January 12, 2026
Where: the neighborhood
When: 3:10pm
Bird Species: blue jay, house sparrow, northern mockingbird, American robin, American crow, European starling, northern cardinal, mourning dove, white-breasted nuthatch, red-bellied woodpecker, Cooper's hawk, house finch
Things I Thought About:
- Are nuthatches the same family as woodpeckers? I feel like they should be. I always see them together; there’s two of each in this tree right now.
- Oh, no, wait, I bet the nuthatch is related to the creeper. I think woodpeckers are just woodpeckers. You are one or you are not.
- There’s a hawk or whatever up there.
- The elementary school crossing guard is going to stop all this traffic and wave me across the street. I don’t know why I don’t mind it in the morning, but it feels ridiculous for someone to have to stop to let me cross at a quarter ‘til 4.
- A nice woman stopped and asked what I was looking at and I pointed out the hawk (it's the Cooper’s), and she invited me to her backyard to get a better look.
- We know each other's name now and I’m welcome to come into her yards at any time, as needed. This is my wedge. Slowly but surely, I’m going to ingratiate myself with everyone on the block until I have full roaming privileges in everyone’s yard, like a feral but affectionate tomcat has.
Bird of the Day: white-breasted nuthatch. They make such distinctive noises, and it's not that difficult to catch them with a seed in their beak. They are often upside down. When they are getting ready to leave a tree, their head leads, so their body makes a really sharp angle that is strangely cute. I like them a lot.
