Friday, December 1, 2006, 7:50 am
Our checkout time is 7:20 a.m.
GREENE CO., MO. — I awoke this morning not to snowflakes in the air (as had been predicted) but to clear, cloudless skies stretched over a fresh blanket of snow. The flicker that roosted on the porch last night began to stir about 7:15, blinking as she looked around slowly.
She stretched her right wing, exposing golden-yellow shafts in the blackish primaries and barred secondaries. A few flicks of her long tongue, a couple of vigorous scratches to her head, and a stretch of the left wing.
Then she dropped from the brick and was gone.
David J. Ringer
