Street Symphony

I am walking around the neighborhood a lot lately, and although the weather of the last couple days suggests that the lion of March still stalks us, it is spring and the birds know it. The avian racket on the streets -- above and beyond the pile driver on Hicks, the paving on Congress, the renovations here, there, and surprisingly all over, even the street sweeper that went through without water, raising a ridiculous cloud of dust -- is a seasonal symphony I always look forward too. The whistles, slurs, and cat-calls of the starlings; the chatter of the house sparrows; the whatcheer whatcheer whatcheer of the cardinals; the flap-clap of mourning dove and pigeon wings on take-off; the mockingbird’s excitable choral practice. Occasionally the harsh caw of the crow punctuates the sky. I am still waiting for the killy-killy-killy of the kestrel.