backyard birds

August 28, 2026

Sara Kate Wilkinson

Sara Kate Wilkinson

— 4 min read
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August 28, 2026
Bird of the Day: immature adult American robin. See his little head feather prickles? Getting ready for that adult plumage to come in.

Where: the neighborhood

When: 5:00 sharp

Bird Species: mourning dove, European starling, house sparrow, northern mockingbird, gray catbird, American robin, northern cardinal, fish crow, blue jay

Things I Thought About:

  • I haven't done what used to be my regular neighborhood morning loop in weeks and weeks. The trees and bushes are starting to pop fruit and later summer berries, and the birds are out here nibbling and frolicking.
This one is a starling, and the purpose of posting him is 1) it's a cute shot, and 2) so you can be impressed at how good I've gotten at identifying birds by silhouette. I used to only be able to distinguish woodpeckers, for the obvious reason of how they all look a lot different. It felt good to see this and say "starling" and then later dial up the exposure and down the contrast to confirm.
  • There are 80 business days remaining in 2026. No one was very happy with me when I said this in a call today.
  • I hate it so much when people lose PTO. I don't just hate it because it's unfortunate, I get angry at the stupid martyrs who do it. No one is impressed with your dedication. You are a doormat and you love to get beat.
  • I had someone literally used her words to say she couldn't ever use hers because has a new responsibility, to which I said, "So you agreed to a pay cut to take on a new responsibility?" Get over yourself.
  • What a fucking racket business is. I should learn to plumb.
  • Okay, so I was following a cardinal, and I have encountered a bit of lawn statuary that has considerably enlivened this walk.
Northern cardinal with popular artwork "Boy Making Out with Plinth"
  • Needless to say, I break my own cardinal rule (pun unintended but enthusiastically endorsed) and wander a little way up a driveway a few feet to see the other side, initiating a neighborhood human encounter that I would rate at about a 5.75 on a scale of 10 = warm welcome and full yard privileges to 1 = threatening aura glaring from yard while I definitely do not trespass.
  • A guy and a dog approach from the road and he opens with "Who are you?" No "hello," bizarre choice, and not the warmest, but I say, "I'm Sara, I was following a cardinal," and per the usual this is very disarming. We end up at what is on paper a 9, that house over there is mine, feel free to walk up the driveway any time but I bet that I will not because of the no hello.
I was really only interested in the other side of this fascinating installation. I didn't quite make it all the way around before the disruption, but this has real "leave room for Jesus" vibes.
  • That guy was pretty young to take such a bold and nosy turn, given that he didn't even live in that house. This thought is immediately resolved by watching him cross the street and report back to a woman on the corner. I see her all the time, but this time she waves when she sees me notice them.
  • Vetted, I guess? Pass, and all's well. Eventually I will conquer the whole neighborhood and be sprinting through the backyards in hot pursuit of a bird, leaping over fences like in Point Break.
  • Speaking of Keanu, an idle exercise I've been playing with this week is creating a rhyming film festival. The best I've come up with so far is BIG CREED PIG SPEED, but I have just remembered that words can have more than one syllable. This is my life now.

BOTD: American robin. Yes, they are clowns, but I have decided that they are clown princes. I like the young ones, with their white patches and pin feathers still brown rather than charcoal. And it's very funny how they are always eating worms.

They are always eating worms. I have never seen a different species eating worms. And they are often eating several worms at once.

This one was eating a worm in a tree earlier today. Platonic ideal early bird.

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