September 16, 2026

Where: downtown Washington, DC

When: 5:50 pm

Bird Species: rock pigeon, house sparrow, European starling, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird. Heard but not seen: peregrine falcon, my new part-time job,

Things I Thought About:

• The first season of Ted Lasso was a perfect season of television, and they for sure should have cancelled it right then. This current restart is pissing me off.
• Jason Sudekis not beating the allegations. And Juno Temple should sue her makeup artist.
• In front of the Federal Triangle metro entrance, there is a flock of house sparrows filling the little stand of trees there. They hang on the branches like Christmas tree ornaments. There are a lot of them.

• Interesting how it is easier to not find a bird in a city than it is to not find a bird in the woods.
• This is not the same thing as saying it's easier to find a bird in the woods than is in the city. I don't know what the difference is, but that would be a false statement, and the preceding statement feels spiritually correct. The tops of buildings are too flat.
• Anyway, there's nobody on the top of buildings that I can see but starlings.

• I am trying to stay in a good headspace, so I will not mention how many fucking national guardsmen I've seen standing around with their thumbs up their ass on this walk. Three million dollars a day, y'all, no big deal. What the fuck.
• Redacted redacted redacted, but the best way would be if his wife did it in public.
• For a second I thought I'd make it past the castle without seeing one of the mockingbirds that run that place, but here come two. It's nice to have something you can count on around here.

• I was listening to a podcast about the famous man-eating Champawat tiger, who killed 436 people. The host helpfully mentioned that that is one more person than the full roster of the U.S. House of Representatives, and I suspect I will remember this every time I look at the Capitol building for the rest of my life.

BOTD: peregrine falcon. I won't swear to it, but I think this is the first Bird of the Day without an accompanying photo? Sound off in the comments if I've forgotten one.

In front of the entrance to the Federal Triangle station, there's a little curved lawn with a curving row of trees and a couple of benches, right in the middle of some of the tallest, prettiest buildings downtown. I see a healthy flock of sparrows on the lawn, pecking around, and then I hear a bird scream, and they all lift off and ascend to the bushy branches of the trees. "That," I said to myself, "is a goddamn peregrine falcon after all!"

Merlin had heard it a week or two ago, but it was also hearing a blue jay much closer to me, so I had kind of dismissed it as maybe an echoing error. I love Merlin, but it does make mistakes. But no, I was definitely hearing a raptor, and the sparrow's behavior was exactly what happens when they think they are about to be descended upon at great speed.

They did it twice more, went back to the ground to peck around, then the cry and flight back to the trees, while I scamper 50 feet in the direction of the sound and utterly fail to pick up a hint on the top of the buildings. I'm pretty sure I was on the right block, but that's the most I can say.

I am on the job now, though! Ebird says they are becoming increasingly common in cities, where they can nest on tall buildings and survive on pigeons. I am going to keep an eye out. It will be good to have a side quest.

Tonight's photo is just a boy pigeon that was sitting on a decorative post outside my building. I like the way pigeons look.