Unless you're an ornithologist or a hunter, it's not about the birds it's about the place. It's about walking somewhere, sitting down and pausing. Canadian prophet Mac Davis called it stopping to smell the roses, but just as well might have suggested that we stop to watch the birds. In Lafayette Park, ducks waddle the shores of the pond, sparrows pull worms from the dirt, cardinals mate, and a deep, meditative silence fills the air, interrupted only by chirps and quacks, the flutter of wings and the occasional growl of frustrated squirrels.