Great-tailed Grackle
Shimmering, keel-tail birds,
smouldering yellow eyes,
fanciful omnivores
shrieking for food.
by Margaret Bednar, April 17, 2013
This poem pattern is a challenge offered over at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Aprille's Choice - and she chose multisyllabic words! She provided us with 2, 3 & 6 syllable word lists and also a suggested stanza rhythm to follow - similar to a waltz (1-2-3). If you want to know more, click on the link.
I encountered these birds for the first time at Isle of Palms Beach in South Carolina. At first I thought they were the common crow, but after watching and hearing them for a while, I knew I had never seen these bold birds before.
If you care to hear a few sounds these birds make you can find them at minute marker 1:23 & 1:33 on the video below. This is not my video - I found it on You Tube.
10 comments:
perfect. :)
Hiya Margaret,
You got the bird's character summed up beautifully in your rhythmic word combinations.Thank you for trying out the form.
I was drawn to the new horse image in your sidebar. Brill silhouette.
This is so true...you have captured grackles perfectly.
Grackles are often overlooked as the individualists they truly are, because their name is so unappealing. We should all band together to form a Grackle Renaming Society.
A perfect little poem for the prompt, Margaret.
K
Grackles! I love the name. It is almost onomatopoeic. Grack, Grack!
They are robust birds, and they have that majestic ebony reserved for the crow and others... a truly impressive animal. You did her justice!
And now I know who you are, thanks to email, ha ha. Amy
I have heard of Grackles but that is all. It's funny, I didn't look at the title and so was blown away by the weight of those tails in the video. Thank you for your beautiful poem and photos, Margaret. They gave me a needed sweet respite from the horrible news of Boston and Texas. Thanks, too, for finding and sharing the video...I was swept away into another realm and felt so refreshed!
This has a great feel to it Margaret, and a great sound. It's quite early here, everyone else is asleep so I'll have to listen to the birds later, but thank you for including it. You always do just a little bit more!
Your poem describes them perfectly! I love grackles. They are really fun to watch.
Of course I've never seen these birds but I'm falling in love with them name first.
Once again you've given me my education, Margaret. Thank you. :)
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