March 27, 2026
Where: around my complex
When: a few minutes here and there throughout working hours
Bird Species: American robin, house sparrow, blue jay, common grackle, dark-eyed junco, Carolina wren, Carolina chickadee, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird
Things I Thought About:
- I’m sure this camera would hold up in a light rain, but I’m not sure I would. My thing has always been I don’t care about rain as long as it isn’t falling in my face, but you can’t wear a ballcap and use this camera, at least I can't. The light meter/flash mechanism pops up with the auto-settings and the bill of the cap knocks it all out of whack. A true bummer, as a baseball cap is the only headwear in which a woman who does not want ticks can still look sexy in the summer.
- I myself wear knit caps in the winter, which are cute, and bandanas in the summer, which are very much not a good look on me but serve the purpose. My hair never looks good immediately after birding.
- I have expressed that when it’s sunny, I’m sunny, and there’s no way to express “Boy, it sure is Sorry For Yourself out there!” in weather terms, but that is also what’s happening.
- As part of my visualization of things I’d like to see happen for me in 2026, falling in love with someone was on the list, embarrassingly, and I don’t know that I can anymore, which is also embarrassing. This is a mental thread I’ve been worrying at all week on my walks, and it is the kind of thread that if you tug too hard it will leave you completely unraveled.
- Now that is pretty, against the Japanese cherry, a tree I identified from a newly installed app a friend recommended.
- I almost downloaded a “Tai Chi walking for menopausal women” app today, too, one of the ones where the women in the ads are clearly AI, before deciding I am not that far gone. I did finish the quiz, though, so it will be following me around the internet and appearing in m inbox every day for a month.
- One time I accidentally carted a tasty chewable supplement for painful joints before I noticed they were for dogs, and every time I opened Instagram for months I got ads of limping dogs with hip dysplasia. It was very depressing!
- Not as depressing as the lighting around here today, though. I'm excited for a sunny trip to the swamp tomorrow.
BOTD: the Carolina wren. A wren, I'm assuming this one, has been posting up in the same general area across the street all week, and singing non-stop. It has been a side quest every time I go out, to see if I can spy him.
Wrens like to go up to as high and prominent spot as they can to sing. If you're looking for one, you might be looking too low. Their song is incredibly loud for such a small and tidy bird.
