Language Liberalism Freethought Birds
Verbing Weirds Language only if you're expecting it to work in a simple way. This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds.
Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.
The church says Earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.
If we can't find Heaven, there are always bluejays.
It's dawn (so the pictures are a bit grainy) but the grackles don't care - they've been awake for a while already.
I used to teach Russian and Ukrainian, and some basic English, to civil servants. Now I teach Russian at a local continued-learning institute. I dabble in Gaelic and Welsh. I'm am amateur photographer and I love birding (in a small way). I'm a Progressive, and a Freethinker, and I know Evolution is a fact - that's FCD, Friend of Charles Darwin (look down the sidebar). I read a lot, and follow women's college basketball. Also I love astronomy, though I'm a rank amateur at it. Most of all, I like living in the reality-based community...
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2 Comments:
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At 7:25 PM, June 22, 2008
Anonymous had this to say...
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At 9:23 PM, June 23, 2008
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->Hi,
The Exterminator asked me to weigh in on this as I have a little bit of experience. The bird in the photos with the gray patch around his left eye has one of two things going on. I believe it's either a form of melanism or it's scar tissue from injuries received when the bird was a nestling. Avian melanism is fairly common and especially in dark colored birds. "Birding" magazine did a n extensive article several years ago about this and ran a number photos of grackles and other species with various patterns of blotchy plumage coloration. In the nest, competition between nest mates can be quite aggressive. Barn Owl babies have been documented eating their siblings if the parents are unable to maintain sufficient supplies of mice and voles. It wouldn't take much of an injury to result in permanent loss of feathedr growing skin cells in an area around the eyes. That soft tissue has minimal feathering anyway.
Catherwood
Thanks. (And thanks to Ex, too!) It doesn't come out well in these pictures, they're so grainy (it wasn't six a.m. yet), but he's got no feathers there, not gray ones. I wasn't sure if it was injury, or disease, or what. I hadn't thought of a "childhood" injury.
He has a mate - I saw him feeding an offspring two weeks ago. So clearly it hasn't slowed him down much.
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