February 1, 2026

Rabbit Rabbit

Where: my complex

When: 10:38 am

Bird Species: European starling, northern mockingbird, house sparrow, blue jay, northern cardinal, American crow, American robin, downy woodpecker

Things I Thought About:

• Mostly I thought about my niece, who came over for sleepover and will still be abed when I get back. I remember how mad I would get at my parents when they woke me up for NO REASON, JUST because it was like ONE p.m., and yet, the urge to roust the girl and feed her a real breakfast is very strong.
• She is a perfect tween. I have photos from last night of her looking like an 80s primetime soap star in false eyelashes and huge curls and no smile, and also of her grinning like a loon with gray foam bubbling around her braces, amazed and tickled by my charcoal toothpaste. 
• When she was little, I could count on her to be my little outdoors buddy and she’d be happy to be woken up for a bird walk, but now she is nearly thirteen and naturally did not bring a coat. Now she only wants to be outside with her beloved cousins, the dogs, and they live with the other aunt. 
• Real Sunrise, Sunset hours over here. I love her so much it feels like an overstep. I don’t know how parents stand it.
• I’m going to vacuum at noon whether she’s awake or not, though.
• It is impossible to take a good photo of a European starling. Oh, there is Mrs. Downy (no red on the nape and head.)
• I mean, look at this. He looks like a videogame bird. He looks like a statue carved on the side of an ancient temple, representing the underworld. In the winter, when their feathers get those white tips, they are stunning birds, and they simply refuse to get close to me.

• And there goes one of the biggest crows I’ve ever seen. They must be eating like kings, with all the dumpsters and recycling that hasn’t been picked up this week.
• I wonder if I sound poor on the blog. Not that there is anything shameful about that, it’s just interesting to imagine how it comes off to strangers. I have posted about wanting to make more money, and the mice in my rental apartment, and how the neighborhood behind me is nice enough that I wonder if I can call it my neighborhood. And yet I clearly have a lanyard job, given how often I’m on a bird walk at 10 in the morning.
• Anyway, the trash hasn’t been picked up because the truck schedules are all higgledy-piggledy after a big snow and a week-long freeze, and not because I live in a shitty complex. Or at least, it is ordinarily shitty, meaning it sometimes looks a little shitty. When a lot of your neighbors are renters with absentee landlords, you can’t make them care about rules regarding the crap you can store on porches. Also, I am not a COA cop.
• I am allowed to think furniture that isn't patio furniture looks tacky on a patio, though.
• I wonder if I sound like a boomer on the blog.

BOTD: American robins. The photos were all bad today, and these guys were very far away, in their class at clown college.