* Birdland *

Each morning, we awake to the "hooting" and "courting" melodies of at least six pairs of mourning doves nesting in the large, cottonwood trees in our backyard. They've been here for about two weeks. The first time we noticed them, "Drewski," our youngest, came running into my room to tell me that there were a dozen baby owls in our trees. ;-)

At night, the Kildeer are conducting themselves as if it were spring, twittering noisily about. Flocks of robins have arrived in our neighborhood, more than I've seen in several years, and the hawks are perched atop many a fence post! It's time to dust off the sketchbooks and binoculars! Lock the cats in the house, or they'll do some damage.

"Everybody heard that word
That they named it after Bird
Where the rhythm swooped and swirled
The jazz corner of the world
An' the cats they gigged in there
Were beyond compare

Birdland - I'm singin' Birdland
Birdland - Oh swingin' Birdland"