Red-winged Blackbird

When I was in residential treatment, I went for my first walk alone in a while (I had kind of started a walking trend, and I love walking with other people, but I was also desperate for some alone time), and I was on a boardwalk in a marshy area when I heard this very persistent birdcall. I looked around,  and there were red-winged blackbirds everywhere, kind of hidden among the cattails. I wasn’t sure if they were newly arrived or if I’d been missing them when I was surrounded by people. They have this unmistakeable, irrepressible call, and that shock of bright color, and I could feel the world coming alive and spring popping up around me after I’d spent all winter walking through these same woods. I know a metaphor when I see/hear one. Harbingers of spring and new beginnings.