chatter

 

listen to them sing

American Goldfinches

musical chatter

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Heaven Between the Trees

 

Now that the sun has

migrated back to the north,

I don't have to wait as long for

first light to turn into first color,

for morning to open the day.

The birds wake earlier

and stay later in April.

American Goldfinches

are beginning to show color;

slight hints of yellow feathers.

In about four to six weeks,

all of our colorful warblers

will be migrating and singing

their parts in the sweet choir

in the temple of our woods.

Heaven between the trees.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Lowell Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

Yellow

 

American Goldfinches,

singing while flying,

undulate through the blue sky;

like yellow wildflowers

wavering in the wind.

They land in the garden

to feed on the seeds of Cosmos.

Perched and balanced

on the stems of windflowers.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Gray-headed Coneflower ~ Ratibida pinnata - Luton Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Woodland Sunflower ~ Helianthus spp. - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. & 4. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Lemon Drops

 

An American Goldfinch

dropped out of God's blue sky

to visit my garden of annuals.

He landed on an arching stem

of Cosmos, and rode it 

until it stilled.

Then, balanced there,

like a little lemon drop

with a snazzy black vest;

he pecked and picked ripening seeds

with his pointy orange beak;

each time tipping his jaunty  black cap,

grateful for each fragment

from this little garden,

then back to the blue sky and gone.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Sounding Joy

 

I welcome the return

of the Song Sparrow.

Its long song

lingers in the air,

then repeats

the sounding joy.

Up and down the scale,

each note worthy of praise.

to one who knows

nothing about music,

but treasures the song

and is grateful to be

in the audience

of one.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Saul Lake Bog - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Cannonsburg State Game Area - Cannon Township - Michigan

3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

Undulations

 

Through the lazy afternoons,

of deep green summer,

American Goldfinches

sing and vacillate in flight

above the canopy of hardwoods.

Occasionally,

they come down to feed 

in the seed heads

of my maturing garden.

They especially like

the Purple Coneflowers

and Cosmos; "windflowers".

Balancing on a bending stem,

they maneuver into position

and pick out the hidden seeds. 

Closer now, he's so handsome

in his lemon-yellow jacket

with black and white wings

and sporty black cap.

And off they go again,

singing through their undulations.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, 3, & 4. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Goldfinch and Dandelion

With its curved claws,
a goldfinch pins 
a dandelion stem
into the grass.

Then picks precisely
and delicately
at the tops
of dandelion tufts;

extracting the minute seeds
that might have been 
carried on the wind
by petite silver parachutes.

Wearing a small black cap
to match tuxedo wings,
he now stands at the edge
of a common mud puddle.

to dip his orange beak
for a bird-sized sip of water.

A joyous yellow bundle
eating and drinking the afternoon.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

American Goldfinch - Cornell Labs

Photo Locations: 

Fallasburg Park - Kent County, Michigan  

Slender Lemon

American Goldfinch:
a summer male,
a slender lemon,

sliding through slopes of air
in undulating arches
toward the settling sun.

Singing while flying,
calling attention
to his passing.

After his passing,
the evening quiet
settles back into place.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Play the call of the American Goldfinch @ Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Photo Locations:

1. White Pine Trail State Park - Rockford, Michigan

2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

May You Walk III

May you walk along summer gardens colorful with birds and blooms.

May you walk along shady riverbanks of slow current 
with fish feeding at the smooth surface.

May you walk through native prairies tall with coneflowers. 

May you walk along rural roads beside fields 
rich with topsoil growing soybeans and corn.

May you walk after rain in warm meadows
fresh with sweet clover.

May you walk along the edge of dense woods 
with Staghorn Sumac clustering yellow-green.

May you walk during dusk, when columns of cumulus 
are illuminated by the sun already set.



May you walk through the seasons of your life attentive and alert, 
with a joyful sense of gratitude.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy:

May You Walk - February 7, 2014

May You Walk II - January 12, 2015

Photo Locations:

1. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Rock River - Grand Detour, Illinois

3. St. Mary's Quarry/Prairie Restoration - Dixon, Illinois

4. Lee County, Illinois

5. & 6. Grattan Township - Kent County, Michigan

7. Pickerel Lake Park - Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County, Michigan