by Faith Barrett
I. Eminent domain
The long bridge across the marsh that keeps
the town alive. Wings of dead shorebirds
all along the shoulder. All around
wide bands of yellow and green, marsh grasses,
and flat bands of blue-green water, bright, still.
The American white ibis with its
downturned bill probes the shallow waters
for prey it does not see (conservation
status: least concern). Northrop Grumman has
in recent years launched the Antares rocket
from Wallop’s Island, for resupply
of the International Space Station.
Clouds of vapor at the launch, super-cooled
liquid oxygen.
Bottlenose dolphins
frequent the inlet to the Atlantic
where the breakers give them speed for leaping.
They communicate and locate prey
using clicks, whistles and squeaks that emanate
as pulses from their foreheads (status: least
concern). Located on Pocomoke
and Occohannock lands, properties
on the barrier islands were seized
by eminent domain in 1943
to establish a wildlife preserve.
The American oystercatcher
(least concern) probes the shell of the oyster
(some concern about habitat
destruction) with its beak to sever
the muscle that keeps the shell closed. A strong mollusk
can clamp down and hold the bird by its beak
until the tide comes in.
II. The sea pie
The American pied oystercatcher
(least concern) feeds at low tide in mud flats,
salt marshes, or exposed oyster bars.
They will also step into shallow waves
seeking shellfish beds. A large and striking
bird with yellow eyes in an orange
orbital ring, and a vivid orange
beak, it tilts its head to hunt by sight
for mussels, limpets, sea urchins. They are
the only birds in their environment
who can open a large mollusk shell.
The sea pie has two ways of doing this:
it can probe with its beak a partly
opened shell, severing the adductor
and drawing out the flesh. Or it can hammer
on the shell until it breaks. Willets, gulls
and ruddy turnstones sometimes gather,
hoping for a turn at the raw bar.
Major threats include habitat loss
due to sea level rise, pollution,
the resulting risk of ingesting trash.
When the beak probes a partly opened shell,
a strong and well-rooted mollusk can
occasionally clamp down, holding the bird
in place until the tide comes in.
Faith Barrett is an associate professor of English at Duquesne University. She has published a scholarly book focused on American Civil War poetry and has coedited a Civil War poetry anthology. Her current poetry manuscript in progress uses the discourse of ornithology as a means of responding to global climate change.