Winter Commotion

Mice shadows under snow. Safe trails in small hours, when owl and fox ponder night-time banquets.

Deer path to bird feeders. Wary browsers dine on sunlight become seed.

Squirrels in bulging, billowed coats dash – orbiting in dispute, rotate kernelled corn and scan for the sweet bite site.

Competition lurks in birch tops. Jays cry, “What’s left WILL be shared.”

Chickadees shuffle back and forth, seize one seed, then another . . . and another, in frenzied rush to shelter in undressed bushes next to the lane, each pilfered snack a reward.

A swarm of Siskins descend and clutch pegs on the thistle feeder, gorging on an exotic harvest from Africa.

Winter not a dead time, just quiet.

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