August 15, 2026
Where: Huntley Meadows Park
When: 6:45 am
Bird Species: eastern bluebird, eastern wood pewee, American goldfinch, red-bellied woodpecker, tufted titmouse, downy woodpecker, gray catbird, barn swallow, ruby-throated hummingbird, blue grosbeak, eastern phoebe, blue-gray gnatcatcher, common yellowthroat, white-eyed vireo, solitary sandpiper, ??? sandpiper, lesser yellowlegs, laughing gull, killdeer, Canada goose, red-winged blackbird, osprey, green heron, great blue heron, double-crested cormorant, great egret, wood duck, purple martin, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadee
Things I Thought About:
- So much stuff! Genuinely nice things, for once.
- I was out there until it was almost noon, and a small child showed me turtle tracks. It was a genuinely great day at the swamp.
- In the week since I last visited, the center pond has drawn down so much it has created a big muddy flat, and a bunch of shorebirds have moved in.
- It would be difficult to overstate how bad I am at identifying shorebirds.
- I will look forward to telling you all about it tomorrow.
BOTD: Red-bellied woodpecker, placeholder.
My friends, I have experienced a disaster.
On this fine Saturday, I spent five and a half hours at Huntley, ran errands afterward, took my niece and her mom to the bakery for treats, got home around four. I went to lay down on the couch for a minute to finish listening to a podcast and woke up five minutes ago. I'm fucked.
I haven't even downloaded the pictures yet, and there are a lot of them. Look at that big list! There is no way I will have sorted out the sandpipers before midnight.
Thus, the bird of the day is that red-bellied woodpecker, which was the first photo on the card. Fingers crossed that they're all pretty good.
It's supposed to rain tomorrow, anyway.
