Morning singer

The cardinal's song isn't particularly melodious, but it is pretty - and distinctive. (This reminds me of the woman who stopped while I was taking a picture of one of the redwings and said, when I pointed him out, "Oh, I love them. They're so pretty. And so is their song!" I wonder if she actually knows which is the redwings' song; I don't find it repulsive, but how can you call that sustained croak 'pretty'?) There's a cardinal in the trees along the path to my building - past the park - that's been driving me crazy. I hear him every morning and almost never even glimpst him, and this is with most of the trees still bare. I'll never see him in full leaf!

But after a rainy weekend and a gray, chill week, Friday dawned clear and golden with the promise of 70 degrees (a promise it kept). And while I was walking to the building, I heard the cardinal, then caught a flash of red. He shifted his position in the tree a couple of times and, most unlike himself, every shift made him more easy to spot. And finally he was on the very top of tree, whistling his little heart out. He was a vivid, bright way to start the day and I stood and listened for several minutes before going on.