Taking What They Need

Over the summer at Halibut Point all the birds provided for themselves according to their inborn laws and tastes. Who can distinguish between Nature and God?

Goldfinch finding seeds among thorns.

Song sparrow bringing protein to its nestlings.

Black-and-white warbler stalking caterpillars.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher on the wing.

Green heron poised to snatch tadpoles coming up to breathe.

Chimney swift patrolling for aerial insects.

Common eider bringing up crustaceans from below.

Juvenile Great black-backed gull devouring a seal carcass.

Herring gull dismembering a crab.

Ruby-throated hummingbird drinking nectar.

"There is but one politics, and that is biology." Michael McClure*

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* Michael McClure reading from his poems this week at the Cape Ann Museum, under the auspices of the Gloucester Writers' Center and the Charles Olson Society.