No need to apologize for being a lurker. I don’t comment at most of the blogs I visit, either, usually also because I can’t think of anything original to say. So when I mean “stop by,” I mean, stop by the comments thread — kinda like coming up on the porch for a chat versus strolling by and looking at the garden. Nice of you to vouch for my cuteness as a kid. How much did my mom pay you to say that?

Glad you took it the time to look it up (and write some light verse about it — fun!). I had thought of substituting “flycatcher” for “phoebe,” but somehow it just didn’t sound as good.

Thanks as always for stopping by, Joan. Your comments add real value to a blog.

I had no problem with the flies;
Easy as ABCD.
The word I hastened to look up
Was obviously Phoebe.

The image of a woman
Crunching all those crispy critters
Would never ever fit the bill
As something else that twitters.

Eureka! Yes! I found the thing.
It was indeed a bird.
All hail thee Wikipedia
For giving me the word.

Alas, my ornithology’s
Quite limited in scope
But Negativa positively
Gives a gleam of hope.

Thanks. I should’ve looked through my files for an appropriate photo; I must have one somewhere.

Ha! O.K. Yeah, I’m not sure too many readers will make that leap.

And craneflies are like insect storks. (Also implicit to (perhaps only) this reader.)

Oh good! Thanks.

Thanks. I tried to work “stuck” into the poem or title, too, but it didn’t fit. So it had to remain implicit.