lifers

October 17, 2026

Sara Kate Wilkinson

Sara Kate Wilkinson

— 5 min read
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October 17, 2026
Bird of the Day: chestnut-sided warbler; one for the life list, and she ate a bug right in front of me. 10/10 bird.

Where: Hidden Oaks Nature Center

When: 1:10 pm

Bird Species: American robin, yellow-rumped warbler, chestnut-sided warbler (lifer), ruby-crowned kinglet, Carolina chickadee, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, northern cardinal, downy woodpecker, American crow, mourning dove, house finch

Things I Thought About:

  • If every single person fails to create anything close to what you wanted, you must consider that the flaw is in the design of the challenge, Paul Hollywood. That flatbread technical was insane.
  • The birds are being really good today. They always are after a good soaking rain. I think the blog today might just be “Here are some good pictures I took of some good birds.”
Almost the first thing I encounter at the park today is a lovely little mixed flock of warblers, yellow-rumps and kinglets and today's featured bird. Something I probably haven't explained is that fall plumage on warblers is quite different from spring plumage. I love this darker version of the yellow-rumped warblers, with their little bandit mask.
  • I am second to none in my appreciation of Paul Hollywood’s looks and demeanor, and introducing Nigella has raised the quotient of adjectives like “beguiling” by about 700 percent. Unlike every reality cooking competition, where when you watch enough you can convince yourself you’d do pretty well on Chopped, I don’t know one more thing about baking after 17 series of The Great British Baking Show than I did before I saw a single episode. Maybe less, even. 
  • I do kind of want to try baking bread, though. 
There were a couple of downys around, and they were both so cute and cooperative it was crazy. A male and a female, staying pretty low in the trees and chasing each other.
Every time I said "turn your head so I can see the red" or "come down just a little closer" they did it. They were a terrific pair, not drumming, just pecking at the trunks.
The titmice today were the exact opposite. Little bastards zipped out frame as I was focusing almost every time.
If this is maybe the cutest profile shot of his tuft I've ever taken, it's no thanks to him, I assure you.
  • I have spent too much money on myself this week. Granted, some of it was a big splurge on an oil change and air filters, but I need to keep an eye out. At one point late in the summer I found myself saying, “Well, that’s what money is for, to buy things that make my life better,” which in that moment was liberating (deciding it’s okay to drop off at the wash and fold if I simply don’t want to do laundry all weekend anymore) but is steering me into some Isadora Duncan-esque acts of abandon at the bakery and the bookstore.
There were about four of these nuthatches circling around this same skinny little trunk, so quick and agile it reminded me of when you see squirrels chase each other up a tree. I missed that capture, but this is just about the perfect shot of a white-breasted nuthatch, long pointy bill and perfect 90-degree angle. They were so active and there were so many of them, they'd for sure be BOTD if I hadn't seen the warblers first.
  • I have started watching Below on Netflix and is this just a fucking squid or is it like a ghost squid from Planet Pleistocene or what
  • I wonder if Mike Flanagan's Carrie is any good.

BOTD: chestnut-sided warbler. Not that I knew what it was when I saw it, just that it was different from the kinglets and the butterbutts, and it wasn't a pine or a palm warbler. I was 90% certain I'd never seen it before, but when I said the fall plumage is very different from the spring, that's no joke. This bird looks completely different today than it would have if I had seen it in the spring going the other way. No chestnut sides on this chestnut-sided warbler.

It was so very green, almost a lime more than an olive, it was very eye-catching, even among other warblers, even among other shades of green and yellow. What pretty wingbars and edges, and I like that little swipe of a dark eyeline. Uncommonly for a warbler, she (or very young he) was content to stay in one place for a few seconds, munching on a bug. A pretty great find for me on a random Saturday when I had no real birding plans at all.

A genuine tip, if you're thinking about getting interested in birds: always try to go out on a sunny day after a good rain. The bugs and berries are easier to get out of the ground or heavier on the vine for plucking, and everyone comes out to pick and snack and drink from the puddles. It's a great time to see a lot of active birds on the ground and in the understory, in your line of sight.

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