Winter Trees

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!




A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

William Carlos Williams


There is still life in those trees, however, and I don't mean still life -- although this particular life can be very still indeed, until the time comes to pounce.

red-tailed hawk (click to enlarge)

The red-tailed hawk had made its second appearance near the orange tree. A couple of people were gawking while I took these photos, talking about the bird's beauty. I had to agree that it was a beautiful bird, but that's all we agreed on. One woman was going on about how marvelous it is that they're introducing these birds to the New York City area. I attempted to disabuse her of that wrongheaded  notion, saying that these big hawks should not be living (and feeding) here in the city. They should be out in the forest somewhere! But they eat the rats, she said. And I knew what was coming next: they also eat the squirrels. They eat my pets!

I really didn't like seeing the hawk twice now near the orange tree, where  Alphie and now two baby black squirrels are currently living. One of the onlookers said that this hawk lives at Playground Five in Stuytown, which is south of here, down by 14th Street.

The trees at PCV that are so pretty when they bloom in Spring, so lush and green in Summer and so dramatically colorful in Autumn, also have a strange kind of beauty in Winter. Here are a few scenes of Winter:



nest



two baby squirrels

squirrels

squirrels



squirrel

 

out on a limb



nest



squirrels



squirrels





December blooms



snow -- not!



nest



winter sky