How about a poem I wrote to get us all though the dreary days of winter time. Even here in the Panhandle of Florida it is unseasonably cold.
Ivory Billed Woodpecker
Of all the birds along the coast
There's one I'd like to see the most.
Existence now would seem obscure
Extinction certainly next to near.
Pileated woodpeckers still abound,
But this one boasts a larger crown.
Wings beneath while viewed in flight
Have centered black with outer white
White plumaged back between the wings,
Gods Grail it's called among other things.
It's flight is one with lack of ease
Among the stands of cypress trees.
A crow sized bird with bright red crest,
And black is solid on the chest.
Without a doubt I'd be so thrilled
Just to glimpse the Ivory Billed.
The Singer Tract was worth investing,
And was the place of last known nesting.
The Tensas river winding through,
Flowing west of Despair Bayou.
Chances now are poor at best,
To find these woodpeckers or their nest.
It's double knock on cypress wood,
Means ones nearby or at least it should.
Why could they not be left intact
The stands of woods at Singer Tract.
If chance should happen that it's willed,
I'll get to see the Ivory Billed.
Dan H.
