March 14, 2026

Where: Hidden Oaks Nature Center

When: 10:40am

Bird Species: northern cardinal, tufted titmouse, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, Carolina chickadee, song sparrow, American crow, white-breasted nuthatch

Things I Thought About:

• Ugh, I slept in too late and had to run an errand and I need to be at my sister’s at 11:30 to go crush trivia (note: we lost so bad, like, comically bad.) Just stopping real quick to say hi to Waldo and see what’s around. 
• The story on the Storybrook Trail is still about the deer trying to see who will be around to keep her company over the winter. The hummingbirds go to Mexico, and the snakes and frogs hibernate. The fox and squirrel will stay. Time to move on to spring stories before the hummingbirds come back.
•  I can hear some beautiful bird song that is not from a bird I have featured. I don’t see the bird though, and I expect it will take a few weeks for my ear to remember who is who among the migrants moving back in.
• My audiobook was written in 1985 and the literal head of the CIA just said, “Look in the files. If you don’t find it there, try the computer.”
• Earlier in the book they had explained that the terrorists had killed eight diamond merchants and had gotten away with almost 9 million dollars. I burst out laughing. Mike Myers should have narrated in character.
• Well, there you go, there’s a nice photo of a titmouse. I should have come here first; they have feeders over the winter months so obviously they’ll be lower in the trees here.

• Oh, hey, a phoebe! My first phoebe of the season, and the first flycatcher, although I think I heard one on the CCT the other day. Time to get excited about summer birds. [summoning spell] I want the yellowthroats to come back.
• If the visitor center officially opens at noon, but is currently, factually open for a bunch of little kids having a snake birthday party, it’s probably okay for me to go in and use the bathroom, I bet.
• Who am I kidding? There is no scenario where I would ignore a CLOSED sign with clearly posted hours, especially if there are parents and kids in there. I am not a neurotic person, I simply must never break any rule ever or I will be In Trouble, and I can never be in trouble! Extremely adjusted and adult behavior!
• Besides, the bathroom at the playground in open.

BOTD: the Eastern phoebe. Late in the summer, the white belly develops kind of a lemony-yellow wash; it is an uncommonly pretty effect against their soft velvety brown. They get here early and stay late, and waggle their tails a lot. Their song really can very clearly sound like a soft “fee-bee.” I like this bird a lot. This is the first bird I listed, in 2023, that I had no memory of ever having heard the name before. A little revelation of a bird.

SKW BOTD EXTRA: this wasn’t part of today's official birdwalk, but I went for a walk with my niece at sunset and we saw this duck, which doesn’t look like any of the ducks I know, and seems to be a male mallard/American black duck hybrid. Very nice late evening find! Helped balance the burn of the 26th out of 26 teams trivia finish.