July 10, 2026

Where: Huntley Meadows Park

When: 6:50 am

Bird Species: Carolina wren, blue-gray gnatcatcher, red-wing blackbird, eastern bluebird, mourning dove, northern cardinal, wood duck, indigo bunting, common yellowthroat, prothonotary warbler, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, house finch, Canada goose, green heron. great egret, yellow-billed cuckoo, great blue heron, barn swallow, tufted titmouse, eastern towhee, gray catbird

Things I Thought About:

• It poured rain yesterday. Everything out here is soaked, and the water is pouring off in noisy cascades. When the sun is fully up, this will all steam off and it will be pretty uncomfortable, but at the moment every drop in the sunlight is diamond-like and dazzling. The ponds are up today, and so are the bugs. Giant summer bugs are everywhere.

• Okay, well, hmm, I think for every reader that was bummed out, there will be a reader who would be interested in an update. Remember the goose that got taken by the turtle? I have been wondering if it made it, and I saw it today. It looks...pretty fucked up, y'all, I can't lie. I could tell at the time the leg was broken, but I didn't realize his wing seems to have been mangled pretty good also.

• I know some people found that story to be a bummer, and this follow up may also be a bummer. But I was just happy it was still around. I'll be pretty shocked if it can fly, but it was swimming around just fine.

• It was by itself, though. Don't like that. But what if its family left it behind soon after, and it's raising itself in the swamp? What if this is the toughest bird who ever lived? Disney movie. And you were here first.
• Honestly, though, this bird is at a tremendous disadvantage, vulnerable to predators (of which there are few here, now that it has grown to this size, blessedly), and unable to migrate so probably no kids, and probably lonesome. Hard knock life, for this one. Nature red in tooth and claw.
• I have spotted a yellow-bellied cuckoo. It is a million miles away, but I saw it and I said "Wait. what's that bird? That is not one of the regulars. What is that bird? I will be damned, I think that's a cuckoo!" and it was. Incredible. I'm so good at this. You can't tell me shit.

• There was a big influx of tall waders in the park today, eight egrets and eleven great blue heron. A green, too, but I like the dinosaurs. They were all flying around for a bit in the morning, but it missed it, having been very distracted by the prothonotary warbler. He was perched up and preening. Everyone got soaking wet in the rain overnight, so no one is looking quite their best. It's leveling. Everybody is just a little rough around the edges, and I by no means except myself.

• Now the dinosaurs have all posted up in a tree together. I like this, too.

• This is the part of the trail where I always hear, but never see, a common yellowthroat. I have a great memory for those kind of landmarks, too, the spot where the bunting flew by but didn't stop, the tree the bunting is always in on the far side but I can never find him, the tree the phoebe likes to perch up in, but always in the morning when she's completely backlit and impossible to photograph. I can forgive people with time when they want to be forgiven, but I hold grudges against birds the way Pfizer holds patents.
• I just saw the nice older man who comes here every morning and says hello to me every time, and visited with another birder who gave me a new route to try to catch the water fowl first and still not miss the warblers when they wake up. I also picked up a hot tip: there was a least bittern sighted at Dyke Marsh yesterday, so that's maybe my Sunday. I like these people.
• Look at this turtle. What if I was that happy?

• This has been the nicest three and a half hours, but between the rain steaming off and all the sweat, I believe I'm starting to mildew. I also made the rookie mistake of sitting down on a soaking wet bench so my butt is extremely uncomfortable also.
• Good woodpeckers today, too. My list prediction for today is 22.

BOTD: barn swallows. I mentioned the nest under the observation deck a while back, and the babies fledged a little while ago, but they're all still hanging around the deck, and uncommonly, stopping a bit to pose on the natural landscape as well as the rails. I got a ton of great pictures. The little guy on the rail looks so sweet.

The most cooperative swallows I've ever seen.