urban birds

September 2, 2026

Sara Kate Wilkinson

Sara Kate Wilkinson

— 2 min read
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September 2, 2026
Bird of the Day: blue jay, proximity pick

Where: 14th St. and Pennsylvania, DC

When: 6:52 pm

Bird Species: blue jay, house sparrow, European starling

Things I Thought About:

  • The usual extremely redacted shit I think about whenever I get close to the Ellipse.
  • One time I saw ducks in the World War I memorial and now I always want to see ducks there and I never do.
  • I'm ready for the ducks to come back. I'm ready for "sunny and 48 degrees."
  • What I've got is partly cloudy and 82% humidity.
  • Yesterday I was a pill and a grouch all day, and this evening is not much better.
  • When I was in my 20s, I carried around a constant feeling that some disaster was about to happen, and it was a very justified fear because I was constantly fucking up. Bad things happened to me all the time as a consequence of my bullshit decisions. Now I have that "other shoe is about to drop" feeling again, but it's not because of any fuck up, it's just how things are in general, I think. I suspect this is a relatable feeling? It feels very unfair.
  • Bummer Summer days when my sadness and nerves are not existential but personal and embarrassing are almost a relief, to be honest. I am having a bit of a wallow this week.
  • This too shall pass. It always has before, anyway.
  • There has been a handful of jays hanging around Freedom Plaza and the Press Building this week, screaming their heads off. I worked a little late tonight, so I was glad they were around, even though the photos aren't very good. I had forgotten how much darker 7:oo pm is in a city, with the buildings casting shadows.
  • Maybe I'll try to get out of town this weekend. Oh, shoot, no, it's a holiday, all the beaches will be having a last hurrah, and the National Parks trailheads will be out of parking by 10:30 am. Maybe I'll sit on my couch and watch ten hours of Furious this weekend.
  • Maybe I'll try to get out of town next weekend.

BOTD: blue jay. Kind of a "beggars can't be choosers" selection; there wasn't even a pigeon around. This jay was screaming in the very same tree where the molting one was last week. This could be him; they do grow back pretty quick. Who can say.

Here is a bonus pick of me, a dumbass, having leaned into a planter to take a photo of a tree for my Plant ID app, and not noticing until it was too late that there was a rotating sprinkler in it.

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