January 4, 2026

Where: Cross County Trail - Eakin Community Park, Tobin Road to Prosperity

When: 90 minutes starting around 2:30pm or so

Bird Species: white-throated sparrows, white-breasted nuthatch, Carolina chickadee, downy woodpecker, turkey vulture (flyover), yellow-rumped warbler, tufted titmouse, eastern bluebird, Northen cardinal, red-bellied woodpecker. Heard but not seen: Carolina wren, and, this will shock you, Northern flicker.

Things I Thought About:

• White-breasted nuthatches are the first bird I got proficient at finding. They have a distinctive sound, and when you look for them, they are exactly where the birding guides say he should be (on the trunks, or the underside of branches.) A very consistent bird.
• It is so stupid to be losing the light at like 2:55pm. The sun is behind all the good birds, too. It's easy to trick myself into thinking that I need one of the longer lenses or one of the very cool Nikon D5600 plus a longer lens, but they are insanely expensive, and I keep it on auto-everything except focus, anyway. I am certain there are settings for light and movement that I need to learn on this one first. Mine is a very budget-conscious rig, but I’m sure I can get better photos out of it.

• Plus, you know, I’m here for the birds. When I bought the 300mm zoom lens kit (Klarna, I hasten to add) I was glad to have it, but I did consciously lecture myself to remember I’m here to see birds, not to get a great photo. I don’t want to set myself up that if I can’t get a great photo it somehow doesn’t count.
• That previous thought made me remember the sensation of seeing the short-eared owl last month. There was no chance at all of getting a good photo, he was so far away, but I’ll never forget the little jaw-drop-open thrill of seeing that little ghost face in the binos. If I had a 600mm I’d have been obsessed with the shot, especially since the only time he was facing us dead-on was his first circle, and I would have maybe missed that feeling.

• I have diagnosed the issue with the car latch, and I definitely feel like I have all the requisite skills to replace it myself, but I’m pretty sure I will not. I already had an appointment for an oil change, I have never done anything like that, and fucking it up would be genuinely dangerous, yet this still feels like some sort of…defeat? I should be more competent. When I was I was acting, I was always very jealous of the female techies. Work boots and shorts and tools is a phenomenal look. Meanwhile, I am turning $70 part into what I imagine will be a $250 repair.
• Is 53 too old to get into a trade? Almost certainly. It's starting to seem like it's too old to get into my current line of work, given my job search presently entering it's 23rd month.
• Hey, a red-bellied woodpecker! That’s my Merlin Bird of the Day! I’m a little proud of how rarely I have to open Merlin these days, locally at least. It took a full 16 months or so before I didn’t have it listening almost constantly when I was out.

BOTD: White-throated sparrow. You will probably see a lot of these in this bird diary. They are my favorite sparrow (white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, fox sparrow, chipping sparrow, swamp sparrow, house sparrow, field sparrow, IF you were wondering.) Here in Viriginia is the south that they come to for the winter, and they have the most beautiful, singular song with long wail and short little, high-pitched finishing notes. It reminds me of a train whistle, not in the sound, but in the tone, plaintive and loud but also somehow distant. A real Hank Williams, Sr. bird song. 

They are ground foragers, so whenever you are walking by a really brushy area of undergrowth and hear rustling, but very quiet chirping, that’s probably white-throated sparrows. Cardinals often hang out with them. They both like the understory.