Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

This really is a full service blog.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The revolution will be supervised.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

People are complicated. Love is not.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Second rate reporter says what?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

In my day, never was longer.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

This blog will pay for itself.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / O Mighty Ibis!

O Mighty Ibis!

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These birds are as common as pigeons where I live. They work the neighborhood yards in small flocks, methodically crossing roads and getting the points of their beaks dirty stabbing at the lawns to flush out bugs.

They look goofy as hell when perched on lines. It’s like they’re always struggling to maintain their balance. I like that about them.

What are you up to this weekend?

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    MomSense

    Aww, so cool. The cardinals have arrived and it’s always so nice to look out and see a blaze of red at the bird feeder.

  3. 3.

    PigDog

    I will be headed to my periodic reminder of my mortality – a college reunion.

  4. 4.

    geg6

    Getting an oil change and going to a murder mystery dinner which is a fundraiser for my niece’s high school’s musical troupe. Then racing home to catch the rest of the Pens game.

    Also going to experiment with the anti-anxiety meds the vet prescribed so that Lovey will manage the drive from Pittsburgh to Bradenton without a total nervous breakdown. She said we have to play around with the dosage to get it right, so good thing I got it now, a couple of weeks before we leave.

  5. 5.

    Gozer

    Reading.

    Dr. Mrs. and I are gonna bike with a senior colleague and her hubby on Sat. Probably going for 30 miles or so with lunch in between. Got a special seat for my busted pelvis too (Comfy).

  6. 6.

    feebog

    Today is my wife’s birthday, which we shares with a good friend of ours. Since this is his 70th his family is throwing a party. So we are headed there tonight.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Eating all the fruit my eyes were big enough to buy at the farmer’s market. I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself.

  8. 8.

    mdblanche

    Popping popcorn.

    The Associated Press has learned that the special counsel running the U.S. investigation into possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia’s government has assumed oversight of an ongoing investigation involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

    The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller may also expand to look into the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

    The move to consolidate the matters indicates that Mueller is assuming a broad mandate in his new role.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    @geg6: You’ll be in Bradenton, FL? If so, you will see a ton of ibises! Lovey will probably bark witlessly at them, like my boxer dogs do. :)

  10. 10.

    danielx

    Heading to Harry Potter World in Orlando for daughter unit’s birthday, hopefully the last time I ever go to a Florida theme park – or any theme park, for that matter. Admission for three adults for two days is 800 fucking dollars, which I believe would buy a hell of a lot of drinks with little umbrellas in them. Given the option between doing this and spending the rest of my life at a Liberace concert, I’d have to sit down and think it over.

  11. 11.

    khead

    If it were 40 years ago, I’d be watching the “Shazam/Ibis Hour” tomorrow morning. Then I’d mooch a swim in the neighbor’s pool.

    This weekend I’m working because we went to Cape May yesterday. The weather was soooo nice it was worth trading a weekend day.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yes, the week of June 18-23. John’s daughter had his first grandchild the Tuesday before Mother’s Day (a girl, Caroline) and they live in Bradenton. We’re actually staying on Anna Maria Island. Found a nice pet friendly resort hotel, so both Lovey and Koda are going to the beach. Lovey has never seen the ocean and Koda hasn’t seen it since we shipped her in from California. I wonder if she’ll remember it.

  17. 17.

    Miss Bianca

    Rehearsing the town “Shakespeare in the Park” production (this year’s offering: “Romeo and Juliet”), and then going on a trail ride in the mountains on Sunday and playing with the new horses and hounds that just came in from Virginia – one of said horses possibly to be mine. Good times!

    ETA: Was invited to see “Wonder Woman” in the theater tomorrow night, but am likely to be too tired to want to stir out of the house. Ah, well, this is why God invented DVDs…

  18. 18.

    Yutsano

    Finishing up work for the week but I have physio after work. Then something quick on the way home then hopefully a whole lotta nothin’ this weekend.

    Except apartment hunting. I think I’d rather be Dolt45’s bronzer than do this.

    @ingrediorum: I want my Egyptian goddess back plz. Can we call them Daesh from now on?

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    I walked out of the building at work yesterday and found a peacock and peahen wandering around just outside of the front door. At first, I felt like yelling at them to go back to Arcadia to be with their own kind (LA area residents will understand). But then I thought, isn’t that kind of Trumpian? Also, what if they had been exiled from the flock after offending the Peacock King, maybe a Romeo and Juliet thing (they were both not quite fully grown) and shouldn’t we welcome refugees? So I left them alone.

    (did take some pictures though)

  24. 24.

    ruemara

    I am… filming an event. For ridic pay. Not in a good way, but it gives my intern some work experience. She’s at least getting paid. Then maybe workout, get pedi, see WW & meet some friends maybe, for Sunday. Plus write as much as I can inbetween those things.

    Listening to Psychocandy by the Jesus & Mary Chain. The incoming roommate has a knack for picking music I like. This shan’t end well, shall it?

  27. 27.

    Phylllis

    @geg6: My hometown! And Anna Maria is the best. If you want a taste of how the 1% lives, take a ride to St. Armand’s Circle in Sarasota.

  28. 28.

    efgoldman

    @MomSense:

    The cardinals have arrived

    Ours hang around all year; I’m not that far South of you.
    We’ve had as many as a half-dozen at a time, in the winter when natural food is scarce.

  29. 29.

    Mel

    @geg6: When I was a kid, some family friends ran a small motel on Anna Maria Island. We’d usually spend a week there every other summer.
    I remember the island being very, very beautiful.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    I think those are the birds that were hanging around us in Orlando waiting for scraps. Much cooler than the standard pigeons and seagulls we get out here.

  32. 32.

    Mary G

    The plumbers have my front yard torn up to hell and gone trying to replace the incoming water pipe that broke. The tree is fighting back hard. Looks like we may not have any water for the weekend.

  33. 33.

    japa21

    @zhena gogolia: Sounds like she may actually have done a decent job of interviewing him. Appears he got pissed off, although I don’t know if he mentioned any bleeding from her ears or whatever.

  34. 34.

    geg6

    @Phylllis:
    @Mel:

    The boyfriend (Caroline’s dad) is a charter fishing boat captain, so that should be at least one nice day. I don’t care about fishing, but I love being out on a boat.

  36. 36.

    George Spiggott

    @mdblanche:

    From that same article:

    1:35 p.m.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham says U.S. intelligence agencies tell him that a conversation he had with a foreign individual was picked up in surveillance and that an unknown U.S. official or officials asked to know his identity as a party in the conversation.

    Graham says he doesn’t know if intelligence agencies actually revealed his name. But he’s sent a letter to the FBI, CIA and the National Security Agency seeking information on any incidental collection of his communications with foreign targets.

    Graham says he wants to know if Obama administration officials sought the unmasking of Americans in foreign intelligence reports for political reasons.

    Graham, R-S.C., spoke Friday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom.”

    Oh, please someone fetch the smelling salts for poor dear Lindsey!

  37. 37.

    efgoldman

    Mostly chilling this weekend; weekly video call with granddaughter on Sunday. Finishing up seven hours of band concert notes for the Boston Festival of Bands next Saturday (6/10) at Faneuil Hall in Boston, about which more early next week.

  38. 38.

    Mnemosyne

    I have a writer’s retreat tomorrow with two workshops and lunch. On Sunday, I take G out to our local tiki steakhouse for prime rib and mai tais in honor of his birthday. My turn comes the following weekend, when we go to see the Fathom Events/TCM screening of Some Like It Hot and go out to dinner afterwards.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    @George Spiggott:

    Graham says he wants to know if Obama administration officials sought the unmasking of Americans in foreign intelligence reports for political reasons.

    Did Graham forget who won in November? If he’s totally innocent, why would this matter even if that had been the case?

  42. 42.

    Felonius Monk

    @Betty Cracker:

    Lazy Lobster on Longboat Key.

    My youngest daughter and her husband have a timeshare on Longboat Key. They vacation there every December.

    We are doing gardening this weekend unless it rains. Lots (well, more than a couple) of perennials to get in.

  43. 43.

    dmsilev

    Now I’m sitting in a room listening to someone tamale about ‘gravitational cat states’. It’s actually about the quantum mechanics of black holes, but I’m sure the cat people here would have lots of alternative definitions.

  44. 44.

    Phylllis

    @geg6: Be sure to get to The Sandbar for dinner on the north end of the beach. It’s been there forever. The view at sunset is breathtaking.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    @geg6:

    It’s one of my all-time favorites, and they’re doing two shows — you should be able to Google up the Fathom Events website and see if it’s in a multiplex near you.

  46. 46.

    Mel

    @geg6: Being out on a boat on that gorgeous water sounds perfect. Book in hand, sunshine, peace, and relaxation!

  47. 47.

    No One You Know

    Spousal NOYK and I will be Marching for Truth tomorrow, and practicing Not Being Seen anywhere near the TRUMP FREE SPEECH rally. Although we do agree that something certainly has trumped free speech. Probably Money.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mnemosyne: also, wasn’t the “unmasking” in December? I wonder how much his and McCain’s delusional vindictiveness toward Susan Rice will cost her in legal fees.

  49. 49.

    Mnemosyne

    @dmsilev:

    I have definitely seen my cats defy the laws of gravity and physics, especially when jumping away from something that startled them.

  50. 50.

    Tenar Arha

    I’ll probably try to make it to the March for Truth in Boston and go see Wonder Woman again because it was awesome and I am also a big nerd.

  51. 51.

    cope

    Last Wednesday was my final day of being a high school teacher and soccer coach for 28 years. That follows 10 years of leasing my soul (as Nigella Lawson once said, “…if I had a soul”) to the oil and gas industry so I’m kinda wondering what I’m going to do beyond helping mrs. cope recoup from getting her new liver. We shall see.

    I took my new camera to Sanibel last weekend so I may work on cleaning up a couple of my recent bird efforts.

  53. 53.

    Kenneth Kohl

    It’s like they’re always struggling to maintain their balance.

    As usual, my Lovely Bride and I will struggle to maintain our balance.

    Also, too; we were just informed that we are to be grandparents!

  54. 54.

    Mel

    @Phylllis: Recommendation for The Sandbar seconded! Cheese Grits, Blistered Heirloom Tomatoes, local seafood, and oh! the view.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:
    @geg6:
    @Mnemosyne:

    We’re finally having the much-postponed memorial service for my late cousin on Sunday the 11th, but I’m heading to the cinema on Wednesday 14th to see SLIH. Great movie, and I can’t wait to see it again, especially on the big screen!

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    wrt to the first item, is Dale just snarking? or has the Rough Beast for reasons passing understanding said something about Protestantism? Is he perhaps weighing in Northern Ireland in 1997? other than that, good mini-thread that should be hurled at trump from every reporters twitter account like a harpoon

    Daniel Dale‏Verified account @ ddale8
    I’d pay so much to just ask Trump fact questions. What is a Protestant? What is Medicaid? What are the tax rates? Who borders Israel?
    He is constantly interviewed in a pre-amble-y way that lets him opine on things without revealing he knows nothing about them. It’s amazing
    Never, or almost, in his two years in politics has he been asked to demonstrate cursory knowledge of things he’s making giant decisions on.

  59. 59.

    lamh36

    Even if I wasn’t gonna see the film tomorrow, this review from my fav fashion/pop culture blog, TLo would have made want to see the film!

    ‘Wonder Woman’ Succeeds By Being More Than Anyone Could Have Expected | Tom Lorenzo

    And apparently, the film cast real-life “Amazons” to play the various Amazon women in the film.

    “From an Olympic bobsledder and a heptathlete to a police officer and the former Miss Greece, these real-life Amazons hailed from around the world and helped populate Diana’s home of Themyscira. Some of the Amazons, like Kroes, auditioned, while the filmmakers plucked others from the athletic world — “

    Pretty darn cool!

    Wonder Woman: How real-life athletes united to populate the film’s badass Amazon nation

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Reposted from downstairs, since I didn’t get an answer there. Betty C, if you’re still around, this might be something on which you could provide guidance:

    SiubhanDuinne
    June 2, 2017 at 5:12 pm
    Quick, unrelated question for the hive mind of BJ: I need a simple, cheap (free) iCrap app that will allow me to block out or scribble over text so I can post a photo or screenshot without violating privacy. Any suggestions? (I see this kind of thing all the time, I just don’t know what it’s called or what to look for in the Apple Store.)

    Thanks!

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kenneth Kohl:

    we were just informed that we are to be grandparents!

    Oh, happy news! Congratulations to you and Mrs. K and the parents-to-be!

  63. 63.

    No One You Know

    Back to birds: I was going through farmland this morning and saw a wonder: Golden Eagle being harassed by just one crow. It’s very unusual to see these eagles this far west. This one was trying to get back up into the warm air to soar, and the crow wasn’t having it. Neither one made a sound. The crow flapped up and spun down toward the eagle’s wings or head, and the eagle kept going wider, to gain a fraction of a second’s worth of time for altitude.

    No other birds in sight.

    I couldn’t even process the thought of taking pictures. It was a silent, fierce, desperate struggle, and wholly turned me into a rapt spectator.

  64. 64.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @dmsilev: I ran into one while walk my dog in Altadena. Had no idea we had them here. A bit scary cause those fuckers are big and not real friendly. Guess it’s better than a coyote or bear encounter though.

  65. 65.

    p.a.

    Just finished testing out my new Duckett rod, got about a dozen schoolie stripers, good tryout for my Smallie trip in a week. Tomorrow gotta do yardwork; my neighbors have put their house on the market. He’s a good shit so I’ll be goodneighborguy and keep my place nice: urban hellhole lots so it matters. Cannons/Outlaws game tomorrow night, Bruno grads on both squads so mixed loyalties. Sunday a friend’s birthday party at that chain with fondue and soups (I have a mental block on the name). Her bday was March but she’s in a chair (cerebral palsey) so she wanted to wait for good weather (mobility) to celebrate. Unfortunately she and the woman planning it know today is my birthday, and I expressly said it’s LeeAnn’s celebration leave me the F out of it, but I have a bad feeling about it.

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cope:

    (as Nigella Lawson once said, “…if I had a soul”)

    That was when she was cooking soul food, yes?

  67. 67.

    Phylllis

    @geg6: If you head down Manatee Ave into town, stop at the Shake Pit for a burger, crinkle cut fries & the best milkshake ever. Now I’m getting kinda sorta homesick, for the food & beaches mostly. Wonder if I can convince the hubby to do a week down there next summer.

  71. 71.

    Redshift

    I’m going to downtown DC for the March for Truth tomorrow. I actually spent the past hour or so at work putting together a sign – we have an 11×17 printer there, and I am sadly lacking in any ability to print or draw freehand.

    I found a graphics file of the companion to the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster, which read “Freedom is in Peril, Defend it with All Your Might,” and I managed to change the colors substitute an American flag for the crown. It looks great! Now I just have to mount it on some poster board or foam core.

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Whatever FPs are around, please see if you can find out what happened to my THREE, count ’em, responses to No One You Know at 63. Every one has disappeared into the vasty deep.

  75. 75.

    MattF

    Old friend called, she’s in town and going to her granddaughter’s high school graduation– so I’m invited to the afterparty on Saturday. Will have fun.

  78. 78.

    Rob

    In the DC area even a single White Ibis is a small sensation among birders. It’s nice to have them so common and acclimated that they are in one’s yard.

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Redshift:

    Thanks! Just downloaded Aviary but haven’t tried it yet. Yes, “photo blur” sounds like what I want :-)

  80. 80.

    Redshift

    I’m also trying to decide whether to go to DC early. Apparently Il Douche is going to have some kind of celebration of his fuck you to the world at the White House tomorrow morning, and people are gathering nearby at 9:30 to do our best to ruin it.

  85. 85.

    Keith P.

    What are you up to this weekend?

    Inlaying is on my plate. Got some ebony, pink ivory (wood), mammoth ivory (actual ivory), snakewood…if it’s rare and/or beautiful, I’m probably using it.

  86. 86.

    HinTN

    What are you up to this weekend?

    Looking goofy as hell trying to maintain my balance.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    Lovely ibis.

    Happy Saturday! And thanks for all the good recommendations in this thread.

    @p.a.: Happy Birthday!

  92. 92.

    Ang

    I don’t miss living in Florida, but I do miss the ibises there. They were all over the golf course we lived on when I was a kid.

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