January 15, 2026

Where: the neighborhood

When: 7:16am

Bird Species: house sparrow, blue jay, American robin, northern cardinal, European starling, American crow, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, dark-eyed junco, mourning dove, Cooper's hawk (flyover)

Things I Thought About:

• Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold. My face hurts in this cold.
• Oh, maybe my face hurts from the dentist. Yeah, this is a jaw ache. Wow, three cheers for a pre-appointment Xanax; I forgot I had dental work yesterday for a second.
• One day soon I need to get a good photo of a starling for the blog. They’re such shiny little superstars in the winter. They look coppery up there.
• I recognize this nice old guy from the neighborhood, but now that I am holding a camera and really focused in on a tree, he has stopped to chat. “All I ever see at my house are those little guys,” he says, pointing at a house sparrow, but I saw two goldfinches in the bush in his front yard once. He loves learning this. I now have permission to go in his yard whenever I want to. 
• Too bad this isn’t his house. The woman who lives in this house has three rescue dogs, and this man brings them treats on his walk sometimes. I love knowing this. Maybe we’re not all completely cooked.
• This tree in the rescue dogs' yard has seven species in it right this very moment. I must make friends with the rescue dog lady. And the rescue dogs.
• I miss having a yard. I liked cutting the grass.
• Should I get a dog? I’ve read that huge dogs do great in small spaces.
• Okay, we all like a hearty breakfast, but get a hold of yourself, woman, you look crazy:

• This podcast recorded two months ago, easy. I don't know how any podcast has the courage to bank episodes. Things happen too fast.
• Every podcast that was recorded just before the New Year is so filled with desperate hope for a better 2026 that I kind of hope they all died before the episode was released.
• Every podcast that has been dropping weekly for more than five years talks like they wish they were dead anyway.
• Maybe I should get a cat.

BOTD: red-bellied woodpecker. One of three woodpeckers in the rescue dogs' tree (the others were a married downy couple.) There were also dark-eyed juncos, robins, a blue jay, three mourning doves, and a cardinal. Red-bellies are probably the woodpecker I see the most. They make that little churr churr coughing sound often and at volume. I need to remember to go check Wakefield this weekend, where I saw those two maybe making a nest.