Day 8 – Haikus - California WaterBlog

We invited haiku submissions from CWS members and friends to be a part of the 8th day of our California WaterBlog series, “12 Days of CWS“. A haiku is a traditional Japanese three-line poem (5-7-5 syllables) that focuses on capturing a moment, feeling, or image. We hope you enjoy… and leave us your own haiku in the comments section below!

. . .

It seeps through the ground
Replenishing aquifers
Groundwater recharge

Creeping and Crawling
California Invasive
Water Hyacinth

Toils All Day Long
An Indoor Ecologist
Will I go Outside

Danube River, Dürnstein, Austria. PC Christine Parisek 2025.

Valley fog lifts up
Feathers flutter through orchards
Sigh for the promise

Mosquitos floating
Mosquitos dancing for my blood
We hate you so much

Blinded by blood lust
Seeking me incessantly
The spray does nothing

[Anonymously dedicated to anyone who has done meadow work, stream work, or just any field work with mosquitos present… probably everyone. It is just something to deal with, and part of the fun of field work. :)]

Flows, feast or famine,
Flora, fauna, farms, and friends:
California.

Aerial view of wetlands. PC Ken James, CA DWR, 2025.

Watershed Building
Interdisciplinary
Full of Scientists

Water falls from high
River begins to wander
Floodplain comes alive

Putah Creek along the UC Davis campus (i.e., Pedrick Road). PC Peter B. Moyle, January 2011.

New rain is falling,
Thirsty grounds long for storing.
Can floods bring new hope?
– By Helen E. Dahlke

Through a microscope
Pearl shining, a fish’s lens sits
History in layers
– By Danhong Ally Li

Adult Chinook Salmon Lens. Photo Credit: Alexandra Chu.

Founded CWS
Jeff Mount and Peter Moyle
The Visionaries

Keys click, code won’t run
Outside, salmon spawn in streams
Life of a modeler

Putah Creek Salmon. PC Ken Davis, December 2013.

How do salmon
From distant valley rivers
Find our small creek?

Looking for salmon
I see swirling yellow leaves
And a patch of clean gravel

On Valentine’s Day
Suckers were splashing and spawning
Not knowing I was watching.

Fishing smallmouth bass
We catch native pikeminnows.
A happy result.

On bright summer mornings
Fish dapple the creek’s surface
Grabbing small mayflies.

– Haikus about Putah Creek, By Peter Moyle

Putah Creek below Pedrick Road. PC Peter B. Moyle.

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