Weather today was really nice, not too muggy, sunny and warm later in the afternoon and evening. I walked home from campus after a brief stop at Panchero’s on South University for take-home burritos. It was a nice walk; East University had a couple of low-key parties going on in backyards, and you could smell barbecues grilling, a sure sign of the approach of Memorial Day and summer. Some sort of dandelion-like pollen wafted from trees on the block, which made my allergies act up for a bit, but nothing too severe (I’ve been surprised at how well I’ve escaped the allergy menace so far this spring). As I hit Stadium, the sun was starting to sink toward the horizon, and I was once again amazed at how low the sun gets here as it falls in the evening—so low that the light is all-surrounding and almost blinding if you’re moving towards it. And the quality of the light is different, too—torpid, stunning, almost mesmerizing.

I saw a bunch of different kinds of sparrows outside on my way to work this afternoon, and, of course, the usual contingent of foraging robins and starlings. Birdsong filled the air, and I had no idea what any of it belonged to, but it was nice to listen to.

But another bird, much larger and seemingly flightless, skittered across my path, directly in front of me, and then swiftly away from me, almost before I had a chance to see it, and it startled me: I had to stop and turn around to look as it hurried away across the grass, making its frantic, anxious pip pip pip sound. I think (not 100% certain, but am pretty sure) it was a northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Wow.