.
Mid-April I had more birds than I could count. New birds migrating in filled my trees raising a cacphony of birdsong and the bird sanctuary was a very busy place.
How many birds do you see? When Spring hits and the migrating birds come in, there are birds everywhere you look. The noise level can be quite surprising when you get so many birds all chattering at once. They are on the ground, too, but they all scatter when I come out and I haven’t been able to get that on film, as yet.
The first Robin is a sure sign of Spring. This may be one of last year’s youngsters, returning. I like to think it is the one that came right up to my porch and asked me for food when daddy would bring them out each morning, two years ago, but it’s more likely to be one of its youngsters. Perhaps this one will have a brood of its own this year.
Nuthatch sampling the suet. Nuthatches hang at the sanctuary all year long. I have had multiple families over the years. Last year I had pygmy nuthatches make an appearance, and I’m hoping I will see them again this year. They are smaller, with rufus colored breasts. They are darling.
And the birds weren’t the only spring visitors I had this year. The water attracts more than just birds, and so do my little green plants poking up out of the soil. They will be a challenge in my garden all summer. I planted a new raspberry bush which I will have to keep a close eye on. For now though, they’re just after the water, so I’ll have to refill the bird baths when they go.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; and book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.
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Tales from the Bird Sanctuary: Woodpecker Haven
Posted: February 20, 2023 Filed under: Bird Watching, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary | Tags: Bird Watching, Kaye Lynne Booth, Nuthatch, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Woodpeckers, Writing to be Read 5 CommentsI get a wide variety of birds visiting my bird sanctuary, but today I’d like to focus on the different types of woodpeckers. Woodpeckers are curious birds that use their beaks in ways which other birds do not. No matter the type, they all have long, pointed bills, which they use to drill through wood and tree bark in order to locate and get to the insects underneath or to mark their territories. With strong claws, they cling to tree trunks, using their tails as props, and their flight patterns are termed undulating. There are many varieties, including woodpeckers, sapsuckers, and flickers, and several of them visit my yard on a regular basis.
Some varieties are similar in appearance with their black and white coloring, which always make them look as if they’re wearing formal attire. Among these black & white beauties are the hairy woodpecker, Nutall’s woodpecker, and Williamson’s Sapsucker, featured in the gallery below. The Hairy Woodpeckers are Robin-sized, (9 inches), with a loud distinctive peek sound and single-pitched rattled, and they are found all across the United States. Slightly larger, (9 1/2 inches), makes a soft churring sound. The Nuttall’s Woodpecker is smaller than those two, (7-7 1/2 inches), has a rolling preep call and a sharp pit-it sound.
Woodpeckers get their food by hammering holes in the bark, and extracting insects or grubs with long, flexible tongues. They start with a soft tapping to locate the food, and once located, they get down to business. It’s chow time! Hard, rapid drumming on dry limbs indicates that a woodpecker is claiming its territory and can be loud enough to be audible from great distances. One summer I had one who kept claiming its territory on my metal ladder, which was quite the alarm clock on early mornings.
More colorful are the grey and tan Northern Red-shafted Flickers, like the young one shown here, which I rescued last summer. (You can read about that here.) These birds are in the woodpecker family, building their nests in holes in trees, but feed on ants and ground insects, as well as berries, and repeat a loud wicka, wicka, wicka sound. They are elusive birds which are difficult to photograph. I only was able to get the photos like the one above because the little guy was stranded. He took off and disappeared into the forest just as soon as he was able.
Although they aren’t in the woodpecker family, Nuthatches have many similarities to them, especially in their ‘formal attire’, their long, pointed beaks, and the fact that they are cavity dwellers. They also nest in holes in hollow trees, and use their long, sharp beaks to tap-tap-tap on the trees, but their tapping is not as fast or as loud as that of the woodpeckers. They tap on the trees to crack open seeds, rather than to drill into the wood. But these small birds, (4 1/2 – 6 inches), don’t use their tails as props like the woodpeckers do, and are often seen moving down the tree trunk head first. I call them little forest acrobats because of this and the fact they they also can go the full diameter of a tree branch, walking on the underside with their heads toward the ground. Usually I have the slightly larger White-breasted Nuthatches, like the one above, but this past year, I also had visits from the Red-breasted variety, as well.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
__________________________________________________________
Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER will sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.
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Tales from the Bird Sanctuary: Rescuing a baby flicker
Posted: November 21, 2022 Filed under: Bird Watching, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary | Tags: Bird Rescue, Bird Watching, Birds, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Writing to be Read 15 CommentsToday as I was out doing my landscape maintenance for the bird sanctuary, walking on the path which goes around the water feature, which is only half full this time of year as I prepare to drain it for winter, I saw a baby flicker sitting on top of the drainage pipe. I set down my bucket and stopped to have a better look at him, expecting him to fly away as soon as I approached. But he didn’t. Instead, he just sat there, staring back at me, holding very still.
Now I have wondered through the trees on my property for over an hour, trying to get a picture during mating season, when the trees were filled with flickers and the air was filled with mating calls, only to hang my head on defeat after concluding I wasn’t going to get close enough for a good shot of any one. That’s how skittish flickers are, so the behavior of this little guy was unusual, to say the least.
The fact is, the little guy was scared, and I realized that his tail was in the water, which could hinder flight. He was stranded, too scared or too wet to make an attempt at a getaway. He just sat there staring as I got closer, providing some great photo opportunities. I didn’t want to frieghten him even more by obliviously clicking pictures, so I set down my phone and got down on my knees at the pool’s edge. I reached down very slowly and placed a gloved hand around his body. Trying not to scare him more, I reached over with my thumb and stroked his little feathered head a few times, hoping to let him know that I was trying to help and meant no harm. Even through my garden glove I could feel the softness of his feathers. He hardly weighed aything at all as I scooped him up gently and released him onto the ground, where he flapped his wings and hopped off into the trees, reinforcing my suspicions that the wet feathers was what prevented him from flying off like I expected.
I tried to follow him just to be sure he would be able to fly once he dried, but I lost him in the trees. Had I not stepped in. I have no doubt that he would have sat helpless on that drain pipe until a coyote or other wildlife snatched him away. It was a satisfying feeling to know that I had helped one of my little bird friends and had at least, offered him a chance to survive.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, as a sampling of her works just for joining.
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Tales from the Bird Santuary: Babies!
Posted: October 10, 2022 Filed under: Bird Watching, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary | Tags: Babies, Baby birds, Birds, Kaye Lynne Booth, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Writing to be Read 4 CommentsEvery year one of the highlights of the bird sanctuary is discovering which birds have chosen to make nests and raise their little families here. Two years ago, in the spring, I watched as three baby woodpeckers grew and finally set out on their own. One decided that the sanctuary was a pretty cool place, and he hung out through the end of the season. That same summer I got to I also got to watch as a couple of robins raised a family of three, one which was almost taking food out of my hand, as well as monitoring the progress of a nuthatch family, several broods of chick-a-dees, northern flickers, evening grosbeaks, and a family of tiny little birds, which I was unable to identify, nested and raised their brood in the hollow tree just off my porch.
That tree has been home to many a bird family. During my first summer on the property, it was home to a family of chick-a-dees, which were written into my first children’s story, Charlie Chick-a-dee Makes a New Friend, after the violet-green swallows came in late in the summer and chased the chick-a-dees out to claim the nest for their own. Make no mistake. Birds can be brutal.
This year, I have a single baby grosbeak that hangs out in my coal box, which is just to the side of the feeder area, and comes out all alone to get seed each day. I don’t know what happened to its parents, but it seems to be an orphan.
It’s so much fun to watch as the babies grow and learn. (I had to throw in the photo of the baby deer because it is so darn cute.) So far this year, I’ve had a baby woodpecker pass through, but he must have found a better place to nest. I’ve had two batches of nuthatches and two rounds of chick-a-dees, and some baby robins, and rock doves, and evening grosbeaks. And of course, the hummingbirds. Lots and lots of young hummingbirds, juveniles, (we don’t see actual babies unless we happen upon a nest).
Hummingbirds mate twice a year, so I always get quite a few babies, but I can never tell which babies belong to which mamas and papas because there are so many of them. In the height of summer, my yard is a virtual fly zone.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, as a sampling of her works just for joining.
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Treasuring Poetry – Meet poet and author, Yvette Prior and a book review #Poetrylovers #readingcommunity @bookreview
Posted: September 21, 2022 Filed under: Author Profile, Bird Watching, Book Review, Interview, Poetry, Review, Treasuring Poetry, Women's Fiction and Poetry | Tags: Author Interview, Avian Friends, Book Review, Robbie Cheadle, Treasuring Poetry, Writing to be Read, Yvette Prior 61 Comments
Today, I am very excited to welcome Yvette Prior from Priorhouse blog as my September Treasuring Poetry guest. Yvette is among the first bloggers I met when I started Robbie’s Inspiration and she was always encouraging and supportive of my artwork and writing. Thank you, Yvette.
Today, Yvette, a talented poet and author herself and a huge supporter of other writers and bloggers, is going to share some of her thoughts about poetry and some readings from her lovely poetry book, Avian Friends.
What is your favourite poem and why?
Winter Chill
Stood and listened
to birds tweet and whistle
had breakfast to make
day to begin
stuff to do
but standing
in winter chill
at the back door
harmony
stopped me
hope flew in
melodious infusing during a winter chill
trees still bare
yet birds were there
dulcet air
momentary loss of care
cold days
soon to part ways
winter hard is exiting
birds returning
spring soon erupting
green grass, pleasant breeze
flowers, butterflies, bees
replacing freeze
shivering, I shut the door
musical deliverance once more
Behind the poem
Winter Chillwas written about a brief experience I had when I opened the backdoor one winter’s day. I was stopped in my tracks. It was the first time I had heard the birds in a long time and their “harmony stopped me” as “hope flew in.” I am not what people would refer to as a “birder.” I do not put out seeds and we don’t have any feeders on our property (although I might add some later). The birds have just found a nice little habitat on their own and I am grateful. In this poem, I described the scene exactly as it unfolded -opened the door, heard the birds, and I was reminded that a better season was on its way. This idea could apply to more than just a cold weather season ending – it could also apply to the trials and heavy times in life. Challenging times do not last forever and sometimes we might just need to pause – in the midst of a difficult season – and find small (healthy) ways to enjoy “momentary loss of care.” Hope can mean so much too – and so anytime we have Hope fly in – let’s embrace it.
Please share a poem you enjoy and why you enjoy it
This is just to say by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
***
and which
you were probably
saving for breakfast
***
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Williams’ poem whispers so much to me and one takeaway is the freedom someone felt to indulge in the plum. There are times we sacrifice times we do outreach and hold back – but this depicts the opposite – it shows us someone so comfortable with the other person where they ate the plum (while knowing the person was saving it). The poem makes me smile because I can imagine how juicy and tasty it was. And the title and tone of the poem lets us know that the consumer here is not apologizing for eating it either. That’s my take.
What are your plans for your poetry going forward?
I try to write every day, in a paper notebook, and most of this year I have been busy working on non-poetry projects so I only wrote a handful of poems this year. My goal is to get back to my musings with poetry. Even if all of the poems do not make it into a future book, I enjoy writing them.
I started writing in middle school but really got into poetry while in college. In between classes, I created free verse poems. I moved words around andenjoyed simple rhyming schemes.
I know that folks sometimes put down the easy rhymes, but I like them. It is not about creating difficult poetry for me – it really is a type of solitude with words and ideas.
Thank you, Yvette, for your lovely answers and for being my guest today.
Yvette has shared a lovely YouTube video recital of some of her poems from Avian Friends.
My review of Avian Friends by Yvette Prior
What Amazon says
In Avian Friends, you will find more than forty poems that offer encouragement and uplifting stories. The poems are free rhyme and connect to different life scenarios. Each poem also includes a “behind the poem” section, which provides personal reflections, teaching tidbits, and ideas for wellness. Backyard birds inspired the poems and the topic of faith has been gently woven in (not in a religious way) with the hope that diverse readers can enjoy the content.
The poems in this book are not complicated poems; instead, they are light and can lift the reader’s mood. The poems are for those who do not always read poetry – as well as for the poetry lover.
My review
Avian Friends is a delightful book of poetry that centres around the author’s interactions with birds in her personal life. In the reactions and interactions of her avian friends, the author finds threads of similarity to human reactions to circumstances and experiences and in relationships. She weaves these thoughts into the observations expressed in her poems.
One of the most interesting section of poems for me where the ones written following the death of a young and close relative. The author’s grief is palpable and her understanding of nature and the role of all creatures in the cycle of life help her come to terms with her sorrow and emotions.
An verse from Part III Life and Death:
“The nest was found
on the ground after the storm
nestlings didn’t make it
we mourned
fuzzy little creatures
oversized eyes
chests without air
buried with care
patting down soil
reminded me that we, too, will die …”
I have referred to the poet as the author because there is a lot of reflective prose in this book. Each poem is followed by a discussion which provides the poet’s inspiration for the poem, and includes quotes and information about birds and other aspects of life that contribute to the meaning behind the poem. I really enjoyed these explanatory sections and gleaned a lot of insight into the poet’s emotions and thought process from it.
Enjoyment of this book is certainly not limited to people who love birds as, in many instances, the birds are a metaphor for human life. This book will be enjoyed by all lovers of poetry.
Purchase Avian Friends
Amazon paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Avian-Friends-Yvette-Prior-Ph-D/dp/1973831228
Amazon kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Avian-Friends-Encouraging-inspired-Backyard-ebook/dp/B07QHNZF81
About Yvette Prior
Yvette Prior lives on the East Coast of the United States with her spouse, Chris, and together they have three adult children, two grandchildren, and no pets (after having many dogs over the years).
Yvette enjoys working with people and her varied work background includes education, social work, hospitality management, and lots of outreach. Her passion area is studying about health and wellness and after earning a Ph.D. in I-O Psychology, she poured into waiting book projects and she has not stopped writing since.
Her goal as a writer is to educate, edify, and encourage readers. Her personal blog can be found at priorhouse.wordpress.com
About Robbie Cheadle
Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with eleven children’s books and two poetry books.
The eight Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael have also written Haunted Halloween Holiday, a delightful fantasy story for children aged 5 to 9 about Count Sugular and his family who hire a caravan to attend a Halloween party at the Haunted House in Ghost Valley. This story is beautifully illustrated with Robbie’s fondant and cake art creations.
Robbie has published two books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.
Robbie has two adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories, in the horror and paranormal genre, and poems included in several anthologies.
Robbie Cheadle contributes two monthly posts to https://writingtoberead.com, namely, Growing Bookworms, a series providing advice to caregivers on how to encourage children to read and write, and Treasuring Poetry, a series aimed at introducing poetry lovers to new poets and poetry books.
In addition, Roberta Eaton Cheadle contributes one monthly post to https://writingtoberead.com called Dark Origins: African Myths and Legends which shares information about the cultures, myths and legends of the indigenous people of southern Africa.
Robbie has a blog, https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com. where she shares book reviews, recipes, author interviews, and poetry.
Find Robbie Cheadle
Blog: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Twitter: BakeandWrite
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books
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Tales from the Bird Sanctuary: Frantic Hummingbirds
Posted: June 29, 2022 Filed under: Bird Watching, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary | Tags: Bird Watching, Birds, Colorado, Hummingbirds, Kaye Lynne Booth, Spring Storm, Tales from the Bird Sanctuary, Writing to be Read 4 CommentsColorado weather is always unpredictable. There’s a saying, that is you don’t like the weather in Colorado, just wait twenty minutes, and having lived in Colorado for all of my life, I can say that it is usually true. But this year, we had an unseasonal snow storm on May 21-22, and my area was hit hard. We got at least 24 inches of wet, heavy snow, which left me temporarily snowbound, and confused all the plants in my garden, like my rose, day lilies and lilac bushes, which already had new growth showing. The plants weren’t the only ones confused. After all, the previous week, the temperatures were in the seventies. I was a little confused myself. All the birds who visit the bird sanctuary and the hummingbirds, which have been in the area since April 18th this year, were absolutely frantic.
The snow began falling on the evening of the 20th, and the trees were already drooping low by 10 p.m. As I went to shut my generator off, It sounded like the trees were alive with the little twitts of hummingbirds. They should have been all tucked into their nests by that time of night, but for some reason, they were all perched in the tree branches griping about the weather. I believe that many of these tiny birds were just passing through and the snow stranded them, but for whatever reason, I could tell by the sound that there were a lot of them in those trees.
Hummingbirds are migratory and they fly great distances every year from South America all the way up to the northern regions of the United States. It’s really quite amazing how far these tiny travelers commute. What they don’t do is fly in the dark, at least not usually, but on that night, I must have startled one of them, because I actually got buzzed. At 10 o’clock at night, that is unheard of.
The next morning, I awoke to about a foot of snow and everything was covered in white, and at 5:30 in the morning, the hummingbirds were frantically fighting to get nectar from partially frozen feeders.
Hummingbirds consume mass amounts of food in order to maintain their high metabolisms. In situations where the food supplies are limited for some reason, like a surprise snow storm, they can find a perch and go into a torpor state to conserve its energy reserves, but for some reason, these hummingbirds remained frantically feeding all day.
I placed a fresh feeder under the porch where it would be sheltered for them, in order to up their food supplies. But, it was so cold that even that feeder was soon partially frozen. That didn’t stop them from feeding from it though. Below is a video I took from inside my cabin. My front porch was busy like this all day long. If nothing else, they provided good entertainment on a day when I was stuck indoors.
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Kaye Lynne Booth lives, works, and plays in the mountains of Colorado. With a dual emphasis M.F.A. in Creative Writing and a M.A. in Publishing, writing is more than a passion. It’s a way of life. She’s a multi-genre author, who finds inspiration from the nature around her, and her love of the old west, and other odd and quirky things which might surprise you.
She has short stories featured in the following anthologies: The Collapsar Directive (“If You’re Happy and You Know It”); Relationship Add Vice (“The Devil Made Her Do It”); Nightmareland (“The Haunting in Carol’s Woods”); Whispers of the Past (“The Woman in the Water”); Spirits of the West (“Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs”); and Where Spirits Linger (“The People Upstairs”). Her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets, and her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, are both available in both digital and print editions at most of your favorite book distributors.
When not writing, she keeps up her author’s blog, Writing to be Read, where she posts reflections on her own writing, author interviews and book reviews, along with writing tips and inspirational posts from fellow writers. In addition to creating her own very small publishing house in WordCrafter Press, she offers quality author services, such as editing, social media & book promotion, and online writing courses through WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services. As well as serving as judge for the Western Writers of America and sitting on the editorial team for Western State Colorado University and WordFire Press for the Gilded Glass anthology and editing Weird Tales: The Best of the Early Years 1926-27, under Kevin J. Anderson & Jonathan Maberry.
In her spare time, she is bird watching, or gardening, or just soaking up some of that Colorado sunshine.
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Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, as a sampling of her works just for joining.
