April 1, 2026

Rabbit Rabbit

Where: Fairview Park

When: 5:30pm

Bird Species: American robin, red-bellied woodpecker, northern flicker, tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, Canada goose, mallard, red-winged blackbird, blue jay, northern cardinal

Things I Thought About It:

• Work, naturally. I met my boss today. The onboarding at the new job has been the wildest experience; I have no idea if I like it or hate it or if I think what I have been hired to do is even possible, and I also don't know what additional information I need to make that determination.
• My boss has been there since mid-January, he looked around and said I need help making this whole thing work and, very flatteringly, his network pointed him to me. It was reassuring to meet in person and agree that we are seeing the same things. 
• That having been said, I am naturally very lazy. I want to learn everything I need to in order to start making changes, so I can stop having to learn new things. I’m pretty tired at the end of every day right now. 
• I'm worried if I say that on the blog, someone will suggest eating well and drinking water and building some muscle, and I can't engage with that right now.
• I think, because I am finding myself intellectually and organizationally challenged in a way that I haven’t been for years, I have been subconsciously making the bird walk into a chore, another thing to cross off the list. This in direct opposition to the entire point of a bird walk, which is to chill the fuck out, be in my body and the world, and take my time. 
• There are a couple of Bad Geese here. There were two geese when I got here, and now two new geese have come in and they are causing trouble. I’m sure I need not tell you, this is great and very fun.

• On the way here, the car in front of me had a bumper sticker that read I BRAKE FOR TAPIRS with a silhouette of a tapir. A Virginia license plate, and no other personal items of flair in view. I like it.
• There are a lot of birds around here. The pond is pathetic, tiny and obviously a landscaper's invention, but these are lovely old trees. This entire area is an industrial park, full of defense contractors and weapons manufacturers and other terrible, blandly anonymous companies, and walking through all their parking lots I can’t imagine how many security cameras are watching me. 
• I’m following chickadees and it’s fun. No chance of a photo; they are tiny and it’s about to rain, so this is strictly for the fun of seeing what the chickadees are up to. Mostly snacking, seems like.

BOTD: northern flicker. Let me set the scene:

[sees a northern flicker]
ME (OUT LOUD): “Bye, whore!”
[clicks shutter]

This was a pitch perfect impression of the crazed ex-fiancée with the bazooka in Ready or Not: Here I Come, but this bird does not know that. This bird probably doesn't even know that we're in a fight.