Back Up Bird

October 11, 2026

Sara Kate Wilkinson

Sara Kate Wilkinson

— 3 min read
Share
October 11, 2026
Bird of the (Yester)day: belted kingfisher, who was uncommonly cooperative that day

Where: Huntley Meadows Park, naturally

When: Thanksgiving weekend 2025

Bird Species: n/a, rain out

Things I Thought About:

  • I was looking through older photo disks for a bird to post today, as it has been raining all day, and something has definitely fucked up in my camera since I started this blog. I guess I will look into a new lens soon. 
  • I want to go to Chincoteague in November. I think it’s the only national wildlife refuge that I love that I haven’t featured this year.
  • God, what a money sink this hobby is. Oh, well. Sometimes I really have to force my brain to remember that's what money is for, to buy things that make your life good.
  • It's funny how entering Q4 here I really am moving in the direction of a real corporate budget cycle, a last-minute push to meet metrics. Have I shown you all the NWR and local hotspots I love? Is 13 new lifers a lot, or a little? Is there a bird I've never featured that I'd be horrified to be told I've forgotten? Productivity was down in October due to injury, but very little personal time off before them, so I think we'll finish the year strong.
  • Especially since we're moving into my favorite time of the year for birds. It would be so good if I could list a scaup or a redhead by 12/31. I know they're very common winter waterfowl in Virginia, but I've never listed them.
  • Merlin app has added some new slides on the app homepage lately, in addition to the personalized bird of the day, and one of them is Fall Migration is Underway...this bird is headed your way. Today it is a northern pintail duck, which makes me really excited to think about how ducks will be back soon.

BOTD: belted kingfisher. Based on the nudge from Merlin, I went looking on my camera cards for some photos of pintails and just got completely distracted by this study of a belted kingfisher I pulled off on 11/23/2025. You know how you can hate yourself in a photo, then look at it in a few years and think, "Dang, I looked so good back then!"? That's the same nice surprise these were. In the midst of a lot of mediocre pictures, with no editing at all I think these are mostly really good. Must have been a really lucky day. Kingfishers are a good bird.

Read more