eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog: Economic Bailout and a Grackle

Hi all,

It's tough to write about birds right now. It really is. Congress has just reached a $700,000,000,000.00 bailout deal to rescue the American banking/credit system. But why today? Why not at least work on the issue over the weekend? After all, this is the most crucial financial issue since The Great Depression and it seems that it would bear a bit more scrutiny. Actually, there are three reasons why the deal was done so quickly.

First, tomorrow is Friday, and congressmen don't like to work on Fridays. (The following address contains a pdf file which is slow to download so I've failed to put in a link. But if you want, take a look and be prepared to be absolutely furious... http://democraticleader.house.gov/docUploads/2008-CALENDAR.pdf)
The big presidential debate is scheduled for Friday. The pols simply cannot afford to ruin the ratings - especially in an election year.
With approval ratings for both the president and congress hovering around a mind-numbingly low 15%, the stuffed shirts had to look proactive. (My God, I could put on a Mickey Mouse hat and skip down the street and get a higher approval rating from my neighbors!)

That my friends is why politicians managed to offer up that prestidigitation that will make or break the American (and global) economy today. And what of Medicare/Medicaid, and Social Security? Silly me...

There... That "coffee-table moment" being out of my system, let's move on to more sane stuff like birds.

Whoops! Almost forgot... The September '08 Photo Contest is almost at an end. You can look in our photo library to see the current entries.

Now, about that grackle above. Not a happy looking fellow is he? From what I can gather, the Common Grackle is expanding its territory from the East Coast towards the West Coast of the U.S. And while they're on the move, their numbers seem to be dropping. Surprised? Don't be. The BBC reports that the number of the more common backyard birds are dwindling at a rather shocking rate.

Hmmm. This does seem to be a dour day doesn't it? Maybe that grackle picture above just suits the moment...

I'll see you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. THIS JUST IN! Looks like the economic bailout ain't a done deal yet! Could it be that politicians are starting to fathom the concepts of individual and corporate fiscal responsibility??? Stay tuned!

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

eBirdseed.com bird cam