By Mary Oliver, Art by Melissa Sweet

Do you hear the birds singing? Readers young and young-at-heart will feel like they are in nature while reading this poetry picture book. Discover a new poem filled with the wonder of birds, spring, summer, trees and nests. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver creates a unique perspective shown through the poetry found in nature. Watch as birds create nests, lay eggs and sing to one another. Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet creates beautiful illustrations filled with the vivid colors of nature including birds, the sky, trees and fields. “Hatchlings wake in the swaying branches.” Do you see the birds in the trees? This is a wonderful collection for the whole family to read aloud and discover something new about birds. A list of bird names is included in the back of the book along with a description of songbird nests. Also, readers will enjoy the notes from Oliver and Sweet. What poem will you write about nature?

This article appears in Bend Nest Summer 2026.

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Goldfinches

by Paige Bentley-Flannery, Bend Nest
May 13, 2026

<h1>Goldfinches</h1> <p class="byline">by Paige Bentley-Flannery, Bend Nest <br />May 13, 2026</p> <p><em>By Mary Oliver, Art by Melissa Sweet</em></p> <p class="has-drop-cap">Do you hear the birds singing? Readers young and young-at-heart will feel like they are in nature while reading this poetry picture book. Discover a new poem filled with the wonder of birds, spring, summer, trees and nests. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver creates a unique perspective shown through the poetry found in nature. Watch as birds create nests, lay eggs and sing to one another. Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet creates beautiful illustrations filled with the vivid colors of nature including birds, the sky, trees and fields. “Hatchlings wake in the swaying branches.” Do you see the birds in the trees? This is a wonderful collection for the whole family to read aloud and discover something new about birds. A list of bird names is included in the back of the book along with a description of songbird nests. Also, readers will enjoy the notes from Oliver and Sweet. What poem will you write about nature?</p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/bend-nest-content/bookshelf/goldfinches/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com&quot;&gt;Bend Nest&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cropped-Untitled-design-4.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=87327&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.bendsource.com/bend-nest-content/bookshelf/goldfinches/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bendsource.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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