First Oriole
The parking lot of my employer has several sycamore trees scattered about. They're the kind with the peeling bark. One of the few sure-fire places I know to find Balitmore Orioles every spring is in those sycamores. I always hear the male singing first. That's what draws my attention. The song of the Baltimore Oriole is a wonderful liquid whistle birders love to hear. While the song varies from bird to bird, once you learn what it basically sounds like, you can recognize it every time.
I'm sure I look like a fool scanning the tree tops in the employee parking lot looking for that bright orange bird. Most of my fellow employees just kind of look askance at me as they hurry on into work. "What could that guy possibly be looking for?" they must be thinking to themselves. I don't think anyone has every stopped to ask what I was looking at and no one has ever joined me scanning the trees.
On the way in this morning I heard my first Baltimore Oriole of the year. I didn't see him but I'm sure he'll be singing on my way out tonight.
K-
Strnagely enough, when I was teenager, I protested the APL for their research into nuclear weapons or something.
Sorry.
Funny how people change!
We still get protested but very, very infrequently. Most of the time employees don't even know. APL has nothing to do with nuclear warheads per se. Most of that research is done by Lawrence Livermore or Los Alamos, which are funded by DOE. Much of APL's funding comes from the DON.
K-