Home is the Boreal

Flocking together,

Stuffed from berry-filled trees.

Waxwings fly home,

To the woods, in a breeze.

Attracting lovers,

With sounds of rhythm and rhyme.

Hairy Woodpeckers do not sing.

They peck on spruce and pine.

Though the Pileated Woodpeckers,

With flaming red chests.

Stop hikers in their tracks,

With a laugh above from the rest.

Gray Jay, the Whiskey Jack,

Full of boldness, and curse.

Are resourceful hoarders of the North.

And vocally diverse.

Often mistaken for a partridge,

Is the Ruffed Grouse.

They run on their toes in the winter,

Scurrying like a mouse.
Black-capped Chickadee,

Red-breasted Nuthatch,

The American Robin, all sing,

Bothering closed-in house cats.

The Western Tanager,

Known to be a tourist.

They come for few months only.

To raise new generations in the forest.

Then the Common Raven,

Known for being a thief.

Steals food from other flocks,

And people, with no grief.

Black-billed Magpies,

Stand out among the rest.

Their beautiful, aggressive demeanor.

Makes them one of Alberta’s best.

by Dawn Booth