Day 360: Full circle

Three-hundred and sixty degrees is a circle, but I am still six days short a my year. It feels like the year should be done already because spring is well and truly making an appearance here - the bulbs are flowering, the witch hazel is past it, the magnolia is in bud, and the forsythia is out here, there and everywhere. Not to mention the flickers - it's been a while since I heard or saw one of these birds, but they seem to be conspicuous in the spring. A few weeks back, we saw (and heard) one drumming on the top of a lamppost - presumably announcing itself as a way of marking its territory. And tonight, as I walked up and over the knoll by the Student Union building, there was a pair in the trees above me. The sun was at a favourable angle, and one of them kindly spread its wing as I pointed the camera in its direction. The late afternoon light caused its red feathers to simply glow. Beautiful!

Preening flicker