Some spring birds and buds

A few backyard birds from the last week or so

A White-breasted nuthatch

A pair of Mourning doves - the male has pink and blue feathers

A female Downy woodpecker

A Hermit thrush in the grass

and in the trees

A Brown thrasher in the grass

and in the trees

A Yellow-rumped warbler, Myrtle variety

Two male and one female Northern Cardinal

A motley bunch of American goldfinches - look at the molt going on on that male!

A shiny American crow - it's hard to get pics of them in the grass because they're very skittish

A female Brown-headed cowbird prepares to leave as a Carolina chickadee comes in for a bite

Gray squirrel lounging on the feeder station

And (for Kathie), it's Theodore!

Good grief

This was Final Jeopardy???? At least they all got it.

Dining in safety

There's a tray feeder on the ground in the front of the house. Titmice and chickadees come to it regularly. But with their tiny bills, they can't eat there like cardinals and doves; they have to carry a seed or nut off to a tree branch and break it apart there. Fortunately for them, there's a lovely Japanese maple right there. Fortunately for me, I can see into it from my kitchen window.

 

Sweet singer

Hermit thrushes are the only thrushes that overwinter in the US. I haven't seen mine since last fall - they must have gone a bit further south. Or at least away.

Here you can see the trademark rusty tail.

Pretty pair

A pair of House finches in the Japanese maple. He's the same color!

Dawn singer

Look who was out singing this morning when I went to fill the feeders.

What a pretty boy

A very dark House finch. Gorgeous.

an omen?

Good-looking American crow on a misty St Patrick's day

Twosome

Not that they were together, except temporally. :-) A Northern mockingbird on the holly, and a Carolina chickadee in the Japanese maple.

Silence is one thing, refusing to affirm is another

Here's the thing, Tennessee Legislature.

You can just be quiet about it, and tell yourself and your constituents that, hey, hating Nazis is the default position, of course we do, we don't have to say so. And as long as nobody brings it up, you can get away with that.

BUT.

Once somebody does bring it up, the game changes. If somebody says, I think we should announce publicly that we hate Nazis, and your response is dead silence and refusing to advance the resolution? Now you're saying "We won't say we hate Nazis."

Now you're saying "We don't hate Nazis."

You're saying you actively refuse to “strongly denounce and oppose the totalitarian impulses, violent terrorism, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies that are promoted” by the groups.

Is that really what you want to say?


Source: The Tennessean, March 14, 2018

What they missed

The brilliant Alexandra Petri writes a column covering what the kids missed in school when they walked out.

("I have seen a number of Sage Folks on the Internet complaining that students across the nation walked out Wednesday to protest gun violence instead of remaining in class and learning important things. How dare they! Don’t worry: I have you covered for the 17 minutes of walkout, and beyond. Here is what you missed. ")

Here's what they missed if it was their period for American History:

U.S. HISTORY
The people on the Internet think you would have been discussing the Second Amendment today, but if it has taken you until March to get to the Second Amendment, something is very wrong in your class. You are supposed to be on America’s role in World War II, but you are a little behind, and so today Mr. Z is discussing the bonus marchers. You will erroneously learn about a time when people who believed in something showed up in a certain place and made their demands known. This is not how it works in real life, adults will tell you.

(Source link)

Truth

His eyes are bigger than his tummy

... or maybe not. They can sure pack it away! 😄

This was SO good

There's only a few more weeks. But see it if you can. It's brilliant. SO GOOD.

Soþlic spell

(True story) (Nine hundred years of Time and Space and I never met anyone who is not important. - The Doctor)

three more

Three more backyard birds

First, a Brown thrasher, a very intense bird

A windswept female Northern cardinal

And a little snowbird from Canada, a White-throated sparrow, all jaunty...

... and then all derpy

Nice layout choice. I mean it.

Nice juxtaposition, isn't it? Good work by the layout guys.

Story 1 is about how "Major utilities have found evidence of ground-water contamination at coal-burning power plants across the US where landfills and man-made ponds have been used for decades as dumping grounds for coal ash" and story 2 is about "The Trump administration ... roll [ing] back regulations ... over how utilities dispose of the ash".

Clearly what we need is less Federal oversight.



(Here are links: Story 1 and Story 2.)

More birds

Singin' in the rain (male Northern cardinal)

"You talkin' to me?!" (female Northern cardinal and male Eastern towhee)

American crow

Male Northern cardinal, in sunlight this time

Pair of Carolina wrens

And a pair of House finches, female...

... and male