The view and soundscape from my front porch first thing in the morning, in 140 characters or less. I live in Plummer’s Hollow, Pennsylvania, and blog at Via Negativa. —Dave BontaFollow on TwitterFollow on Identi.caSubscribe by EmailTumblr (3.0; @morningporch)http://www.morningporch.com/<p>On the steep slope below my parents’ house, a doe sweeps the deerflies from her twin fawns’ spotted backs with her long, rough tongue.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/41064917/the-brome-and-orchard-grass-in-my-former-lawn-has"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/135818844http://www.morningporch.com/post/135818844Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:37:40 -0400<p>Chipping sparrows feed a fledgling in the grass next to the wall, making much too much noise—even a deer would nosh on such a fine morsel.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40948674/i-feel-a-ground-beetle-walking-up-my-leg-under-my"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/135309255http://www.morningporch.com/post/135309255Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:28:36 -0400<p>A low, leaden sky. Leaves blow backwards. A robin on a dead branch at the edge of the yard turns to face the woods.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40812642/a-juvenile-robin-grooming-in-the-cherry-tree"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/134743586http://www.morningporch.com/post/134743586Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:04:00 -0400<p>Sitting in great discomfort due to a sprained back, I regard a deer-stripped black raspberry cane, naked except for its thorns.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40669454/first-light-a-low-frequency-buzz-passes-between"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/134120635http://www.morningporch.com/post/134120635Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:32:18 -0400<p>Everything drips; I don’t notice that the rain has stopped until the sun comes out. A burst of song from phoebe, catbird and Carolina wren.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40528795/the-dawn-chorus-begins-just-as-it-does-in-january"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/133506801http://www.morningporch.com/post/133506801Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:03:39 -0400<p>Just inside the woods’ edge, three mushrooms weather the downpour, umbrellas for no one. The soaked bark of a maple turns patchy blue.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40601894/i-realize-suddenly-that-my-yard-is-devoid-of-bull"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/132914529http://www.morningporch.com/post/132914529Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:46:16 -0400<p>Wood thrush, when you go back to Honduras, don’t just forage in the campo. Sing like you do here. Let them know how we mourn.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40285871/another-butterfly-weed-has-been-stripped-its"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/132260205http://www.morningporch.com/post/132260205Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:06:47 -0400<p>The pasture rose in front of my wall bears two white blossoms: bindweed raising its flared trumpets to the white sky. The smell of rain.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40167079/the-catbird-sounds-self-critical-adding-a-brief"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/131682343http://www.morningporch.com/post/131682343Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:40:23 -0400<p>The red climbing rose is just coming into bloom, but it’s the garlic tops I’m admiring, those coiled green snakes with the heads of birds.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/40047374/another-reason-not-to-mow-the-lawn-a-male-common"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/131193715http://www.morningporch.com/post/131193715Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:22:22 -0400<p>Bright sunshine after a night of thunderstorms. Four deer—two does and two fawns—run through the steaming woods.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39906616/a-shower-blows-in-like-late-at-night-when-the"><i>Last night</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/130654946http://www.morningporch.com/post/130654946Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:06:11 -0400<p>Beside the springhouse, the twittering zoom of a hummingbird’s courtship dive: from sunlight into cattail shadows and back. Tanager song.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39775103/a-squirrel-is-making-a-nest-in-a-black-locust-with"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/129974287http://www.morningporch.com/post/129974287Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:22:08 -0400<p>Another cloudless, cool morning. Two large craneflies joined back-to-back like Dr. Doolittle’s pushmi-pullyu float sedately past.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39633720/54-f-a-cranefly-clings-to-my-elbow-landing-gear"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/129334263http://www.morningporch.com/post/129334263Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:53:54 -0400<p>The catbird sails in and out of the lilac without interrupting his stream of song. Oak leaves glossy as mirrors; the sky so blue it hurts.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39496381/four-titmice-flit-about-the-yard-the-dead-elm"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/128721478http://www.morningporch.com/post/128721478Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:25:11 -0400<p>Soft applause from the road bank: a doe’s ears flapping as she shakes her head to chase away the flies.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39385127/a-fawn-follows-its-mother-through-the-springhouse"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/128061079http://www.morningporch.com/post/128061079Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:07:46 -0400<p>Up early enough to catch the end of the shortest night of the year, alive with wind and gurgling water, fireflies, a lone spring peeper.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39272743/a-squirrel-is-exploring-the-dead-elm-at-the-edge"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/127519925http://www.morningporch.com/post/127519925Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:25:24 -0400<p>A hummingbird grooms itself in the middle of a downpour while a phoebe plucks insects from the side of the dead elm, hovering in place.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39148494/overcast-and-cold-a-firefly-floats-past-the-porch"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/127029153http://www.morningporch.com/post/127029153Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:45:26 -0400<p>Another dark morning. The wood pewee makes a rare visit to the edge of the yard, sings one, sad note, and snaps a brown moth out of the air.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/39011784/clear-44-f-the-doe-who-i-think-lost-her-fawn"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/126392814http://www.morningporch.com/post/126392814Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:01:34 -0400<p>The black-robed cowbird at the top of the dead elm burbles authoritatively, like the Grand Ayatollah of the yard taking credit for the rain.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/38874826/51-f-in-the-side-garden-my-clump-of-new-york"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/125780717http://www.morningporch.com/post/125780717Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:28:40 -0400<p>Breezy, overcast, a spit of rain—these reports never seem complete without the weather. The buzz of a hummingbird. A common yellowthroat.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/38730698/a-catbird-solos-in-the-half-light-while-wood"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/125166157http://www.morningporch.com/post/125166157Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:18:10 -0400<p>A robin refurbishing an old nest lands each time on the lowest branch and labors up the ladder of limbs with his beakful of dead grass.</p> <p><a href="http://www.morningporch.com/post/38603491/the-clear-air-makes-for-sharp-contrasts-between"><i>Last year</i></a></p>http://www.morningporch.com/post/124547492http://www.morningporch.com/post/124547492Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:24:31 -0400