Starling the Trickster

You fooled me, trickster

with your staticky singing

from the pear tree in late morning

a perfect call ringing:

"killdeer, deer, deer,"

from your bill to my ear

made me drop the axe I was about to swing

and run to the open yard

searching skyward for that 

shorebird sign of spring!

You fooled me later, the day far gone,

with a near perfect rendition of tundra swan.

And now I find

as I search my mind

for a reason to dislike you

that disaffection grows

as melting snows recede

and crocuses poke through.

Soon comes the season of your usurping

nest sites not meant for you.

Try as we might, you still alight

and prospect, select, and build

Secretly at first, then in a burst

your song comes in squeaky trills.

We shout and wave

you fly away

and we believe we've won!

Yet deep inside the martin gourd

incubation has begun.

February 20, 2017

Whipple, Ohio, USA