Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      On Fantasy and Artifice

      January 19, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Tales From the End of the Bus Line: Aging Ungraciously

      January 18, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Salt and Sleep

      January 15, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres

      January 18, 2021

      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 2021

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      On Fantasy and Artifice

      January 19, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Tales From the End of the Bus Line: Aging Ungraciously

      January 18, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Salt and Sleep

      January 15, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres

      January 18, 2021

      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 2021

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
Creative Nonfiction / Essay

The Birds: Brief Eulogies for Lost Birds

written by Guest Contributor October 29, 2015

Bachman’s Warbler

— Vermivora bachmanii

 

At times the insect-like song of the elusive songbird seemed to emanate from all round, as if the trees themselves were singing, but investigation invariably showed the bird sitting motionless upon the same limb. Often it was heard from the tip of a sweet gum or cypress in the pale and gloomy woods and bottomland swamps of the southeastern states and after leaving a tree it would fly a great distance before alighting again. It was impossible to follow through the dark forest and could only be detected by its song. Males mostly yellow, with olive green on the upper parts, females olive above and yellowish below, both with black eyes and dark bills. Females could rarely be disturbed while incubating the eggs and both took part in feeding the young, males feeding the male chicks and females feeding the female chicks. Only the male sang – the female had no song.

 


 

petrelNotes on the Guadalupe Storm Petrel

Five photos:  lateral view (left), lateral view (right), ventral view (two positions), dorsal view. Wings straight down at its sides, as if plummeting into oblivion, inch-long beak hooked slightly downwards, a glass bead for an eye, black feathers except for a few white ones on its rump. (Forked tail not visible.) Altogether no bigger than a robin.
A tag tied to its foot:  Catalogue #6885. Oceanodroma macrodactyla. Collected by Beck/Anthony 3-24-1897.
Oceanodroma: runner on the ocean
macrodactyla:  large fingers, referring to its webbed feet.
petrel:  diminutive of Peter, the saint who walked on water; the bird’s ability to hover over water, sometimes letting its legs dangle in, gave the appearance of walking
storm-petrel  lives at sea, beyond the horizon; approaches land when storms threaten, often sheltering in the lee of ships, hence known as harbingers of doom.
Guadalupe
storm-petrel
inhabited the Pacific winds off Baja; only sought the island of Guadalupe for nesting
Habits:  avoided avian predators by only landing at night, its black feathers invisible in the dark; known to nest in burrows, otherwise behaviors unknown.
Calls:  recent reports of calling at night raises hope it survives, but no other evidence exists
Threats:  degradation of habitat on Guadalupe by introduced goats (numbering up to one hundred thousand), now removed, and predation by feral cats, also removed.
Classification:  critically endangered, possibly extinct, not seen since 1912.
From The Song of the Storm-Petrel (Maxim Gorky):
Above the gray plain of the sea, the wind gathers storm-clouds. Between the clouds and the sea soars the storm-petrel, like a streak of black lightning.

 

 


The Heath Hen

— Tympanuchus cupido cupido

 

A hollow hooting sound like the subdued and distant echo of a tugboat tooting in the fog. A wailing of the wind spirit. A blowing in the neck of a bottle that carries further than a gunshot.

How else to describe the mating calls of the male heath hens when they gathered on the ancestral mating grounds each spring?

A vital, virile expression of the fecundity of old Mother Earth that could be heard a mile away. A booming.

Relatives of the prairie chicken, they were plump, short-tailed birds with vertical brown and white stripes and dangling neck feathers that could be raised into a V-shape when they were ready to show off. They puffed up the air sacs on their necks till they were as large as oranges, bowed their heads, raised their neck feathers like rabbit ears and charged one another in comical stutter steps, booming all the way.

As much a dance as a joust, the goal was to impress and intimidate, not to vanquish, so contact was rare. They veered off or jumped and spun half-circles in the air, challenging all creation, before landing and carrying on in the opposite direction. They paced about, as if summoning the courage to fight, and leapt over one another. Among the incessant booming, they cackled and laughed and the field became an absurd visual and oratory fiesta for the dawn hours, with a repeat at dusk.

Into the fray of strutting and bowing, some females went about their business, calm and unconcerned, pecking here and there for a grain of corn. Sometimes a male took a brief run towards a female, body inclined forward, tail feathers erect, circling this way and that, stamping, stamping and when it happened again and again, the field resonated with the drumming of feet.

 


The Song of the O’o

Once there was a love song that floated through the trees on the island of Kauai. Anyone who heard the melody was smitten by its beauty. They said it was the sweetest song on the island. Like the sound of a flute echoing a few notes early in the morning, it was by turns melancholy and haunting. Who was the lover who sang such a song? When would the beloved respond? These were mysteries for the heart of hearts.

One day some researchers walked into the forest with a recording of the song. They played it for the ōhi’a lehua trees with their succulent flowers and leathery leaves, for that’s where they thought the lover lived. Much as they hoped for an answer, none came. Today, the song of the o’o is heard no more.

 


Turquoise-throated Puffleg

— Eriocnemis godini

 

A heart the size of a pencil eraser, beating ten
times a second, hammering faster than we could hear.
—
Luisa A. Ingloria, Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser

Thumping in a wild flutter, in the ravines of Rio Guiallabamba, south of Perucha, Pichincha in the north of Ecuador and south of Colombia, as it seeks the red tubular flowers where it can extend its long straw-like tongue and lap up the hidden nectar. The males showing gold-green on top with hints of blue on their rumps, a turquoise love patch on their throats, the females less bright, more golden on their bellies, lacking the patch, both featuring snow-white downy leg puffs like frayed cotton balls or woolly panties. Found at altitudes of a few thousand meters darting among the flowers, aggressively defending the high-energy nectar, only hours from starvation. Their hearts slowing to tortoise speeds – torpor – to survive the night. Never abundant, an unconfirmed report from 1976, much of its habitat erased. Its heart driving the diversification of ecosystems, the evolution of flowers, once humming so strong.

 


DSCN1209Daniel Hudon, originally from Canada, is an adjunct lecturer in astronomy and math. He is the author of The Bluffer’s Guide to the Cosmos (Oval Books, UK), a chapbook of prose and poetry, Evidence for Rainfall (Pen and Anvil) and a forthcoming book about the present biodiversity crisis, Brief Eulogies for Lost Species (Pen and Anvil). Some recent writing links can be found at people.bu.edu/hudon. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Image Credit: Mark Cromwell/Color Club

The Birds: Brief Eulogies for Lost Birds was last modified: October 27th, 2015 by Guest Contributor
The Birds
2 comments
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Avatar
Guest Contributor

Entropy posts are often submitted to us by our fantastic readers & guest contributors. We'd love to receive a contribution from you too. Submission Guidelines.

previous post
Wednesday Entropy Roundup
next post
Going Down Grand: Poems From The Canyon

You may also like

WOVEN: The Taking

April 22, 2020

Calling Back the Buraq

February 19, 2019

Literacy Narrative: Reading Fernando Pessoa

August 23, 2018

WOVEN: As They Walk Through the Door

September 19, 2018
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • Lei Yu wow so beautifully written!

    Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio ·  January 18, 2021

  • Lisa S Thank you so much for your kind words and your feedback. I can only hope my story is able to help someone who needs it.

    WOVEN: This isn’t love ·  January 8, 2021

  • Ann Guy Thank you, Josh. And glad you didn’t get tetanus at band camp on that misguided day.

    A Way Back Home ·  December 24, 2020

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • WOVEN
  • Variations on a Theme
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Literacy Narrative
  • COVID-19
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • On Weather
  • Disarticulations
  • The Waters
  • Session Report series
  • Birdwolf
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • Small Press Releases
  • Books I Hate (and Also Some I Like)
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Fog or a Cloud
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Cooking Origin Stories
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • Best of 2019
  • The Talking Cure
  • Stars to Stories
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • Food and Covid-19
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2014-2020 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top