January 20, 2026

Where: Wakefield Park The Brushy Hedgerow

When: 11:43 am 12:06pm

Bird Species: mourning dove, house sparrow, house finch, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, white-throated sparrow, blue jay

Things I Thought About:

• Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD. I do not want to go for a walk, I want to go to Wakefield, check if those woodpeckers settled in or not, and get back in the car as quickly as possible.
• Oh, balls.
• Oh, for heaven's SAKE.
• Sara Kate, you goddamn nickel-plated moron. 
• The camera card is at home in the card reader.
• FINE. I give up. I am not going anywhere. I will walk up to the Brushy Hedgerow and take a gimme today. It is 25 goddamn degrees.
• The Brushy Hedgerow separates the end of my road from the road in front of the elementary school. I am the only one who calls it the Brushy Hedgerow, as far as I know, and it must always be said just like that, “The Brushy Hedge-a-row,” like "The Giant’s Causeway" or "The French Connection." It is one place where I can, without fail, take a picture of a bird, in frame, in focus, and cooperative.
• Usually there are at least two species in there, the house sparrow and the northern mockingbird, and today there are seven, although most of them are hunkered in pretty good in this vicious wind.

• There is no way to get a photo of how long this hedge is without including 3 identifying markers and road signs. I am not unduly worried about being murdered by one of my 30 subscribers, most of whom are on my Christmas card list, but still I must balk at an actual green sign with cross streets, I think. The hedge is about twice as long as this photo shows, and there are two trees with berries of some sort at the left-hand end.
• I simply must mail the Christmas cards this week.
• I do not know the names of trees. I should set up some sort of Hobby Exchange Program, where I meet a plant person and we go on walks where I tell them the name of all the birds and they tell me the name of all the trees. This is actually a good idea?? I should do this.
• Remembering, as I often do, the birdwatcher I saw at Huntley last summer, with the bushy black beard, the Nikon Z8, and the two full leg sleeves of tattoos, including SLUT in inch-high block letters on his right quadriceps. That seems like a guy who would know what to do if you whispered, “Meet me at the Brushy Hedgerow at dawn.”
• I wonder if "SLUT" would look good as a tattoo if they drew it with the Cool S. I think he made the right choice. Maybe a T-shirt, though. For men.

BOTD: the house sparrow. An ordinary bird. Noisy as hell.