Soaring overhead,
scissor-tails returning
a long journey ends
I love the scissor-tailed flycatcher. So beautiful and elegant with tails forked wide or streaming long and thin behind like signs towed by toy airplanes. What would the sign say? Bugs beware, spring is here.
They’re the state bird of Oklahoma, and can be found on the Oklahoma statehood quarter, released earlier this year.
Fortunately, they can also be found all over central Texas this time of year, soaring over open fields, twisting and diving to come up with a delicious dragonfly. Watching their forked tailed displays is cause to stop the car and stare.
They migrate up from southern Mexico and central America, and then fan out across Texas and Oklahoma. Those journeys are especially amazing to me. What have those little black eyes seen? Seeing the first members of a returning migration is a sight to make one’s day. For a moment, at least, we can know that some things still work, still happen as they should. With their return, Nature’s clock chimes April.
They showed up on April 1st this year.
The return of the
scissor-tailed flycatcher
April has begun
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
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