A few weeks ago I wrote of my feathered friends and my homemade feeding stations in a previous TC diary. I'm afraid I have gotten a bit carried away over the weeks much to the delight of the birds and the various seed and feeder supply places.
First, I wanted a clear plastic feeder with suction cups that I could put right on my window to bring the birds up close. A little googling and I found just the thing. While I was waiting for it to arrive I purchased a thistle seed feeder in the shape of a mesh tube. I did this after I found out that the nijer seed has to be heat treated so as not to germinate before it can come into the country. My orange halves eventually shriveled so I found some plastic cups from a restaurant supply store that my husband drilled holes in for hanging. I went to the pet store other day for seed and they had some feeders on sale so after buying 8 different bags of seed combinations I picked up two large new feeders. Is there a 12-step program for bird feeders anonymous? My husband is staring to worry a bit.
So here is what has been happening the past couple of months since I told you that innocent story about helping my little birds through the harsh winter here in Denver this year.
I have learned to make many different types of nutritious suet cakes. Found out my cat loves all these new additions for her viewing pleasure. Most mornings when I get up she is sitting on my desk waiting for me to pull up the blinds for another day of Cat TV™ The window sill is about a foot above the counter that is my three-sided desk top. So she perches there with her ears just below the sill until she can't stand it anymore and bats at the window. The birds are growing use to this and have begun to realize that she can't get them so they leave for the tree for only a couple of moments before coming back. She is usually very good about stopping when I say so after a few bats it is out of her system.
My population as well as variety of birds has been growing. I started out with some dark-eyed juncos and house finches and the odd sparrow or two. Through all the very cold days and snowstorms they ate well together without squabbles. Then a flicker would show up a couple times a day and a magpie once in awhile. One morning I opened the window to see a squirrel nibbling away at the suet cake. Goldfinches came for the nijer seed in the tube feeder and I am now up to 8 pairs.
The house finches are too numerous to count now and have a wide rang of color besides red. The ones that have been eating throughout the winter are far more brilliant in color than the pale newcomers and are easy to tell apart by size as well. The are some odd traits in a few of the finches. I have one I call 'the General' as he has tufts of feather that stick straight out from his shoulders like epaulets.
I have four finches that are blind in one eye, two males and two females and it is their left eye that is blind. They tend to be a bit more aggressive about having anyone near them when they feed. One of the females gets right into the seed trough in the window feeder and dares anyone else to come near her. One of the males has a single long feather that sticks straight up from the side of his head. I call him 'Alfalfa'.
Some days I can tell if we are in for a weather change by the way they eat and how much they eat. They have been better than the local weatherman a couple of times. I have noticed that sparrows are the calmest and most cooperative eaters. They will eat with just about anybody and when they eat as a group they don't chase each other off or try to hog the food.
There seems to be a battle of the sexes sometime between the male and female house finches even when food is plenty in a variety of spots. The females seem to win these battles more often than the males. I guess the females being the egg layers want to be sure to get the food they need for the next generation.
All was going pretty well until the redwing blackbirds discovered my feeding tree a couple of weeks ago. I have never seen one so up close. They are beautiful and a little scary to behold. They have a very sharp pointed beak and are quite aggressive in their manner. I have taken to calling them the NEO-CONS as that is what they remind me of when I watch them. They swoop in as a pack and fling seed around trying to get just the seeds they like. They won't tolerate any other type of birds near them when they are feeding. They eat in a almost guilty and rapacious manner as fast as possible. They fight with each other by showing off the wings, thrusting at each other and screeching. And the are not at all nice to the females that try to eat with them. One of the most interesting things about them is how easily they spook and fly away. I can never tell what sets them off, but suddenly the is a huge flapping of wing beats as they fly off to the bigger trees wait a short bit then come back in mass. I am annoyed with their bullying behavior. I have tried to draw them away from the tree by setting up a feeding station with the type of feed blackbirds like, but they are greedy and still raid the food for the smaller birds too. Remind you of anything?
Recently a small flock of Brewers Blackbirds showed up. They are the ones with the iridescent heads and they are about twice a large as the red-winged blackbirds. Needless to say, they spook the bejeebers out of the RWBB's. I wonder if that makes them the NEO NEO-CONS? So far the Crows have not showed up, but they are in the neighborhood!
So my feathered friends forecast the weather and remind me of nefarious political ideology. All that and breeding season is just about to begin. As they say, 'stayed tuned'.
::
My Selections
DIARY: BOMBSHELL from W. Post on White House politicization at GSA
By: atrexler
atrexler reports on the latest scandal du jour for the Bush administration. What has been suspected all along is being verified says atrexler: "So we have proof that arms of the executive branch were actively working to harm political opponents and help allies."
Autarkh has a well-thought out summary on the 'cure'.
sawgrass727 weighs in with some thoughts on how the less-in-tune are going to react.
swoosher makes a prediction on the impact of the 'blog cycle' for the history books.
Margot on the difference between then and now.
Fabian finds a 'silver lining' amongst the clouds!
revsue makes a point about Power point that starts off some prime snark. chumley should get an award for his comment!
rioduran brings up a very important connection! Follow the thread for more.
marina has first-hand experience of the damage done and projects undone.
Diary: Murder by Spreadsheet: Insurance industry targets elderly
By: nyceve
Once again, nyceve, proves she is the go-to person for staying on top of the medical insurance industry. This time she sets her sights on the Long Term Care insurance industry for some eye-opening information. The comment section is full of stories that fully support the allegations.
Southern Mouth tells of her mother's plight and how they had to fight for her care.
Alice in Florida has some information on AARP via her neighbors that is worth viewing.
vigilant meerkat has a 'fine print' horror story on LTC insurance.
DWG projects down the road and lays some blame right where it belongs.
Silverbird has more inside information.
Joe Bob sums it up nicely.
Diary: How To Explain US-AttorneyGate To A Lunkhead (Republican)
By: AlyoshaKaramazov
This analogy-rich diary explores creative ways to explain the ins and outs in terms non-political. Kossacks rise to the occasion with their own rich anologies.
mobiusein uses football for a try. AlyoshaKaramazov counters with baseball and Pete Rose.
Dallasdoc, once again, shows why his cool reasoning is so respected.
bobinson wins more than money in a poker game!
Unique Material makes it real simple.
cskendrick as incisive and insightful as ever.
Diary: Inventor of "Reagonomics" Bankrupts Company, Indicted
By: onemadson
Well, well. The chickens certainly came home to roost on David Stockman. Seems he couldn't make it in the real world without cheating.
Roddy McCorley starts off this thread with a nod to unintended consequences.
LNK brings some additional information to the table.
Diary: Committee Orders All RNC Emails to be Preserved
By: Scout Finch
don the tin foil has some very good news geek-wise.
memophage has a list of questions that need answering.
Arkydem makes a point about "protecting America" with their tactics, but bink's response was a stunner!
mmacdDE makes some important points.
bobdevostarts off a good thread.
Diary: USAgate scoop: Justice aid to TAKE THE FIFTH!
By: EZ writer
Kaboom! What a day! EZ writer frosts the cake with this diary. How many layers (scandals) can you pile-up before the cake falls over?
Magnifico on credentials and connections.
Magnifico brings a juicy morsel to chew on.
NotGeorgeWill has more background on Goodling and madgranny puts in her two cents.
Front Page: 5th Amendment Republican
By: mcjoan
fat old man on lackey hackery.
tkmattson asks a question and gets some answers.
sharris0512 has an observation.
Front Page: Midday open thread
kos announces an event is in slow progress.
Gooserock's comment has kossacks wondering if a long-standing line has just been retired as completely un-toppable! :::WARNING::: spew alert.
Lucius Vorenus starts off a thread with some suggested names for the new baby.
shpilk has a snippet about a policy change from C-SPAN.
mayan has a mini-rant over what is NOT in the news today. I agree!
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From Miss Laura
LithiumCola dissects punditry.
From Elise
jasmint53 tells us why she supports the Iraq Appropriations Bill, and as a Army mom, I think she's worth listening to.
Rob Cole provides a sketch of himself.
Gooserock hits an ErrinF homerun!
From Turkana
Diary: Salon: Deployment Of Wounded Troops Tied To Bush's Escalation!
By: Turkana
Its any one guess offers a first-hand view of the disgraceful treatment of our service personnel at Ft. Irwin.
From Light Emitting Pickle
rktect gives insight into the origins of the unitary executive in atrexler's diary W.Post on White House politicization at GSA!.
From carolita
rebop gives Katie Couric a taste of her own Foxesque reporting and gotalife succinctly sums up the previous 500 comments in bobcaatJH's diary This is for you, Katie Couric.
In atrexler's diary from W. Post on White House politicization at GSA.
SarahLee quoted Richard Dreyfuss explaining why some things are worth fighting for "even when you know that you will lose."
rasbobbo makes a sarcastic, although accurate, comment that starts a thread on the best way to clean out government offices and leads barbwires to suggest a brilliant name for the scandal: Fumigate!
hcc in VA explains how government agencies regard the Hatch Act and starts a very informative thread with links and cites from pdt, Phoenixwoman, and evilpenguin.
From kath25
From kath25:
mytribe describes what would happen before Rove gives up Bush & Cheney.
This Catch-22 inspired thread that features several notable TC regulars made me smile.
Some say that Katie Couric is a horrible journalist. In the spirit of her interview I won't name them.
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Tonight's Top Mojo is provided by BeninSC Thank you, Ben!
Top Mojo - excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments and C&J comments:
1 if only by saucy monkey - 273
2 "...some people say..." by Glic - 206
3 Dude, you couldn't be more right. by Tirge Caps - 149
4 Let's see some justice done. by Scout Finch - 124
5 That was the first time I have seen by vigilant meerkat - 112
6 "Some people say" is shorthand for... by Julian - 111
7 I'd give you a thousand recs by barelycontainedfury - 108
8 Thanks Disraeli by Jerome a Paris - 92
9 Some people say by the OTHER rasmussen - 91
10 Impeachment is imperitive because: by Autarkh - 90
11 a FOUR!!! by AlyoshaKaramazov - 90
12 I didn't know about her husband by elsaf - 84
13 Demote her to "Entertainment Tonight" by Dump Terry McAuliffe - 78
14 that wouldn't hold water. by Pegasus - 77
15 Wow.... by sp0t - 76
16 Katie sucked by Bailey Savings and Loan - 72
17 Plus... by chumley - 70
18 If she gets offered immunity, can she be compelle by David in NY - 70
19 As a geek in charge of an email server by don the tin foil - 69
20 Yes by karateexplosions - 69
21 Bingo..... by Cronesense - 68
22 Au contraire by Sylvester McMonkey Mcbean - 67
23 But We Were Into Nixonian Corruption by Gooserock - 67
24 Ah, Jeesh! by revsue - 66
25 Believe by sara seattle - 64
26 I thought it was just me, by TomP - 58
27 oh the irony... by lipris - 58
28 This is precisely the kind of corruption by Bob Johnson - 56
29 But after impeachment by madhaus - 56
30 It's going to take a lot more than sunlight. by Autarkh - 55
Top Mojo - everything included:
1 Tip jar by BobcatJH - 624
2 tip jar by atrexler - 460
3 Tip jar by BobcatJH - 286
4 if only by saucy monkey - 273
5 Not about 60 minutes. by chuckles1 - 230
6 "...some people say..." by Glic - 206
7 a bit of a rant by clammyc - 206
8 The walls are closing in by jkennerl - 163
9 Dude, you couldn't be more right. by Tirge Caps - 149
10 Let's see some justice done. by Scout Finch - 129
11 despicable! by Turkana - 127
12 You think the horrors can't get . . . by nyceve - 116
13 Tips? Flames? by Valtin - 115
14 That was the first time I have seen by vigilant meerkat - 112
15 "Some people say" is shorthand for... by Julian - 111
16 I'd give you a thousand recs by barelycontainedfury - 108
17 Impeachment is imperitive because: by Autarkh - 92
18 Thanks Disraeli by Jerome a Paris - 92
19 a FOUR!!! by AlyoshaKaramazov - 91
20 Some people say by the OTHER rasmussen - 91
21 I didn't know about her husband by elsaf - 84
22 that wouldn't hold water. by Pegasus - 80
23 Demote her to "Entertainment Tonight" by Dump Terry McAuliffe - 78
24 Wow.... by sp0t - 78
25 Perfect by slackjawedlackey - 74
26 As a geek in charge of an email server by don the tin foil - 73
27 Katie sucked by Bailey Savings and Loan - 72
28 This is not a tip jar by Disraeli - 72
~~~~~~~~~~
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