Happy St. Patrick's Day II

Here in Madrid, we're enjoying those precious few weeks in the month of March that come just after the cold and rainy month of February and just before the warm and rainy month of April.  Spring is sort of a strange thing here in Madrid.  And when I say "strange," what I mean is that if you ask a madrileño about spring in Madrid, they might give you a funny look and ask if you meant to say "winter" or "summer;" apparently, there's not a whole lot in between.

But anyway, the last couple weeks have been beautiful and I've had the chance to hike around some of the parks in Madrid enjoying the local scenery and greenery.

This post brought to you by the color green.

The above picture was taken in the Parque del Oeste, which is but a mere fifteen-minute walk from my house.  Also, the camera's not crooked: the trees are just growing on an incline like that.  Incidentally, slanted trees are my favorite kind; if you can find one that is just the right angle (preferably not a "right angle"), you can lean back quite comfortably and read an enjoyable book.  Or, in this case, a slightly less enjoyable book, which is what I ended up doing.

So there I was, slouched up against my organic reclining chair, doing some reading for one of my classes, when I happened across a peculiar species of bird that I'd never seen before.  I actually didn't notice them at first because they were camouflaged so well with the grass.

A feisty and festively-feathered friend.

This one was a little easier to see, thanks to the fact that some of the trees still don't have their leaves out yet.

Look at the birdie!

I asked Marcela (the daughter of our señora) about them and she sighed and rolled her eyes, which I suppose is the Universal Body Language for "Invasive Species."  Although, I've also seen girls use the same mannerism in reference to annoying boyfriends, which leads me to hypothesize that perhaps the female mind is capable of equating "boyfriend" with "invasive species" in a manner not previously considered.^{[ citation needed ]}

Marcela informed me that these birds are called cotorras.  If you look up the word "cotorra" in a Spanish-English dictionary, you will find that it means "chatty, loud, talkative, chatterbox" and that a derivative of the word can also mean "gossip."  This is not a coincidence.  Not only are these birds an invasive species, they are an obnoxious invasive species.  They're not that bad in the afternoon, to be sure, but if you live next to a cotorra habitat, you can expect to wake up to a group of chatty, loud, talkative chatterboxes gossiping just outside your window.  Apparently, the city of Madrid has been trying (unsuccessfully, of course) to get rid of them for quite a while now.

Those of you who are in the know (or who have been reading the blog with an exceptional amount of perspicacity) may have a pretty good idea what method I would suggest for the extermination of small birds...

Hint: It begins with "El Búho Oscuro" and ends with "lots of green feathers strewn about the place."