August 19, 2026

Where: Bo White Gardens

When: 7:41 pm

Bird Species: house sparrow, American goldfinch, northern cardinal

Things I Thought About:

• I left the office late and then I missed my first train, and I believe I have about ten minutes of daylight left to see a bird. I will pull off the road recklessly if I see a bird.
• I think my best bet is the Bo White Gardens, at Pine Ridge Park, the largest community garden that belongs to Fairfax County Parks. There are always birds at a community garden.
• Instantly I see goldfinches. Goldfinches love sunflowers, is something I am noticing this summer.
• I could never have a community garden plot; it takes so much effort and dedication, and the rules for upkeep are stricter than any HOA. You'd have to work on it every day. Couldn't be me.
• Then again, I work on a bird blog every day.
• I will start a new feature where I list the reasons why that day's entry is sparse:
  • I am wearing open toed strappy shoes.
  • The grass is wet where some of these plots watered today and you can't tell until you step in it in your open toed strappy shoes.
  • The sun set on me.

BOTD: American goldfinch. There was a half dozen or so zipping around, little streaks of bright yellow in the failing daylight. It's hard to get photos in a community garden. The plots are usually locked, so you are shooting at distance, and often through chain link and netting and post fences.

I have been staring at that sentence for maybe four minutes and I am giving up. If that is supposed to read "there were a half dozen or so" I'm sure someone will tell me.