Robins, Ducks, Sparrows and All Things Birds

I have always liked birds. When I was young we had four parakeets - Snowball, Bluey, Greeny, and Ringo. Ringo was brilliant - he said his name, flew to me on command, drove around on Barbie’s car, and was very entertaining. Yesterday we set up our little solar birdbath in our patio garden in anticipation of the spring and summer gatherings. There’s nothing worse than to see a thirsty bird come to visit and there is no water to be had. And as the spring temperatures are finally starting to rise, the bird activity intensifies. So on our morning walk we looked around to see what would come across our path. In the gardens were doves and blackbirds; on the rooftop of the air and space museum were pigeons; we caught a red winged blackbird in the American Indian pond along with a couple of male mallards; a bluejay was hiding in the weeds; more doves were hanging around the Smithsonian gardens; the seagulls were in the distance; the robins turned their backs on us! And the sparrows were hanging around the popcorn wagon. I could hear the cardinals but didn’t see them, and I know a lot more of them are stealing glimpses of us from their hiding places. Soon the ducklings will be all over the place. But beware of the hawks that frequent all of these places. So now I’m waiting for the first official visitor to our house. I know they like to watch us as much as we like to watch them but I have a feeling I like it a lot more.