Hot Bird Summer

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

African American History And Culture, American History, Exhibits, Dc, History, Science, Sidedoor, History Of The World, Society & Culture, The Smithsonian, Washington, Natural History, Pop Culture, Smithsonian, Exhibit, Tony Cohn, Zoo, National Museum, Air And Space, National Zoo, Art19, Museum, Postal Museum

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every spring, for as long as records have been kept, a crowd of hundreds of black crowned night herons descend on the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, mating, eating and generally causing a ruckus. Many of the keepers at the zoo enjoy them, but they can be a tough bird to love.

Every fall, peace is restored when the herons decamp and fly off to… where? For more than a century, nobody knew. Until now.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX.
0:13.7	I'm Lizzie Peabody.
0:24.0	Each spring in Washington, DC, usually around right now in early April, there are cherry
0:28.6	blossom trees that bloom all around the city.
0:32.3	They're these short, sprawling trees blanketed in light pink and white blossoms.
0:37.4	When you see them all together, it's like part of the national mall is covered in cotton
0:41.5	candy.
0:42.5	It's beautiful.
0:44.4	For me, and I think a lot of other people around the city, it's a sign that winter is
0:48.1	over.
0:49.1	There's more sunlight, and when I breathe in, the air is warmer, and it just feels wonderful.
0:57.4	And just as the cherry blossoms reach the peak of their beauty, most years tens of thousands
1:02.9	of people flock to the city to see them.
1:05.4	The landscape around the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials turn from this picture of pretty
1:09.0	pink trees, to one that is dominated by people.
1:14.1	Blossoms are knocked from the trees, as tourists pursue the perfect selfie, garbage cans overflow
1:18.6	on the ground.
1:19.6	And by the end of blossom season, the DC Heat and Humidity is cranked so high up that
1:25.1	all of a sudden it's like stifling summer is here.
1:29.4	So I always greet these cherry blossoms with joy, but also a bit of dread.
1:37.3	And for Sarah Hallager, the curator of birds at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, her
1:41.6	harbinger of spring carries a similar combination of hope and dread, but it's not cherry blossoms.
	...

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