bluejay

October 31, 2026

Bird of the Day: blue jay. This is a good photo!

Where: Hidden Oaks Nature Center

When: 12:15 pm

Bird Species: downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, white-breasted nuthatch, black-capped chickadee, yellow-rumped warbler, yellow-bellied sapsucker, red-bellied woodpecker, blue jay, northern cardinal, pileated woodpecker, mourning dove, American crow

Things I Thought About:

I got a miracle haircut yesterday, where it doesn’t look any shorter, it just looks better. You can't tell me shit.
Northern Virginia is showing up in beautiful colors. I bought seven sweaters this morning. I have coffee. I am Mr. Autumn Man from The Onion.
In addition to the famous song I have mentioned so often, wrens make a noise that is like a low constant burble. They sound a little like a kettle boiling on the hob, before the whistle blows. Nuthatches are a little similar, in the constant low noise, but that’s more of a chuckle. It makes a nice low backdrop to the day.

*These little guys were everywhere today. Pretty decent work with the camera, too.*

I accidentally thought about work for a few minutes, but I have ruthlessly squashed it by thinking about the movie I watched last night, which was The Monkey. The Monkey contains some of the wildest shit I have ever seen. I will never get over the sleeping bag.

*This lady cardinal was cheeping for her husband the whole time and sounded pretty fretful. Play it cool, lady. It was kind of interesting how much* noise the birds were making today, with no actual song.

There is a pileated woodpecker that has been hanging around this park since Wednesday and he is making an absolute fool out of me. He keeps flying in low without making his signature call, and then flying back out of the park to the neighborhood backyards before I can focus. Blackout rage at a specific fucking woodpecker; this is Hanna Barbera shit.
I am seeing the usual small birds, but, breaking news, I think this chickadee is a black-capped chickadee, not a Carolina one. Neither is rare, I just always see Carolinas around here, and this one is just different enough that it registered. I will look it up when I get home, but I am positive those edges and wider and sharper than the usual suspect. Before this daily blog I would not have picked up on that in a hundred years.

*See the broader edges of white on the wings? And pure white all the way back on the nape, rather than going to gray. I think I called this one.* *It's tricky, though.*

I just remembered it is Halloween, and recall a conversation I overheard while tending bar one Halloween, when a man bellied up next to a woman at the bar and asked her how vampires talk to women, and the answer was "pick-up veins." It haunts my dreams. I think it is the worst gambit I've ever heard in my life, as well the worst riddle. Also, she was with four other women in a group costume, the students from The Facts of Life plus Mrs. Garrett. No woman has ever been less approachable at the bar.
He was dressed as Luigi.
why did he do it
The only good Halloween joke is what do you call a spider with twenty eyes?
a spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiider

BOTD: blue jay. He swooped it. I was certain it would be the nuthatches; they were very present and cute today; I bet I took twenty photos of nuthatches. I had been posted up in a nice high traffic spot, taking plenty of good shots of the small birds, when this much larger splash of color flew in from the other side and landed only about forty feet in front of me. He was only there for a second, but he landed just perfectly framed for today's featured photo. I got two shots off before he moved again.