Point Mugu State Park

HOODED ORIOLES

For the third year in a row
a pair of hooded oriels
dad 
black and brilliant yellow-orange
mom
pale green
return to my brother’s
banana plant
to weave their hanging nest
with plant fibers and grasses
into a baby basket
underneath a leaf again.

Before anyone else is awake
I see my brother watching them
outside in a chair
as quiet and still as he can be

taking a moment
before his daughter is up
and needs breakfast
before his wife returns from her trip
back to Oaxaca a year after
her father died
before
our mom texts to plan
what to bring for dinner tonight.

I join him there, wordlessly
to pause the wrestling
of a day’s chaos into to-dos
to pause our answering
of all the unanswered questions.

Each morning on my visit
is like this;
without a plan
we meet here
to witness this small,
mysterious family
go about their bird-business
delicately and uncaptured.

 

 

Hike level: Moderate
Location: Malibu, CA
Cost: FREE to hike
Description: Point Mugu State Park, located in the Santa Monica Mountains, features more than 70 miles of hiking trails. My brother and I hiked the Ray Miller trail, 5.3 miles and 1,150 fit elevation gain. The Ray Miller Trail is part of the long-distance Backbone trail which starts at Ray Miller Trailhead in Malibu and ends in the Will Rogers State Historic Park in LA. The Backbone trail is 68.8 miles long with 19,000 elevation gain.