Happy 2009

Have a wonderful New Year!

End-of-year memories

Yes, as a matter of fact I DID start this post on New Year's Eve and didn't finish and publish it 'til today so I back-dated it. Why do you ask?

It's been a topsy-turvy year for this birder. I've had some great highs--birding in Cape May with the Flock and meeting new Flockers Lynne and Katdoc, birding the marsh with Susan and Laura, seeing some great lifers like my first wood duck (finally)--and some crushing lows. All in all, it's been a year of evolution, of spreading my wings and taking risks.

For this last post of 2008, I went through my archives and found some moments that I thought you might enjoy reliving with me:

January--birding and observing the locals in the Big Valley of Central Pennsylvania

February--in an especially lucky convergence, a raptor lands right outside the window at work AND I have my camera with me

March--an April post covering my March 30th marsh birding trip with visitors Susan Gets Native and Laura from New Jersey, including an episode of CSI: Bird Dorks

April--in which I discover a new place to bird that yields some great sights

May--a tie between this big birding day afield and the next big birding day on the marsh, both featuring a lot of photos

June--my first-ever owl heard in the wild!

July--we all go camping and fishing, featuring lots of photos including a pretty decent one of an Eastern Towhee

August--in a non-bird-related post, we meet Dr. Matty McMatterson, best friend and confidante of the beginning birder, the Watson to my Holmes (only I'm not addicted to drugs)

September--I get my first-ever photos of an accommodating bald eagle

October--my crazy-ass trip to Cape May to meet the Flock during the Autumn Migration weekend

November--in which the vegetarian beginning birder ponders the Thanksgiving turkey tradition

December--the beginning birder finds out she's going to need a field guide for Western birds. . .

It's been a long year, and a long winter (and it's only just started!), but 2009 promises to be a much warmer and more bird-filled year. Not to mention the fact that we're getting a new president! I wonder if Barack Obama is a birder? I bet Michelle Obama likes birds. She's probably cool like that.

Family Update

Now that she is getting oxygen 24 hours a day, my sister Jane is starting to look much better. Here she is with Jake, looking quite comfortable in grandma's lap.

Yesterday we visited the Social Security office so that she could apply for disability and then went out to eat. That was the extent of our activity for the day.

Today our cousin Dennis came up from Indianapolis and we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We spent about three hours together, before Jane ran out of steam and needed to go back and rest.

Her home health care person had stopped by earlier to go over her schedule. Jane also made an appointment with her cardiologist for early in January, to find out if she will be able to travel. The doctor will also need to make the arrangements for us if she moves in with me.

I've done as much as I can do until she sees the doctor, so I'm heading back to DC in the morning. I will continue to monitor her from there.

My niece had the day off today, so when Jane woke up from her nap I went over and the three of us spent the evening playing Uno. At one point I found myself looking at the two of them thinking how nice it was to just spend time together, and wondered why we hadn't done this more often in the past.

David Attenborough's The Life of Birds

If you haven't seen at least a few parts of David Attenborough's BBC series The Life of Birds, you're really missing something. I realize this series is years old, but you may have missed it.

Through the magic of Netflix, I've been slowly watching the DVDs of the series. So far I've seen the first two discs, which included chapters like "Fishing for a Living," "The Meat Eaters," "The Mastery of Flight," and my favorite so far, "Signals and Songs." Attenborough's fact-filled narration alone is brilliant and insightful, to say nothing of the endearingly hilarious sound of his accented voice saying, "THE Life... of Buhds." LOVE IT. I love him!

He is always sure to identify every bird he shows us (though not necessarily by specific type; for instance, he'll talk about "grebes in North America" without telling us that they're Western Grebes. But this is an anal-retentive birder's complaint). He travels through tropical rainforests in his cute little jungle khaki outfits and roams the icy coasts in sturdy outerwear, sits on the windy tundra getting his hair blown all over the place, gets attacked by a VERY territorial bird who knocks him over at one point, feeds bunches of hummers with a hand-held feeder, lies on a darkened beach watching shorebirds eat--you name it. For an older guy, he's in great shape and he hikes and climbs and crouches with the dexterity (and dirt-under-his-fingernails abandon) of a much younger man. He's like a hipper and soothing-voiced version of Marlin Perkins of Wild Kingdom fame (though I have to credit Perkins and of course Jim Fowler for kindling my absolutely psychotic love of nature and nature shows).

The birds themselves are spectacular: the lyrebird that can mimic a camera shutter sound complete with motordrive, the cock-of-the-rock and its spectacular plumage, sunbitterns and their crazy wings-out threat display, fieldfares who dive-bomb a raven and try to cover him with their poop (which could ground him and get him killed, BTW) to get him to leave their area. Attenborough covers the evolution of birds, mating, raising young, flight, eating, behavior--in short, everything you want to know about birds in general as well as specifics about a huge number of birds the world over.

If you haven't seen this series, WATCH IT. Especially if you've always dreamed of going to Peru or Costa Rica or Africa but couldn't afford it.

WARNING: the following is only for extreme bird-nerds and avian-kooks like me; You know who you are. I have to confess that I've been watching the episodes while holding my Birds of the World and both my eastern and my brand-new western Peterson's field guides; each time Attenborough mentions a new bird, I look it up, figure out specifically what type it is, note its geographical range, and read more details about it. (I warned you.)

Best yet, I checked it out on Amazon and it's only $34! Add to cart, baby. Add! to! cart!

I leave you with a completely unrelated photo: I saw these beautiful clouds while I was out this afternoon and couldn't resist. They almost look like lenticular clouds that form over mountaintops.

Note: More New River potential lifers posts coming up. Been kinda distracted of late, and my mind's just not fully on the birds.

Want to keep that New Year's Resolution?

Try getting religious about it!

Self-described heathen John Tierney talks about religion and self-control in a report in The New York Times.

If I’m serious about keeping my New Year’s resolutions in 2009, should I add another one? Should the to-do list include, “Start going to church”?

This is an awkward question for a heathen to contemplate, but I felt obliged to raise it with Michael McCullough after reading his report in the upcoming issue of the Psychological Bulletin. He and a fellow psychologist at the University of Miami, Brian Willoughby, have reviewed eight decades of research and concluded that religious belief and piety promote self-control.

This sounded to me uncomfortably similar to the conclusion of the nuns who taught me in grade school, but Dr. McCullough has no evangelical motives. He confesses to not being much of a devotee himself. “When it comes to religion,” he said, “professionally, I’m a fan, but personally, I don’t get down on the field much.”

His professional interest arose from a desire to understand why religion evolved and why it seems to help so many people. Researchers around the world have repeatedly found that devoutly religious people tend to do better in school, live longer, have more satisfying marriages and be generally happier.

These results have been ascribed to the rules imposed on believers and to the social support they receive from fellow worshipers, but these external factors didn’t account for all the benefits. In the new paper, the Miami psychologists surveyed the literature to test the proposition that religion gives people internal strength.

“We simply asked if there was good evidence that people who are more religious have more self-control,” Dr. McCullough. “For a long time it wasn’t cool for social scientists to study religion, but some researchers were quietly chugging along for decades. When you add it all up, it turns out there are remarkably consistent findings that religiosity correlates with higher self-control.”

The report is very interesting. So what do you think, is self-control tied to religious belief or simply the rituals associated with organized religion?

Cool clouds on a sunny day

The temperature warmed up yesterday to a balmy 45 degrees, though it's a little cooler today. I didn't go birding, but I did find some cool clouds:

A fine example of melting butter clouds. In this next photo, I'm hoping you can see that it kinda looked like a bunch of little scoops of clouds, little swirls. My phone's camera didn't do too good a job of capturing it, but try to use your imagination and click for huger:

On this same road today at lunchtime, I saw a pretty red female American Kestrel. I loves me some kestrels.

Sunday Funnies

Dog's 'Black Friday' Shopping Spree

Hey, he would have paid ... he just didn't have a pocket to hold his cash!

Family Gathering

Good can come from a bad situation. Today, my sister and I spent the afternoon with one of our favorite cousins and her husband. It's been at least fifteen years since we have been together. My niece had a good time listening to all of our stories.

It's been a tough few days, so this was a nice break.

My sister has decided she will come live with me, so now we have to go through the process of making that happen. First a doctor needs to let us know if she can travel. We need to make arrangements to have oxygen at my home when we get there, and oxygen for the trip. And we need to make sure her medical coverage will follow her from Indiana to Maryland. Lots of things to do.

Given holiday schedules I don't think we are going to be able to make everything happen before I need to be back in Washington, so I have a plan. I'll drive home and then fly back to get her. A two hour flight to DC should be easier for her than what would surely become a two day drive.

We have a lot to work out.

I also need to make a few adjustments so that she can comfortably live in my basement apartment when she gets there. She agrees that we need to be able to have some space from each other for those times when we will certainly drive each other crazy.

My niece wants to stay in Indiana, so that will be another adjustment for my sister. The two of them have never lived apart. I have a feeling that my niece will eventually end up in Maryland as well, and that would be fine with me.

It's going to be quite a new year!

In Memoriam - Eartha Kitt

The Associated Press reports:

Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer.

Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.

Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80. [...]

Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed," she told the group of about 50 women. "They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam."

For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.

"The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth — in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth — you get your face slapped and you get put out of work," Kitt told Essence magazine two decades later. [...]

In an online discussion at Washingtonpost.com in March 2005, shortly after Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman won Oscars, she expressed satisfaction that black performers "have more of a chance now than we did then to play larger parts."

But she also said: "I don't carry myself as a black person but as a woman that belongs to everybody. After all, it's the general public that made (me) — not any one particular group. So I don't think of myself as belonging to any particular group and never have." [...]

While on stage, she was daringly sexy and always flirtatious. Offstage, however, Kitt described herself as shy and almost reclusive, remnants of feeling unwanted and unloved as a child. She referred to herself as "that little urchin cotton-picker from the South, Eartha Mae."

For years, Kitt was unsure of her birthplace or birth date. In 1997, a group of students at historically black Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., located her birth certificate, which verified her birth date as Jan. 17, 1927. Kitt had previously celebrated on Jan. 26.

The research into her background also showed Kitt was the daughter of a white man, a poor cotton farmer.

"I'm an orphan. But the public has adopted me and that has been my only family," she told the Post online. "The biggest family in the world is my fans."

On this Christmas day, rest in peace dear Eartha.

Holiday Funnies

A Holiday Tradition

Posting this video is a holiday tradition at Yikes!

Now I remember ...

why I don't like to come to Indiana for the holidays. As you know, I'm here because my sister is facing a health challenge. The news is not good.

Her daughter and I were at the hospital (in Indianapolis) today, but needed to leave at 3 PM, so that we could get her back to Anderson for work.

It was hard saying goodnight, so we didn't actually leave the hospital until 3:30 PM ... just as an ice storm was starting. It took more than an hour just to get through the city to the interstate, and once on I-69 we spent the next four and a half hours in bumper to bumper traffic. I never got my car out of first gear!

We were still 10 miles from Anderson when I made the executive decision to exit the interstate, and take back roads the rest of the way. We literally just got back in time to get my niece to work. Unfortunately the only sleep she got today was about five hours in the car, and now she has to work all night. It's a good thing she's young ... but even so, I still feel for her.

She has been going through more than her share of crisis lately. Her father just died two weeks ago, and now her mother is in the hospital. Life can be so unfair.

My sister has major blockage around her heart. She needs a triple bypass, but her heart is not strong enough for her to survive surgery. At least six doctors have all weighed in, and none of them think she should risk it.

My sister's comment to me privately was "surgeons like to cut more than have sex, so if they don't want to do it I think I should listen."

It's her body, so she gets the final decision and right now all she wants to do is go home. I'm not convinced she is strong enough to leave the hospital, but if they are not going to do surgery they seem to want to rush her out the door. I have such a bad feeling about this, and so few options.

I love my sister, but we've had our challenges. I've not always been happy with some of the decisions she's made, but she's my older sister and has always been determined to live life on her terms. Now some of those decisions are coming back to haunt her. I think she understands it now, but unfortunately it's a bit late.

I have offered to let her come live with me, but I don't think she is going to do that. As bad as her current situation is, it's familiar. So here we are ... Merry Christmas.

Happy Birdday, Mary!

My sister Mary turns 43 today, so I thought I'd embarrass her by publishing this photo again:

That's her on the right, pointing to her dolly. This was probably a newly opened Christmas present, I'm guessing.

Mary had a series of dollies as a kid (surprisingly, I was not the dolly type). I'd give anything right now to have a scan of this one photo of all my siblings and me on an Easter day, waaaay back when. Mary and were probably 5 and 6, respectively. In a bunch of photos, Mary had her "naked baby" dolly, whom she held by the head in all the pics taken that day. In this one photo, however, you can see that someone has taken away Naked Baby and Mary's crying her little eyes out, holding out her hands to someone off-camera -- probably my mom.

Actually, Mary cried in almost all her baby and young tot pics -- it's sort-of a family joke. The rest of us were always smiling and laughing, even in the photo that was taken when I had German measles.

Mary, however, was always wailin'. She sings now, a benefit of all that lung exercise, no doubt.

Back to this photo--she had that blue sweater for YEARS. (We were both a size 6X for years too, saving my parents a lot on clothing, I'd bet.) I remember borrowing the blue sweater one day because I had to go outside to feet the kitty. I tipped the box of dry catfood to pour some out, and a little baby roach crawled out of the box and up my arm, into the sweater sleeve! I ran around screaming and flailing the box (catfood flying), trying to tear that sweater off. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. *shudder*

Anyway, happy birdday, Mary, aka Hairy Mary, aka Wolf Hand, aka Mareeeeeeeeeeeeeea!

Birding yesterday?

Compute the following:
Temp: 15°
plus
Wind: gusting
divided by
Precip: snow

So did I go birding yesterday morning as planned?

You do the math.

No time for blogging ...

Blogging will be a little light over the next couple of days, as I drive to Indiana to take care of a family matter. My sister is having some health issues, and I need to be there for her.

Sunday Funnies

Rick Warren?? ... Ugh ...

Lovingly stolen from DCup at Politits.

Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiin Shirt

I've been mulling over the Pastor Rick Warren brouhaha. Why does it bother me? Well, in case you missed it, here's an excellent explanation by Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State on Countdown last night.

I love what Melissa at Shakesville has to say about it. (h/t Quaker Dave) I especially love what she says about expansion of rights versus the limitation of rights. This has always been the difference between liberalism and conservatism in my view. Because susan-brightside is absolutely correct in the comments on this post. We need to get this separation of church and state thing right. Now.

7 Things Meme

I have been tagged by Dr. Zaius with the following meme, and he's just so darned cute how could I resist?

The rules:

1. List these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Hummmm ... let's see:

Fact #1 I have a full set of drums, and have played them in public three times with two different groups.

Fact #2 I have five shelves of books in my home that I have not yet read -- and more than 600 DVD's, and have watched all but a handful.

Fact #3 Strawberries and dark chocolate are my two favorite foods. And I didn't like peanut butter as a kid, but now I love it.

Fact #4 (This is for Dr. Z) Before she became Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and I once stood with our arm around each other while talking with some friends.

Fact #5 The last two times I rented a car in CA I was stopped by the police. I got a ticket (for not wearing my seat belt) and a warning.

Fact #6 The Rev. Jesse Jackson once called me from Japan. He was traveling with my supervisor from NOW and they needed something, but I can't remember now why he called? ha

Fact #7 I've worn the same Birkenstocks, as house slippers, for the past 13 years.

If you would like to take part in this meme consider yourself tagged!

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Class Warfare Continues

An illustration of the class warfare taking place now can be described as simply as this: People are being treated differently based on whether they shower before going to work or after.

The individuals who shower before were given a blank check -- no questions asked. While individuals who shower after work are still being asked to jump through hoops -- and there is no end in sight.

People who pushed paper around, who don't "make" anything, were given $700 Billion within days.

People who actually manufacture a product, and whose product line provides jobs for millions of Americans, have been waiting weeks on a response to their request for $15 Billion.

President Bush announced that he wouldn't let the auto industry fail on his watch, but if he doesn't stop "watching" and take action that is exactly what's going to happen.

The White House raised for the first time on Thursday the prospect of forcing General Motors and Chrysler into a managed bankruptcy as a solution to save the companies from financial collapse. [...]

“There’s an orderly way to do bankruptcies that provides for more of a soft landing,” Ms. Perino said. “I think that’s what we would be talking about. That would be one of the options.” [...]

These officials said the preferred solution would be to force a restructuring of the industry outside of bankruptcy court, extracting concessions that would make the companies more cost-competitive with foreign automakers.

In return, the Treasury would tap the financial rescue fund, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to make loans to the companies.

After a week of talks between the automakers and the Treasury Department over the terms of a possible bailout, Ms. Perino on Thursday said, “we’re very close.”

Yeah, as soon as they get the UAW to disband, watch the money flow!

What the White House appears to be envisaging is a package deal of concessions — and an injection of money from the TARP, the $700 billion financial bailout fund — to keep credit flowing for G.M. and Chrysler.

What concessions did the banking industry make?

This has to be the most comical paragraph in the entire report:

“The autos obviously are very fragile,” he said. He added that he was concerned about what President-elect Barack Obama would face on Jan. 20. “I believe that good policy is not to dump him a major catastrophe in his first day of office,” he said.

I'm reminded of the SNL Weekend Update segments where Seth and Amy would just keep repeating the word "Really???" . . . Is Bush serious? REALLY??

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Chrysler shuts down all production for month

Hey Sen. Bob Corker ... do you and Sen. McConnell really want to be responsible for bringing down the auto industry? Then get off your ass and FIX IT!

No one is questioning there are problems in the industry that need to be addressed, but let's compare how the auto industry and banking industry have been treated.

When they initially requested $34 billion, auto makers and the union were asked to jump through numerous hoops, yet you didn't ask the financial institutions for a plan before giving them $700 billion!

And what are the banks doing with all the money we gave them, because they are certainly not extending credit to people who want to buy cars.

Citing a credit crisis and dwindling sales, Chrysler LLC on Wednesday said it would shut down all of its manufacturing operations from the end of this week for at least a month. [...]

Chrysler said its dealers were getting car shoppers into showrooms but losing between 20 percent and 25 percent of those potential sales because of the lack of consumer financing for new car purchases.

"As a result of the financial crisis, the automotive market remains depressed due to the continued lack of consumer credit for potential buyers," the automaker said in a statement.

So what did we get for our $700 billion? I'd really like to know.

New River Wish List, Post #2: Common Raven

the not-so-Common Raven

In which I continue my series of posts potential lifers (for me, anyway) I might see in Virginia at the New River Bird and Nature Festival in April 2009. Much of the Flock will be staying the entire week of the festival; I will do only the second half of the week, arriving on Wednesday night in time for dinner, then birding Thursday through Sunday morning.

It’s likely that I’ve already seen many ravens up here in PA, but I never learned to tell them from plain old American Crows before now. I’ll frame my ID tips in terms of telling a raven from a crow.

The first ID clue is that ravens are much larger than crows, a fact that right away frightens the bejeesus out of me. I didn’t grow up with crows in South Texas; we had grackles, which are much smaller and aren’t nearly as bloodthirsty as the crows I’ve seen here. (Remember when that crow ate the starling's head?) The Common or Northern Raven is 22–27 inches from beak to tail—like a small cropdusting plane—while an American Crow is “only” 17–21 inches. Cornell describes the raven as “the largest of the songbirds.” *shudder*

Raven on top, crow on bottom (all photos shameless stolen from other sites which I am too lazy to go back and get the links for)--
The raven’s call is also distinct from that of the crow. Ravens make what Peterson calls a “croaking cr-r-ruck or prruk” or “a metallic tok” as opposed to the loud and clear "caw" of the American Crow. While I’m at it, I’ll add that a Fish Crow’s call is a “short nasal car or ca.” (Like it’s an American Crow hailing from Bah-ston?) You can hear the raven, the crow, and the fish crow at Cornell’s site.

Ravens, according to Peterson, tend not to congregate in the huge (and poopie-stinky) groups that crows do. (I suppose that’s why Edgar Allen Poe quoted but one raven telling him “Nevermore” as opposed to a whole bunch of crows screaming "caw" at him.) So I guess I won’t have much luck if I look for murders of crows and try to spot the bigger ones as ravens. Still, there are other differences.

When they are perched, ravens have what Peterson refers to as a “goiter” look on their necks, with “shaggy throat feathers” that pooch out a bit. Crows are sleeker in the neck area. Ravens also have slightly chunkier beaks than crows.

Perhaps the easiest way to tell a crow from a raven is during flight. The crow’s tail is squared across, while the raven’s is wedge-shaped. (A Fish Crow’s is also squared across.)

Again, raven on top (with distinctly curved-across tail), crow on bottom (with squared-off tail)--
Further, ravens fly in more of a hawklike manner, flapping and gliding on flat wings; crows hold their wings in a slight dihedral, almost like a turkey vulture (though not as pronounced of a “V”). Most all the crows I’ve seen pretty much flap all the time and rarely glide, but maybe they’re just all in a big hurry to go eat another starling.

I happened upon another page that discusses the differences between crows and ravens here.

Next time, we’ll look at a smaller songbird: the Blue-winged Warbler, a pair of which our host Dave Pollard guaranteed we'd see outside the Farmhouse in which much of the Flock will be staying at New River. Until then, I'm hoping to go birding this Sunday morning with Gretchen, my new birding pal Cari and her boyfriend, and perhaps Laurie--all of which (with the exception of the boyfriend) you can see and read about here on my curse-filled political bloggy.

Holiday Music

Relient K ~ Sleigh Ride

Adam Walsh: May He Rest in Peace

In 1984 I had an opportunity to meet John Walsh, father of Adam Walsh who was murdered in 1981. His son's death was still very raw, and he talked about his fear for his family. We were at a fundraising event for the advocacy he was doing on behalf of missing children, hosted by the radio station I worked for at the time.

John Walsh turned his tragedy into a mission that has led him to change laws, helping children and their families nationwide.

Maybe now that his sons case has been closed, the torture he has felt for the past 27 years can be put to rest. The Associated Press reports:

A serial killer who died more than a decade ago is the person who decapitated the 6-year-old son of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh in 1981, police in Florida said Tuesday. The announcement brought to a close a case that has vexed the Walsh family for more than two decades, launched the television show about the nation's most notorious criminals and inspired changes in how authorities search for missing children.

"Who could take a 6-year-old and murder and decapitate him? Who?" an emotional John Walsh said at Tuesday's news conference. "We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey's over." [...]

Police named Ottis Toole, saying he was long the prime suspect in the case and that they had conclusively linked him to the killing. They declined to be specific about their evidence and did not note any DNA proof of the crime, but said an extensive review of the case file pointed only to Toole, as John Walsh long contended.

"Our agency has devoted an inordinate amount of time seeking leads to other potential perpetrators rather than emphasizing Ottis Toole as our primary suspect," said Hollywood Police Chief Chadwick Wagner, who launched a fresh review of the case after taking over the department last year. "Ottis Toole has continued to be our only real suspect."

Toole had twice confessed to killing the child, but later recanted. He claimed responsibility for hundreds of murders, but police determined most of the confessions were lies. Toole's niece told the boy's father, John Walsh, her uncle confessed on his deathbed in prison that he killed Adam.

Wagner acknowledged numerous missteps in the investigation and apologized to the Walshes.

Adam was last seen at a Hollywood, FL, mall on July 27, 1981. Two weeks later his severed head was discovered in a canal 120 miles away. His body was never recovered.

The police have acknowledged they made crucial errors in their handling of the case, and John Walsh has harshly criticized them. But today, he had this to say:

The Walshes, who appeared Tuesday flanked by their other children, long ago derided the investigation as botched. Still, John Walsh praised the Hollywood police department for closing the case.

"This is not to look back and point fingers, but it is to let it rest," he said.

Wishing John Walsh and his family peace this holiday season.

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Go west, young birder

POP QUIZ:

What do this book

and this school

have to do with this birder?

Here's a hint:
That's Dr. Matthew Callahan (aka Matty McMatterson) and our friend Christine, who lives in San Francisco, who gave me the field guide pictured above because . . .


Matty got the job at Sonoma State!

He got the call yesterday, and we'll be leaving in July 2009. It's hard to believe; it all seems so far away. But sure enough, we're packing up and moving to California.

Being the live-in-the-moment person that I am, it's hard to be sad now about leaving this place and all my friends. I'm so excited at the thought of a new beginning that I can't feel sad or wistful right now. I'm sure, however, that will come once the departure nears.

In the meantime, however, I sure do have a lot of new birds to learn. It'll be "beginning to bird" all over again! Varied thrushes, weirdo chickadees, no more Eastern bluebirds -- wow.

I'll be in the land of Earl Cootie and Matty Boy, trolley cars, and fog fog fog.

I'll be twenty minutes from Bodega Bay, the setting of Hitchcock's The Birds and an incredibly beautiful coastline, judging from the photos.

I'll see John Muir's redwoods and the Pacific Ocean.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will be my governor.

oh my god...

Is There a Kennedy in NY's Future?

It's official! Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has officially announced her intent to seek the US Senate seat in New York being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The New York Times reports:

Ms. Kennedy ended weeks of silence with a series of rapid-fire phone calls to the state’s leading political figures, including Gov. David A. Paterson, in which she emphatically and enthusiastically declared herself interested in the seat, according to several people who received the calls.

“She told me she was interested in the position,” Mr. Paterson said at a news conference outside Albany on Monday. He added, “She’d like at some point to sit down and tell me what she thinks her qualifications are.”

I must confess that I have mixed emotions about this.

The first political contest to capture my attention was the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon presidential campaign. That administration carried with it a sense of hope similar to what many are feeling today. But is that reason enough to give the Senate seat to Caroline Kennedy?

I strongly think the vacancy must be filled by a woman. Women make up just 17% of Congress, so we can't afford to lose even one seat. And whoever is selected will have to defend the seat in 2010, which is not much time.

There are women in NY's Congressional delegation who have certainly paid their dues, but do they have the name recognition and fundraising capability necessary to hold the seat?

... Ms. Kennedy has emerged as a clear front-runner, if she proves able to withstand the intense scrutiny and criticism that her decision to seek the seat is likely to provoke.

Still, some have questioned whether Ms. Kennedy is qualified for the job.

Ms. Kennedy is now launching a public effort to demonstrate that she has both the ability and the stomach to perform the job, with plans to visit parts of the upstate region. The governor, who has expressed frustration with other elected officials for campaigning too openly, has done nothing to discourage her, said a person who has spoken with Ms. Kennedy.

In addition, a person with direct knowledge of the conversations said that Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Paterson had spoken several times in recent days and that the governor had grown increasingly fond of her. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the governor, said that Mr. Paterson also had come to see Ms. Kennedy as a strong potential candidate whose appointment would keep a woman in the seat and whose personal connections would allow her to raise the roughly $70 million required to hold on to the seat in the coming years.

Under state law, Ms. Kennedy would have to run and win in 2010, to finish out the last two years of Mrs. Clinton’s term, and again in 2012, to win a term of her own.

So what do you think? Should the Governor select Caroline Kennedy? Will supporters of Sen. Clinton be willing to overlook the role Kennedy played in Obama's victory? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Check it out now, funk soul brother

Frequent commenter EHunter of The Bufflehead Birder has announced a pretty cool competition for all you birders who have bird ornaments on your Yule trees. If you have a few birdy ornaments, be sure to pop over there and let her know.

Bush Plays Dodge Ball -- make that Shoes -- with Iraqi Journalist

Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi from Al-Baghdadia television network shouted, "This is a farwell kiss, you dog" -- at least according to the MSNBC reporter in the clip (AP is saying the journalist shouted, "This is the end") -- and then threw a pair of shoes at President Bush. Hey, al-Zaidi was just doing what a lot of us have wanted to do for the past 8 years!

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam with their shoes after U.S. marines toppled it to the ground following the 2003 invasion.

What I love most about this clip is how they keep showing the incident over, and over, and over ... ha!


h/t to Petulant at Shakesville

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Sunday Funnies