I almost crashed the bike this morning, distracted as I zoomed on the bike trail beneath Interstate 25 near the north end of Albuquerque. The bridge abutments are prime swallow turf, and I was looking to see if any have returned from their southern sojourn. I almost took a header into the trailside railing, and saw no swallows.

I did hear a couple of killdeer, though, splashing about in the concrete flood control channel, the urban feature that passes for a wetland in this part of the country. My first killdeer of the year, though I see from eBird that people have been spotting them in town for a few weeks.

A hawk buzzed the trail in front of me as I was heading home, and there were lots of house sparrows and pigeons (I didn’t do a count, but the number of pigeons seems down a bit). In my backyard, the house finches are looking redder.

Not officially, but for all practical purposes, spring.