Twenty Minutes in My Backyard

The American Robin clearly whistles

a repeated 3 syllable song into the cooling breeze.

A House Sparrow chirrups back a hurried response-

“Yes, I see the darkening clouds. When do you expect rain?”

A very subtle plink, plat of unseen raindrops

polka dots the patio stones.

A Downy Woodpecker silently swoops onto the bird feeder

peck, peck, pecking a free meal of seed and suet.

The House Sparrow chirrups again-

“Can’t you feel the beginning of the rain? Eat fast!”

The Downy Woodpecker acknowledges the message

by spreading his wings and rising into the air.

A still quietness fills the air for a brief moment

before the rattle of raindrops crescendos.

All out in the stream of drop, drop, drops

run to shelter- birds and humans alike.

According to the human weather forecast no rain was expected

but the birds knew better.

This morning I read the poem “Twenty Minutes in the Backyard” by Alberto Rios. I was struck by the observations made about birds, spiders and webs. As I finished reading it, I knew I wanted to use it as a mentor text for my own writing later tonight.

So after dinner, I took my notebook into the backyard to sit and observe for 20 minutes. After about 10 minutes, the first barely visible raindrops began to fall. I decided to stay thinking it would pass over since I just looked at the forecast which said no rain. Then all the birds stopped singing and it really began to rain. As I grabbed my notebook to run inside, I realized the birds knew better than I did what weather was coming our way. Kudos to the birds.