Queens of the Night

 

I know you must 

have touched them

at some time in your life.

The powdery scales

of moths, so soft

they rub off on your fingers.

Wearing furry skirts

on short, fluttering flights.

Queens of the night.

Attracted by your light.

 © 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Flat River State Game Area - Lowell Township - Kent County - Michgian

Yellow Notes

 

This handsome yellow bird,

accented with a black cap,

black wings and tail,

swoops across the summer sky

in shallow arches;

an undulating flight between the trees.

Singing yellow notes

of freedom

into the blue sky.

Until it comes down to earth

to feed on the seeds 

of flowers.

American Goldfinch.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Roselle Park - Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

Flight of Words

 

I hurl these words up

into the prevailing wind

to see if they can fly.

They are carried away

across the fresh green lawn

to the margin of the woods,

then drift between the blossoms

of a Flowering Dogwood; where 

some words settle on the petals.

The remainder fall to earth,

muffled on a carpet of moss,

gratified by this brief flight.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Kent County - Michigan

Questions of Flight

 

Don't you admire the strong, confident

rhythm in the wingbeat

of the Great Blue Heron?

How about the up and down,

arching flight of woodpeckers,

undulating between the trees?

Or the linear, straight and fast

destintion-driven style

of most ducks?

You must enjoy trying to track

the swirling, swiveling, darting

ride of the swallows.

And aren't you fascinated by the

skilled precision and acrobatics

of any hummingbird?

Don't you admire bird flight,

and try to imagine what it might

be like to fly? 

Pure delight! 

Right?

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Great Blue Heron ~ Eagle Lakes Park - Naples, Florida

2. Pileated Woodpeckeer ~ Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Ring-necked Duck ~ Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

4. Tree Swallow ~ Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

5. Broad-tailed Hummingbird (female) ~ Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado 

synchronized flight

 

slender and agile

banked turn in synchronized flight

pair of Black-necked Stilts

© Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Eagle Lakes Park - Naples, Florida

2. Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch - Gilbert, Arizona

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

flight

 

how much we long for

the grace we see in the flight

of these Sandhill Cranes

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Bosque del Apache - National Wildlife Refuge - San Antonio, New Mexico

synchronized

 

banked turn to the left

precision maneuvering

this synchronized flight

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

  Black-necked Stilt ~ Eagle Lakes Community Park - Naples, Florida

Untouchable

 

As winter

melts into spring,

a pair of Mute Swans,

high above the ice,

just above the fog,

circles the outline

of the quiet bayou.

Their wide white wings

whistle with each downstroke.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Three long air laps

around the shoreline

as they gradually 

gain altitude,

and finally disappear

into the untouchable

white.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Petty's Bayou - Spring Lake, Michigan

Unanimous

After feeding on
fermenting crab apples,
a cluster of Cedar Waxwings
disappears.

Now perched among remnant leaves
of Red Oak in early November,
I hear their thin, whistled calls.

In a unanimous decision,
they all agree
to take sudden flight
in a loose, wavering flock.

I take a quick count:
twenty-eight!  

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, 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

Cawing Crows

Crows are communicating
across wide acres of woods.
Cawing out suggestions
along the familiar route
established by the elders.

I listen intently,
trying to translate
and decipher the message,
but their language 
remains mystery.

All I know for sure,
is their steady,
rowing flight pattern,

their cooperation
in efficient flocks,

and their unforgettable feathers
glossy with blackness.

© 2015 Richard Havenga 

Photo Locations:

1, 2, 3, 4,  Grattan Township - Kent County, Michigan

5. Estero, Florida

Silent Wings

Above the calm lake,
swallows slice
on silent wings
through the purpling
shadows of dusk.

I think I can hear
their chattering small talk:
of mosquitoes and midges,
the hunting is good,
their confident flight.

Pursuing with passion
a swift, winged life
of grace and precision
during these long days
of warm months.

Soon, their sleek bodies
meet their shadows,
as evening ends
their silent flight. 

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1,2,3, Pickerel Lake Park,  (Fred Meijer Nature Preserve) (Pickerel) Kent County,  Michigan

4,5,  Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve, (Saul Lake) (Nature Conservancy), Kent County, Michigan


Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor

Into the Blue

 

  

And now autumn has grown older.
Sandhill Cranes ride high in the sky.
This pre-flight trial to test the young.

 

Two thousand feet into the blue.
Circling higher, feathering the clouds.

 

 

Migration south to begin soon.
Is this the last time we see them?
Four long months until their return.

Anticipating next spring's first sighting,
and the ancient, rattling call of the crane.

©  2013  Richard Havenga







 

 

 Listen to these calls of the Sandhill Crane from:  Cornell Labs. 

 

 

 

Photo Locations:

 

1, 2, 3 - Home Land

 

4. Parnell,  Kent County, Michigan