A peach-faced lovebird joining crowds of onlookers at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, on Sunday, briefly becoming the centre of attention as it perches amid the branches of a cherry blossom tree in bloom.

April is sakura season in the United States and Japan, with springtime in the US capital kicking off every year when the fluffy pink trees burst into bloom around the National Mall and Tidal Basin.

In the autumn of 1909, the mayor of Tokyo sent 2,000 young trees to Washington, DC. However, they arrived barely alive and riddled with pests, and had to be burned. Japan later sent a second, bigger shipment of 3,020 mature trees.

On March 27, 1912, US President William Howard Taft's wife Helen broke dirt in a private tree-planting ceremony in West Potomac Park near the Potomac River. The wife of the Japanese ambassador was invited to plant the second tree.

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