An original poem: The Bluebirds Have Returned
Mountain bluebird (Photo by Leta Pezderic/ NCC staff)
Springtime is making its appearance across the country. Buds are starting to appear on bare branches, blades of grass turn green again and signs of critters abound. One feathered friend is particularly endearing, and a delight to welcome back: the mountain bluebird. My father wrote this poem to capture the marvelous characteristics of these little bluebirds as they migrate back to Canada for breeding. Hope you enjoy this video with some bluebird photographs I captured! Learn more about mountain bluebirds here.
By Norm Elford ©
A fleeting flash of brilliant blue
over prairie dull and drab
Skimming down the fence line true
then perched on sandstone slab
This truly is my favorite sign
that spring has finally come
The Mountain Blue Birds have returned
their long migration done
They joust tree swallows for the right
to claim a box for nesting
Then lay a clutch of pale blue eggs
Once hatched there’ll be no resting
Five or more little mouths to feed
Parents only seem to pass
Now hovering with beating wings
above blue grama grass
Then plummeting from sky to earth
to catch a moth or grub
Then head for home to feed the clan
a sumptuous wiggling bug
Soon naked bodies fill out from fuzz
to fluff of blue and grey
So soon they’ll fledge and leave the box
to hurry on their way
But Joe the master bander
to track their journey south
First bands one scrawny leg of each
before they leave their house
Then one day their heads poke out
and you know they’ll take the chance
And soon you’ll see the whole darn bunch
snuggled tight along a branch
Or hopping through the fescue
in a ragged sort of line
To search out bugs all by themselves
and you know that they’ll be just fine
Too soon they’re gone and with them
the summer and, I fear
I won’t feel quite the same until
They come again next year
About the Author
Leta Pezderic is the natural area manager for south-central Alberta.
