Robyn Detterline: 2 Checklists

The Sixty-First Checklist

Backyard, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, US 
Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:23 AM 
Protocol: Stationary 
Party Size: 1 
Duration: 11 minute(s) 

4 species total: 
2 House Finch 
2 Dark-eyed Junco 
2 Northern Cardinal 
7 House Sparrow 

Once upon a time, a lady cardinal found lodged in the fresh spring grass, a torn crumpled paper bit, the right bit to cornerstone a snug spring nest. Snatched she as a swift this bit, on the wing, incredulous of her luck. She flew into the tree, and to the squirrels bragged, I have found this crumpled bit. But the squirrels, having no room for dreys in their squabble, neither heard nor saw her bit. Then she flew into the spindly highlimbs, and to the house finches bragged, I have found this crumpled bit. But the finches, having no nest-thoughts in their shutout, neither cared nor coveted her bit. Then she flew to the ground, and to the juncos bragged, I have found this crumpled bit. But the juncos, having merry already in their find, neither noticed nor missed her bit.  The lady cardinal then, thinking no one will I impress, leapt onto the fence and deliberated, realized soon the cold, cold weather, and that today nesting had nothing to do with her. In a blitz of bitterness she let her bit go; it fluttered into the grass and relodged, most likely dead. And little did the lady know, in the tippy of the tree waited her mate, watching to see how this thing would play out, and when the paper was let go, sighed he a little sadly, because so forward was he looking to being a father soon.  ​

The Forty-Ninth Checklist

Backyard, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, US 
Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:07 AM 
Protocol: Stationary 
Party Size: 1 
Duration: 12 minute(s) ​

6 species total: 
1 Ring-billed Gull  
1 European Starling  
2 Dark-eyed Junco  
1 White-throated Sparrow  
2 Northern Cardinal  
14 House Sparrow

The female cardinal suits well with her rustiness, a shimmer of shield to tolerate house sparrows. She allows little brown birds to hop her side of the hopper, wondering what the world will be like when there are no birds, and how she will deal with this thing when it happens, will she lie in bed for days and days even as they grow longer, and will she lament that she did not spend enough time marveling at the shift of buff in the rising and setting, at the shift of the sun in the suffocation of dingy gray fluff.​

Still, she nips when they get too close.

The male cardinal wears red like a tongue, feeling no need for defense he worries her, he lives in mania, chases off the sparrows, chase dart rush flush. She counts, and he eats more anger than seed. He must have missed the fall of the Berlin Wall. He must have been grown already when sharing became the success of primates. But he is a dinosaur, he will outwear himself. He will fall to the earth, famished. 

And what will the world be like. 

Robyn Detterline is a writer, editor, and educator. She volunteers with Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, an organization that rescues wild birds injured by window collisions. In an effort to manage anxiety and depression, she participated in a checklist-a-day challenge, in which she made daily observations of birds for one year, writing a poem for each checklist.