February 9, 2026

Where: my complex

When: 5:09 pm

Bird Species: American robin, European starling, northern cardinal, mourning dove

Things I Thought About:

• I worked through lunch today and was sure I had missed the window on taking a photo today, and I am amazed that there is so much light still at this hour. As much as I hate when the days start getting shorter in the fall, I love how quickly they gain sunlight after the new year. Every time I think "I just wish there was more daylight when the workday is done," there is.
• Someone should tell the birds they can stay out longer, though. I do not see a single bird that isn't in the very tops of the trees or on the power lines. Usually, I can count on a ground forager like a junco or sparrow for a low-effort bird photo, but it's only the high-flyers tonight.
• Oh, and Pinky (the cardinal with the rose breast patches is now called Pinky, and any of the many mockingbirds that bully him is The Brain.) Too far away to focus though.
• Do not worry about Pinky, he's fine. The mockingbirds bully everybody.
• There are mourning doves...everywhere? Every bird I see right now is a mourning dove, in the trees, in many trees, I can count eleven on the power line across the road. They look very spooky now that I am really am losing the light.

• There was some sort of TikTok discourse not long ago about "How many owls would you have to see in a day to wonder if something strange was going on?" and it's an interesting thought exercise, but I am now really confronted with it re: these doves.
• The answer is three owls, and, apparently, 22 mourning doves in 35 minutes.

BOTD: starlings and robins, a two-fer. It really was lovely to watch the sun set after work and not merely step outside into darkness, and these guys were catching the last rays in the last row of trees before it sank behind the building for the night. At 5:53! Thrilling.

These two hang out together a lot in the winter, sometimes in large numbers; they eat the same stuff and they're both noisy and social species. They'll split off and both flocks will get thinner into the spring and summer once there are sufficient resources (worms and insects) to spread out a little. Starlings, I am told, sometimes mimic robin songs, but I haven't heard that. None of these birds were saying anything at all.