June 26, 2026

Where: the neighborhood

When: 5:15 pm

Bird Species: house sparrow, northern mockingbird, European starling, mourning dove, northern cardinal, house finch, American robin, common grackle, brown-headed cowbird, fish crow

Things I Thought About:

• I discovered a two pack of zucchini in the fridge, rotting in a most distressing way. Completely odorless, because it remains encased in plastic, on its little styrofoam tray. Under the plastic, mostly liquid. It is upsetting, mostly because I made pasta twice while healthy zoodles were dissolving in the fridge.
• I mention this, because I had to carry the trash out with me as I left for this walk, and the tray had slipped down the side the way the heaviest, last thing does when you tie up a bag, and the zucchini is slapping against my calf with every step down my stairs. I do not think it is wet, but it is very cold from having just been in the fridge, which can give the illusion of wet, and it is making me want to shriek like there is a bug on me.
• All this to say, the birds better be fucking good.
• Wow, I really have been sitting at a keyboard all day. It rained not long ago and the humidity is unbearable, but I can feel my joints loosening up.
• On the other hand, I'm wearing my eyeglasses and they are fogging right up when I put my camera to my eyes, pushing them into my face. Let's see how this goes.

• Something I am realizing on this walk is that a lot of the birds I'm seeing are young. Older juveniles, sub-adults, not quite there yet. This robin is still brownish on his top feathers and still has a lot of light streaks on his breast.
• A lot of birds natural coloring is brighter, deeper, more vibrant in the summer, so I have to be more alert when identifying birds in flight. One can easily mistake the summer sienna-brown of a house sparrow for the orange-red of a finch, or even a small cardinal as they streak by.
• Both of these observations are things I didn't really notice last year. I suspect they are something you wouldn't necessarily take on board unless you birdwatch a lot, perhaps even every day.
• I am at the exact midpoint between feeling a little oppressed and stubborn about keeping to the "bird every day" resolution, feeling a little stifled by having to stay to the neighborhood so much more than I did in the winter, and being immensely gratified by moments like this, when I realize I know something now that is only clear when you see the same birds in the same places every day.

• I strike up conversation with a man in his driveway, who, comically, asks me if I'm out for a run. I point out the camera and he remembers we spoke for a while last fall when he had a woodpecker in his tree, and he waves me to follow him right up to the door of his house, opens it up, and hollers, "There is someone here to see you!" up his stairs. This man is fully inviting me into his house to talk to his wife about birds.
• I don't go in the house, but it was not a weird invite either. She steps out and we talk about birds and the neighborhood and the best places to see what bird for close to ten minutes.
• That was lovely. I needed that. I like making friends with my neighbors.
• I could have walked right into their house and pocketed some knick-knacks. Cameras and binos and bird knowledge are very disarming.
• Please do not use this hot tip to rob your neighbors.

BOTD: Northern mockingbird. You can tell he's young because there is still the slightest hint of gray streaking on his breast, and he has a little more texture and blur in his coloring. You could especially tell he was young when he was flying, he looked pretty new to it.