Birds, etc.

I didn’t see the blue grosbeak in the Vale of Cashmere this morning. I did have an excellent view of a male rose-breasted grosbeak: it was at eye-level so the breast was spectacular. Also saw a mourning dove nesting in an atlas cedar that’s also hosting rows of sap wells. Several chipmunks were holding their own against the ubiquitous squirrels. It was overcast and chilly, but bird-loud as spring should be, with the robins, cardinals, jays, and white-throated sparrows all vocalizing forcefully. Species: mallard, rock dove, morning dove, red-bellied woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker, blue jay, crow, chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, robin, cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeak, red-winged blackbird, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, fox sparrow, junco, goldfinch, starling, house sparrow.

Speaking of animals, a minki whale wandered into the Gowanus canal yesterday. Just in time for all the runoff from the torrential storm. Today it seems to be back out into the bay, no doubt gagging on our shit.

Watching birds always reminds me hunting. But who hunts with handguns? Isn’t it amazing that this so-called civilization puts up with more non-combat gun deaths per population per year than any other country? Only one-in-six Americans own a handgun (often more than one), but they and the gun makers rule the rest of us with their reign of terror.

Speaking of terror, GOPustices Alito, Scalia, “Ditto” Thomas, Roberts, and Kennedy all voted to uphold the so-called Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Another victory for the conceptual category of “fetal life” over actually living women, so score another one for the American Taliban.

178 killed in Bagdad today, as many wounded.