Guam's tancho return

Most Statesiders are familiar with the story of how the arrival of the first swallow to Capistrano heralds a new spring.

Guamanians, being many times closer to Hokkaido than California, tend just as readily to think in terms of the tancho returning to Japan's northern islands, as a sign of a new beginning.

Now that the first gushes of the water are beginning to burst forth from the re-plumbing of Guam's infrastructure in readiness for the biggest change to hit the small island since Magellan, the cranes are returning to Guam, as Guambat noticed looking down from his burrow overlooking Tumon Bay this past weekend: