On the Wing #4: Woodland Sonnet
Perhaps the loneliest songs are those sung in the woods in a New England summertime are those sung by the Eastern Wood-Pewee ( Contopus virens ). Its double-noted prefix of "pee-a-weee" and its suffix "pee-wo", sung in a drifty, yet uplifting tone. This is one of those summer sounds that permeates the woodland long after more vociferous species such as Northern Cardinals ( Cardinalis cardinalis ) and American Robins ( Turdus migratorius ) have stopped singing for the summer. Many times in the past few weeks, I have been walking with a group of campers, trying to get them to follow along with the general direction of the group and get them to the places they need to be on time, only to grow frustrated by either their almost incessant need to walk as slow as possible or having been so absorbed in their own little world that they unintentionally hinder the group's progress. These are the times when I have felt the greatest stress. However, when I have opportunity t...