April 9, 2026

Where: Smithsonian Castle and surrounds

When: 5:30pm

Bird Species: house sparrow, common grackle, European starling, American robin, rock pigeon, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, white-throated sparrow, mallard, northern cardinal

Things I Thought About:

• There is one bird in the Smithsonian Urban Bird habitat. It is a house sparrow. There's a massive collection of branches, in a tall, stacked sort of set up, and it should be very attractive to birds, but it's much too artfully arranged for my taste, too neat.
• There are those tire swings that are perfectly balanced on chains on an ADA-compliant, soft surface playground, and then there's a tire swing where your old uncle pulled a bald tire off a car, tied a rope around it, and hung over the creek out back. I crave the authenticity and danger; I want to see birds on a real brush pile.

• Sparrow, starling, robin, grackle, pigeon. I think that's it. I have only ever seen six species in DC proper, and that's five of them. No offense, because all birds have something special to offer, but what a drab collection.
• Pigeons are very cultured; they are always hanging out at museums.
• The National Mall is no place to see birds, but it's a great place to annoy people taking selfies with the Washington Monument simply by walking past them.
• Now what is this tree? What is the S. Dillon Ripley Center? I pay no attention to cities, sorry, I have no idea where anything is in relation to anything else. And this appears to be an entrance to something underground? Closed for the day, but they have a very lovely tree in a little fenced and landscaped island, and I could swear I can hear a blue jay in it?
• There's a northern mockingbird in it! First one I've seen in town. Also, a robin and a starling. The mockingbird and starling are both pretending they are a blue jay. I think this might be the first time I've heard a starling doing mimicry. Well, probably not, but at least it's the first time I was sure it was a starling doing mimicry.
• I have been standing, looking at this tree, for several minutes. I can feel my shoulders dropping and me finally letting the day slip away as I move around it to make sure I'm not missing anybody. Two mourning doves just flew in. This a great tree. Five species in it right now.
• I can hear a cardinal, and now I see that there are gardens behind the castle, and this is where the birds are. I have finally found a nice place to chill out with some birds after work in town. It's even quiet enough back here that I can listen and follow the sound to the cardinals. They are a married couple, and they are completely busted. It is the shittiest looking lady cardinal I have ever seen in my life. I don't even take the photo; the shadows were bad and I was laughing too hard.
• That's one thing about city birds versus suburban birds: the city birds have been through some shit.

• I am definitely spoiling the ambiance for a couple having engagement photos taken, whoops, sorry, but there are white-throated sparrows in that bush and mallards in the fountain. I am tickled at the idea of the photographer having to digitally remove me from every shot. That's what you get for being a pro and investing in editing software instead of just putting out a mediocre photo every day, you coward.

BOTD: mourning doves. A lot of people do not know that pigeons are doves (rock pigeons are also called rock doves, but it's not going to catch on) and while their body shapes are similar to mourning doves, their personalities and colors could not be more different. I like them both, but I had seen a million pigeons already this evening, and these two flew in right in front of me in such a nice burst of white tail feathers and warm colors. I had just registered the mockingbird, and right after these doves I found the garden with the cardinals and white-throats and mallards, so I really grew the urban bird portfolio this evening.

Plus, look at that face. He's silly.