This is Bird Note.

Christian Cooper is host of the National Geographic Show Extraordinary Birder and author of the memoir, Better Living Through Birding.

But as a kid, Christian says he wasn't interested in birds until his parents made him take a wood shop class.

I had to build something, so I built a bird feeder and I put it up in the backyard.

Christian filled the feeder with cracked corn.

And then...

This bird shows up, all black except for this patch of red at the wings.

At first, Christian thought he discovered a new species of crow.

And I was thrilled with my preteen scientific prowess.

And then I found out it was a red-wing blackbird.

Oops.

But still, to this day, one of my favorite birds.

And they are the first sign of spring for me.

Because growing up on Long Island,

they would all depart en masse,

and I would get mildly depressed in the course of the winter.

And then I would hear sometime in, like, March,

Okari! Okay.

Wee! I would hear sometime in like March. Okari! And I'd be like, they're back.

They're back.

Thank God they're back.

Spring is here.

...