corvids

November 1, 2026

Sara Kate Wilkinson

Sara Kate Wilkinson

— 3 min read
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November 1, 2026
Bird of the Day: American crow, for contrast

Rabbit Rabbit

Where: Wakefield Park

When: 12:35 pm

Bird Species: tufted titmouse, northern cardinal, blue jay, ruby-crowned kinglet, dark-eyed junco, red-shouldered hawk, American crow, eastern bluebird

Things I Thought About:

  • I dunno, man, I was crying for most of today’s walk. As good a mood as I was in yesterday, I woke up just entirely in my head today. I don’t blame the time change, but we also can’t rule it out.
This lady was delicately pulling each petal out of that pod and noshing away, absolutely annihilated the whole thing as I watched.
God forbid a woman enjoy food, amirite
  • I also ate too much gummy last night, which can leave one feeling fretful and fragile. And these birds are not cooperating one bit.
  • I took the trail leading up and behind the ballfields, which is and MTB trail on race days. Mountain bikers are supposed to yield to walkers on non-race days, but it is a narrow path, and, I don’t know if you know this, trail bikers are, to a man, the worst people in any park. You can get old and die waiting for a courtesy hail from a trail biker, they will simply blow past your back with 8 inches to spare while you try to follow a kinglet with a camera. A truly dreadful variety of middle-aged man, of which there is no shortage of sub-groups.
  • Oh, dang. A hawk has just flown in and rolled for a second on the bank of the stream. He got something, but he's not quite in line of sight. Frustrating. Why should he be different.
He posted up in a pretty tight spot, but I like this well enough, even with the soft focus. He had pulled up a great hank of vegetation, and I was guessing frog, but it looks like maybe he only got a big bug? He does look a little sheepish.
  • At 4:30 pm on Thursday I toggled off notifications on Teams and Outlook, and I am trying not to imagine what me inboxes will look like tomorrow. Bad Sara Kate. Do not think of work.
  • There is a flock of juncos foraging, and photos simply do not do this bird justice. The charcoal and white are really quite dramatic, especially in flight, and the pink beak is uncommon. A special little bird that I cannot capture with a damn.
What I cannot communicate to you is the drama of that tail. It's two long dark center feathers, with white outer feathers, and it's a scissor tail, like mockingbirds have, so the white flashes beautifully. These birds are a little skittish, so if you startle one, they all take off in a cloud, and it's truly striking to see.
  • I can't think about things that aren't work, either. Thinking is not working out for me today. I should go buy another sweater about it.

BOTD: American crow. Seeing this bird, dark against all that gold, was very dramatic, and really suited my mood. Extremely entitled, main character-style brooding. This guy actually is eating a frog, I think. He's cool. I got more variety in his coloring than I usually do with these birds, I think because of the strong backdrop of color.

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