Morning Awakening in the Park

 I went to Brightwood Park after waking up one morning.  The sun was like a spotlight on a performance stage, revealing the beautiful background and the characters.  Although it was the beginning of the day, the joy of spring made me feel drunk and start daydreaming in this wonderland.

Yesterday I saw two birds fighting for a tree hole.  It was between a male northern flicker and a female red-bellied woodpecker.  Today when I walked by and whistled, a female northern flicker rushed back and held tightly to the entrance of the tree hole.  My guess is that a couple already checked in this apartment and there may even be eggs inside.

Speaking of whistling, I learned last year that this could be a way to communicate with northern flickers.  Near the Prospect Street entrance of the park, there was a family of northern flickers living in a tree hole.  Everytime I walked by, the birds would respond to my whistling.  Sometimes one head stuck out, sometimes two, and there was one time I saw three, with a curious baby bird joining the daddy and the mommy to say hi.

A robin stood on the grass, looking very fulfilled.  I could not imagine how many earthworms were caught by the bird.  Somehow I was reminded of a recent experience of an international flight I took.  I chose a window seat to take pictures.  My next-seat passenger was like this bird, happy and firendly.  For a good 11 hours on the flight, I felt warm and secure even though the cabin temperature was lower then usual.  However at arrival I was like a piece of pickled cucumber at the bottom of the jar.