March 16, 2026

Where: Pine Ridge Park

When: 10:45 am

Bird Species: European starling, northern cardinal, house sparrow, American crow, tufted titmouse, eastern towhee, American robin

Things I Thought About:

• There is a small cemetery behind these playing fields, and to step back in to the woods to see it is like stepping into another dimension. These trees have been growing since at least 1905, and the hardwoods are very tall and the shade coverage is near total. It's dark and green, and the children's voices and game whistles sound almost impossibly distant, before I even start walking the small trail.
• I never come here, I literally haven't been here in about six years, and I just stopped on a whim. I do not have my bug spray or a bandana, so I am huddled into my hoodie to keep the ticks off, but the mosquitos are making a meal of my white legs.
• I am wearing my glasses rather than my contacts, too, which creates a whole new level of difficulty for both binoculars and camera lens. Camera a little easier than binos, where pressing them to my glasses presses my glasses into my face, making them fog up instantly.
• It wouldn't matter anyway. Once again I can hear a lot of birds, but I'm seeing nothing at all. I have been talking a lot about bird sound lately, because there isn't a lot else to talk about. The blog will be very boring for the next few months, probably.

• I can definitely hear a parula and blackpoll warbler, but all I can see are these towhees. The lady is "twheeeeing" loudly for her man around a mouthful of insect.
• ♫ call your boyfriiieennnd ♪ say you caught ♪ a ♪ bug
• Robyn is an apt artist name here.
• Out here making dad jokes to myself.
• Well, this will take up the rest of my brain for this rest of this walk: Robyn, The Byrds, Eagles, The Yardbirds, Counting Crows, Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow, Nick Drake, Owl City, A Flock of Seagulls, The Crickets, The Fabulous Thunderbirds
• Wait, crickets are bugs.
• Back here, in all this soft quiet green, it reminds me of sitting alone at a hotel bar, where the sound is mostly muffled and very diffuse, all murmured conversations with the occasional louder burst of laughter, and through it all, the rattle of ice and clink of glass. The little sprays of warbler sound are a cocktail shaker.
• Well now I kind of want a drink? It is 11:30 am.
• I did get a doughnut at the farmer's market; I must remember to provide that important update.

BOTD: the eastern towhee. At first I was afraid they were kind of going to be a default bird of the day, since they were they only ones I was getting in frame today, but the more they hung around, keeping me company, the more I enjoyed them. They were staying close to each other, and I never lost track of them for the whole walk, although the female was much more present and louder. She was also eating bugs like they were chiclets.

She had her mouth full every time I saw her, and he looked very young and slender to me. I have decided they are newlyweds.