Category: Everything Else

I hope you love birds too. It is economical.
It saves going to heaven.

-Emily Dickinson

Can birds predict the weather? I don’t know. I’ve heard that they are more sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure, but I don’t know to what extent that’s proven science and to what extent that’s crazy lady bunk.

All I know is, at the feeder outside the kitchen window we usually get some chickadees and a pair of titmouse (titmice?) and an occasional appearance from the resident downy woodpecker.

Today is a little more reminiscent of a Hitchcock movie.

I’ve got a flock of house finches jockeying for position at the feeder. From where I sit I count six physically in the feeder, two on the feeder, two on the bracket that holds the feeder, and another half dozen clinging to the window screens or just flying nearby waiting for some room.

Today I’ve seen blue jays and cardinals at the kitchen window. Grackles and snowbirds (juncos) and some little brown job that I believe to be a White-Throated Sparrow- as opposed to “regular old sparrow”- as it has brilliantly neon yellow markings on his head. All of these birds are usually content with whatever falls to the ground beneath, but today they are joining the party at the feeder.

I even saw a red-bellied woodpecker, and let me tell you, that bird is much bigger and his bill more threatening than one would think, particularly when one comes face-to-face with him before one has had one’s coffee.

And they are loud! Squawking and yelling and cursing. No melodious song going on here, no tender harmonies or cheerful chip-chip; just a bunch of aggressive drivers hollering to get out of the way. To be honest, I am finding their sense of urgency a bit unnerving.

Which brings us to two logical conclusions:

1. Storm’s a comin’. Or maybe a stretch of cold. Bundle up tomorrow just in case.
2. It’s been raining for two days straight and I’m shooting pictures through a (closed) window again.

Yes, I know. I’m lazy. Also, I hate the rain.

Obama’s Transition Team is open for questions.

Where do I even start?

“In some school districts, emissions from the smokestacks of refineries or chemical plants threatened students of every age, preschool through prom. Outside those schools, reports from polluters themselves often indicated a dozen different chemicals in the air. All are considered toxic by the government, though few have been tested for their specific effects on children.

Scientists have long known that kids are particularly susceptible to the dangers. They breathe more air in proportion to their weight than adults do, and their bodies are still developing. Based on the time they spend at school, their exposures could last for years but the impact might not become clear for decades. “

The exposure to toxic chemicals in the air at some schools is so high that students are at risk of suffering a range of ailments, from asthma to cancer.