When I can't find a way to enter a poem, I flip through Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study (free online) and play with the questions. Written in 1911, the book's language often prods me in unexpected directions. I like to read the descriptions and individual studies and then play with the questions on paper, bringing my own experiences in the field to bear on the study.
“The overlapping of the feathers on a hen’s back and breast is a pretty illustration of nature’s method of shingling, so that the rain, finding no place to enter, drips off, leaving the bird’s underclothing quite dry. It is interesting to note how a hen behaves in the rain; she droops her tail and holds herself so that the water finds upon her no resting place, but simply a steep surface down which to flow to the ground. ”
How does a hen look when standing in the rain?
Of what use is this bird to us?
Does a hawk, having lost its mate, live alone ever after?
Why do people shoot hawks?
Why is it a mistake for people to shoot all hawks?
What notes does the chick make when following its mother?
What does the hen say when she has laid an egg?
Does the chickadee ever seem discouraged by the snow and cold weather?
When disturbed does it fly up or down?
Does he sing only on moonlit nights?
I love the language, the descriptors, the verbiage...
“...another quite different principle acts upon the coloring of the plumage of the mother birds; for if they should develop bright colors themselves, they would attract the eyes of the enemy to their precious hidden nests; only by being inconspicuous are they able to protect their eggs and nestlings from discovery and death. The mother partridge, for instance, is so nearly the color of the dead leaves on the ground about her that we may almost step upon her before we discover her; if she were the color of the male oriole or tanager she would very soon be the center of attraction to every prowler. Thus it has come about that among the birds the male has developed gorgeous colors which attract the female, while the female has kept modest, unnoticeable plumage. ”