It has been such a stressful few months. It has been a stressful eight years. And the stress is bound to continue, of course, no matter how wonderful our president-elect is. This is the world.

But for today, at least, in honor of a magnificent victory, I give you a post restricted to low-key, no-stress, comforting things.

This post is The Bird Report.

A wonderful thing has just happened here in north Florida: The pelicans who winter on the St. John’s River have returned. I saw three pelicans yesterday! Florida is a paradise for bird lovers and pelicans are the birds I love most; no matter what posture Sir Pelican chooses to adopt, he looks like a marvelous genetic mistake — so wonderfully pointy and lumpy and unbalanced. Welcome back, Sir Pelican!

The winter cormorants and gulls are also back, and the herons are still hanging around; there’s one old grizzly HUGE blue heron who hangs out on the pilings at night, croaking stories about the migration of ’87 to the other birds. And there are five little herons — four blue and one white — who also hang out together, but tend to fly away around sunset. The other day, I learned the most wonderful thing about those five little herons. I used to think they were two kinds: blue and white. But the other day, when they flew away, I was able to see them from below. They are three kinds! One is completely white. Three are completely blue. And one is completely blue on top but completely white underneath!

Is it nuts that that should fill me with glee?

(In other non-stressful news, if you’re looking for some light reading this weekend, I recommend Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. The “Children’s Books” section, in particular. Why, you ask? Oh, no reason. ^_^ [Just watch out for the spoilers!])