Birds of the Space Coast

Quote of the day – almost unbearable

“We arrived at midnight on Tuesday and stayed until 3am. I have been at protests which started at 5am, but this was my first that started at midnight, and I was so comforted by the activists who came to be there at such an odd and early hour. We stationed ourselves in a spot where the truck would have to stop at the red light that is actually on a busy highway, but it is quieter at this hour.

We were able to rush to the side of the truck to be near the chickens. Although to avoid us, one truck driver drove through the red light.

Every truck was different as was the placement of the chickens in the crates—some facing us, some not. But one, who I can still see, was a small chicken lying on her side facing me. I could see her baby blue eye and her exhausted face staring back at me, blinking. She was on her side and looked like she was being crushed.

This is where bearing witness becomes almost unbearable. Watching her look at me and not being able to get her out is one of those situations where you fear losing your sanity because you lack the ability to do anything, much less comprehend why this gentle little bird was about to smell death, experience even more fear, and of course, die herself.

As I sit here now, my heart hurts and my eyes burn from the idea that she was probably gone within hours of me seeing her along with so many like her—thousands of them. The image of her will forever be in my heart and mind.

And all I can tell myself is that at least I was able to tell her (and all of them) how sorry I was and that I loved her. Which I repeated over and over…”

- “Bearing Witness”

I needed this today.

Thank you, Colossal and Cameron Bloom.

Landings, Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine

Landings, First Beach, Newport, Rhode Island

Near the other vultures

From Virginia:

Town manager Chris Lawrence tells The Roanoke Times that more efficient methods are being considered for the vultures' return next year.

The town could apply for a federal permit to kill one vulture. The remains would be hung near the other vultures.

Lawrence says the vultures would disperse because they don't like to be around their own dead.

I have no idea whether any of the claims in this story is true. The attitudes are important.

I just saw a Pileated Woodpecker

Right outside the window! I lunged for my camera, but she flew off before I could get a picture.

Gorgeous bird, especially in a wintry landscape.

God put him here to kill animals

These sorts of meetings seem to be a theme this week. Recently, I learned from the Animal Ag Alliance that God put other animals on earth to help and feed us. I’m now watching the surreal National Rifle Association annual meeting in Houston on C-SPAN. David Keene, who has all the charisma of a napkin dispenser, is praising the organization’s board of directors:

J.D. Williams of Oklahoma, Washington, DC, and now Texas is one such director. J. D. has been a mentor to Wayne [LaPierre], to me, and to the NRA itself for decades. As a successful attorney, and perhaps the most respected lobbyist of his generation, J.D. Williams has been instrumental in every single Second Amendment battle waged in Washington since the 1960s.

He has been, and continues to be, a valued friend and advisor to Democrats and Republicans alike. He was crucial to the formation of the Institute for Legislative Action, and has been an unfailingly wise counselor to Wayne and to every NRA president with whom he has served. And would, if we were a baseball team rather than a board of directors, be a perennial Most Valuable Player.

I remember riding back to Washington with J.D. Williams many years ago after a day of waterfowl…shooting on the Chesapeake. He said he hadn’t hunted ducks and geese until well after he’d moved to Washington, but remembered coming back after his first hunt and saying to himself, “So, this, J.D., is why God put you on this earth.”

J.D. Williams is rarely wrong, but he was wrong that day. God put him on this earth to play a key role in the defense of freedom and the rights passed down to us by our founders. Although God really didn’t mind if he took a day off here and there to shoot a few guss and- …ducks and geese on the side.”

What follows on C-SPAN? “MEDIA COVERAGE OF TRAYVON MARTIN CASE.”

*According to his NRA biography, he’s dedicated to “hunters’ rights” and “personally financed the organization of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus.”

In three days, California will be a better place.

At long last, on July 1st, the state’s ban on foie gras will take effect. Appetite for Justice has the history behind the law, featuring a discussion of the risks and frustrations of working through legislative channels (and an adorable duck photo!).

The chefs who’ve fought this, hosting foie gras parties and the like, have dishonored themselves and their profession.