Winter #29: Dusk Homecoming

6pm-6:45pm, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, MA
cool, breezy, mix of clouds

Today was a funny, extended day that ran almost 20 hours from dawn till dusk:

A rainy, blurred dawn glimpsed from a train in Catalunya.

A long day suspended in the sunny sky. Two lunches. Three airports.

A return to not-terribly-cold Boston in time to catch sunset in the Arboretum (thank you, Time Change!). I am surprised to find patches of snow on the ground still: my respite in Spain put me in spring mode.

However, the magnolia trees are budding, willowy pillowy-soft buds. Spring is imminent!

I was worried that I might have missed major changes over the last week, and was relieved that the dusk "chorus" was mostly familiar: robins and red-winged blackbirds. I also heard the first white-throated sparrow in months, in a bamboo oasis by the Rose Garden.

Today's Bird was new to me, over in the marshes by the Visitor Center: