Still, whenever a bird flies by, I’d like to say something more profound than "Hey, nice bird."

So I buy books. From earlier trips to the nature section, I know that I should get books with good photography, because that will show details that you don’t see in drawings. I should also buy books with good artwork, because that will show details that photography doesn’t pick up.

Either I’m missing something, or the people who illustrate these things are missing something. I’m thinking the latter. Whether they use photos or artwork, most bird books depict the red-winged blackbird as an elegant bird, ready for a night at the opera. In reality, the redwing is a snarky, scolding, hunch-shouldered critter, the avian equivalent of an old man yelling at kids for running across his lawn. To make matters worse, many books show only the male form. The female redwing doesn’t even have a red wing. It’s a generic brown and gray bird that’s easily overlooked or misidentified, if you don’t know what to look for.

Since you often hear a bird before you see it, bird watching is often bird listening. You can forget about learning birdsongs from books, although there have been lots of attempts. One of the most famous examples is the black-capped chickadee, so-called because it supposedly says "chick-a-dee." I knew what a chickadee looked like, but I could never find a bird that said that. Eventually someone told me that it actually says "chick-a-dee-dee-dee." Fine, except that any birdsong with four, five, or six syllables sounds like that to me, and that includes a lot of sounds made by turkeys.

Finally, a chickadee accommodated me by landing on a bush at eye level and screaming in my face. Funny. I imagined something an octave or two higher.

The bird sanctuary that I mentioned earlier is the Roberts Bird Sanctuary, hard by Lake Harriet, between the bandshell and the rose garden. The place is dominated by a swamp. But it’s a nice swamp. You’d like it. Some of the trails are made from floating sections so you can enjoy the swamp without getting your feet wet, unless you weigh more than 250 pounds, which, by the way, I do.

Roberts Bird Sanctuary is a known hangout for redwings, chickadees, a variety of waterfowl, some wading birds, raccoons, mink, squirrels, cottonwoods, box elders, and five different species of violets. It’s easy for me to feel at home, except when the mosquitoes are out.

So it’s one eye looking up for birds, another eye looking down for violets, and the other eye out for wet spots on the trail. So this is more nature walk than birding expedition.

I take this same walk in the winter. There are still a few chickadees around (probably trying to figure out what happened to all the green), but I’m usually trying to identify trees by their bark. I suppose by then I’ll be buying bark books.