What is It

Originally uploaded by Luke Brown

Such a cute bird! But I'm not familiar with it so thought I'd put it on my blog to find out.

After looking through my bird books, I have come to the conclusion this must be a house finch, but I'm still not dead sure. If anyone who reads this happens to know, please tell me. Incidentally, the shots were taken in England. Perhaps it's a bird we don't have in the U.S.?

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Originally uploaded by cosmicsailor

Although this egret was photographed at San Francisco Bay, there are many in the area where I live, San Luis Obispo, in central California, half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In face, where I often walk about two miles inland, they have taken to roosting in a large tree near the parking lot for the trail--Bob Jones Trail. It is quite a sight to see them when they all come in at sunset. They look like beautiful white tree ornaments arranged throughout the branches of the tree.

Levitating Peanut

Levitating Peanut
Originally uploaded by cosmicsailor

I couldn't resist just one more blue jay, because this one has a peanut, and I've seen them look like this so often in my yard.

Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)

Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Originally uploaded by cosmicsailor

Here's another view of the beautiful Western Scrub Jay, looking just the way they look in our yard. They are so beautiful they almost take my breath away. And so much fun I never tire of offering them peanuts, and then watching what they do with them after they take them out of my hand. They are fearless and intelligent. A wonderful bird.

Western Scrub-jay in Tiburon

Western Scrub-jay

 

We are constantly entertained by the blue jays in our yard who come for peanuts, and also for fellowship. We know they like the peanuts, but they seem to enjoy us too. When my son was feeling very low, there was one blue jay who would come to see him in his shop at the end of the car port. First he would sit on the open door and and look in, and then he would come inside and sit on the counter by the vise and look at Bob. It was just as if he were saying, "What's the matter? Can I help?"

One day, when I was dispensing peanuts, the blue jay, instead of eating it, pushed it into the ground of our gravel-covered back yard. He worked really hard at it, and finally got it poked down out of sight. Then he carefully covered it with rocks, one at a time, and as a final touch, found a leaf and placed it carefully on top. I was laughing at this performance because it was so cute, but was impressed because it was done so well. To me it was amazing that he could conceive such a project and then carry it out with such finesse.

In spite of such close and friendly association with the blue jays, I have never caught a good picture of one. I found this one on flikr. It was uploaded by little.jafa.

Great Blue Heron in flight

Great Blue Heron in flight
Originally uploaded by Erica_Marshall

I have been trying for so long to get a good photo of a Great Blue Heron, and have not succeeded, but I just found this one on flickr, uploaded by Erica Marshall. What a beautiful view of a stunning bird! Way to go, Erica.

UNFAIR DEBATE and MEDIA BIAS

After watching Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton indulge in a nasty spat like two little kids in a school yard, I am completely turned off of both of them. The Clintons are playing "two against one", and I sympathized with Obama when he said to Hillary, "Sometimes I'm not sure who I'm running against." I wonder if others besides myself felt the unfairness of the situation, disgust with Hillary, and disappointment with Obama because he wasn't mature enough to avoid taking the bait. Once you do that, you lose control. Neither Obama nor Ms. Clinton came off looking anything but petty.

John Edwards, on the other hand, seemed like the only grown-up in the crowd. He made excellent points, even though he was overshadowed by the ridiculous barbs and accusations of Obama and Clinton, due to the moderator's lack of fairness . Why did Wolf Blitzer let them go on so long with their spat? Was that fair to Edwards? Or to the listeners who wanted to hear what all of them had to say? I am disgusted, because this sort of unfairness deprives us of the opportunity to hear enough from everyone to be able to choose the best person to be the democratic nominee, and thus (we hope) the president.

Just because the media is obsessed with the idea that the nominee will be either Obama or Clinton does not mean the voters agree. In fact, this obsession continues to make it more and more difficult for us to hear what Edwards has to say. Why is there not more fairness in handling the debates? Why should the media be telling us who we can listen to, and who we get to pick from in choosing our nominee or our president?

I'd like to be able to get the media to stop making up our minds for us, and to cover news about the candidates in an unbiased way. The media is supposed to be reporting what happens, not trying to make things happen.

If anyone has any answers to these questions, I'd love to hear them.