For backyard birds, nothing beats a burbling stream - The Washington Post

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I’ve never seen the colonies of flamingoes that gather in pink profusion on large bodies of water from Africa to the Caribbean. But I have seen the gangs of robins that frolic in my backyard stream.

The stream is new, installed last summer as part of our re-landscaping. It was My Lovely Wife’s idea. She wanted to see and hear water. Really, she wanted to float in it, but our budget didn’t extend to that. And so we have an artificial stream: about 20 feet of fist-size river rocks atop a plastic liner sitting in a trench. The water flows over the rocks, cascades over a six-inch waterfall, then is pumped via an underground pipe back up to the top to do it all over again.

I’m wondering how hard it would be to dye the water green on St. Patrick’s Day.

The stream is for our enjoyment — these days, anything that helps distract the brain and relax the psyche is welcome — but it’s been a hit with the local bird population, too. Water — moving water, especially — is one of the best ways to attract birds. They’re out there on even the coldest days, dipping a beak to drink, bending low to sluice the water over their feathers.

There are sparrows, cardinals and starlings. Robins descend en masse. I’ve counted as many as 15 at a time, a veritable avian pool party. One day, my wife, Ruth, looked out to see a hawk just standing in the stream, the water burbling over its talons.

I missed seeing the hawk, as well as the raccoon that was out there one morning. I’m tempted to stock the stream with Chinook salmon in the hopes of attracting a grizzly bear or two.

Or maybe adding rainbow trout. That’ll be me out there wearing a hat studded with hand-tied flies and whipping a fly-fishing pole back and forth. I won’t need hip waders, since the stream is only two inches deep.

California dreaming

Speaking of water, I saw some last week: the Pacific. We traveled to California for vacation, with stops in Santa Monica and Berkeley.

I find California a little discombobulating. As an East Coast native, I’m used to having the ocean on my right-hand side. It’s the way I orient myself in the world. Having the ocean on the left throws off my internal guidance system.

The weather didn’t help either: warm, the air scented with citrus and eucalyptus. Is that allowed in January?

We returned in time for a snow forecast.

So, yeah, California was lovely.

Musical chairs

Many readers weighed in after my column on Shady Grove Music Fair, the Gaithersburg venue that operated from 1962 to 1977. The theater-in-the-round hosted pop acts, musicals and high school graduations.

After serving as a stage hand at other Music Fairs — there were several on the East Coast — Frank Spielberg was the show technician for the opening show at Shady Grove: “Brigadoon,” starring Dorothy Collins. The road show had previously been at Painter’s Mill Music Fair in Baltimore.

“After closing on Sunday night in Baltimore, I drove the truck with props and costumes to Shady Grove where we worked in the June heat all day Monday for the grand opening,” wrote Frank, of Falls Church. “Work on the site was not fully complete and there was no running water until late that Monday afternoon, but all went well on opening night.”

Dave Hobbs of Harbeson, Del., saw his first musical at Shady Grove: “The Music Man” with Gig Young and Gloria DeHaven. Later, he saw Gladys Knight and the Pips. Mike Marmer of Germantown saw “The Fantasticks” with John Davidson and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

Paula Smith-Vanderslice of Washington went with a group to see “Fiddler on the Roof.” Wrote Paula: “Zero Mostel was really great.”

The District’s Kathy A. Megyeri said her personal favorite was “seeing Tom Jones perform there amidst his screaming female fans.”

Jeff Swigert of Kent Island, Md., was at the 1973 Steve Miller Band show I mentioned, the one that resulted in eight arrests when the crowd got unruly.

Wrote Jeff: “We actually went to see the opening band, Grin. Attached is my ticket stub!”

The cost to see two great guitarists — Steve Miller and Grin’s Nils Lofgren — was $5.50. That included the 25-cent parking charge.

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For backyard birds, nothing beats a burbling stream - The Washington Post
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