A Visit with the Birds

As we pulled up to the feeding area at Goose Island, we watched a bird flit out of an outstretched hand in the truck in front of us. We hopped out of our car loaded up with bird food. Mike filled my dad's hand with food. A bird immediately landed in his hand and he was so startled he threw the food out of his hand. He decided to just watch Mike feed the birds.

The snow fell as birds landed all around us.

Goose Island is located in a La Crosse county park in the middle of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge.

Whether you're walking the trails, hanging out at a campsite or canoeing around the island, the wildlife is visible everywhere. 

Red Bird

Red bird came all winter

Firing up the landscape

As nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,

Those dun-colored darlings,

So hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds,

I know he has many children,

Not all of them bold in spirit.

Still for whatever reason-

Perhaps because the winter is so long

And the sky is so black-blue,

or perhaps because their heart narrows

As often as it opens-

I am grateful

That red bird comes all winter

Firing up the landscape

As nothing else can do.

...Winter's gift is this, and it is my heart.

The warm and singing heart of the witch of the quiet cold.

Ariel Llewellyn, excerpt from Winter