May 27, 2026
Where: Hidden Oaks Nature Center
When: 6:40 pm
Bird Species: American robin, American crow, blue jay, house finch, northern cardinal, eastern towhee, Carolina chickadee, pileated woodpecker, downy woodpecker
Things I Thought About:
- Every westbound train was absolutely fucked tonight. This better be soothing, dammit.
- Well, that's not very soothing. There seems to be a big crow and jay fight happening over there. People should hear this.
- It is so funny to me that there's a towhee somewhere close, just "thweeee"-ting away in the middle of chaos.
- I couldn't see what the fight was about; I was worried someone was robbing a nest, but I didn't see that. Just a big fight between some pretty territorial species. Pretty cool, actually.
- Every one of these photos are going to be awful. In low light, if you leave it on full auto, sometimes you'll press the shutter and it won't take a picture, because it is busy. When it's so dark, it takes time to save the photo to the memory card. But when it isn't on full auto, or if I turn the flash off, the photos always come out blurry. It really is kind of hopeless to expect photos from this walk. I'm here for the walk, anyway.
- There was some ancient television show, early days of television, black and white, well before my birth, and on that show someone would say, "Pluck your magic twanger, froggy!" and a magic frog puppet would make a twangy noise and appear in a puff of smoke. I only learned this visual about ten years ago, from YouTube. I never saw the show, of course, but I bet I heard my dad say "Pluck your magic twanger, froggy!" twenty times. It was just a thing he'd say sometimes, to tease mom or get a laugh out of us.
- I'm thinking of this now, because actual frogs really do sound like that. I am sitting on a bench by a frog pond, and they are twanging like crazy.
- Sitting by a frog pond, listening to them twang, after a 65 minute commute, about a half an hour before we're due for the skies to open up again: 10/10, would recommend.
BOTD: American crow.
I don't post crows very often, one, because it's very difficult to take a photo of a matte black bird, and two, they scare me a little? They are very smart, of course, and they have great memories, and they will pay you back when you give them gifts, and are in general very well-known for having witchy, fairy-tale behaviors, including holding grudges. That part doesn't make me nervous; I feel like we have a respectful relationship. I always ask permission when I take a photo. I would never want a crow mad at me.
The reason they scare me a little is simply that they are so big. I honestly think people unaccustomed to spending time close to birds would be quite shocked to see how big they are. When you get close to one foraging on the ground, they are more reminiscent of a dog than a bird. Most of the ones I see are larger than a common housecat. It's difficult not to get a little jump scare when they're close.
The American crow gets to be bird of the day because of the fight, of course. There were three of them giving two blue jays a very hard time, of which I am strongly in favor. Every bird should give jays a hard time; they are vain and bullies and their fighting style is chickenshit. I guess it has to be, with crows, though. Both species are corvids, and crows can be four times their size.
I remember reading this story way before I got into birds, and I feel like someone should follow up this year. Has this been happening for a decade now?
