Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

No one could have predicted…

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / Grace of the Storks (Open Thread)

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  2. 2.

    Scout211

    Beautiful birds, BC. Thanks for that lovely video and the audio is also wonderful with all your noisy birds.  Nice.

  4. 4.

    Scout211

    We live rural about a mile from one of California’s many reservoirs. The area has so many large birds, water fowl and birds of prey. They sometimes hang out in our area, which is really special. We often have a solitary Great Blue Heron that slowly walks around our property and picks up rodents for dinner. That’s always fun to watch.  We currently have a pair of bald eagles that fly over our area and hunt around for food.  We assume there is a nest somewhere but so far we haven’t found it.

  5. 5.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Professor Bigfoot:

    Can we feed him to the storks?

    No, nevermind, they don’t deserve the indigestion.

    How about we feed him to the gators? I bet there’s some nearby where that video was taken. :-)

  14. 14.

    tam1MI

    I also find that species beautiful, scaley, vulture-like heads and all. Possibly I’m nuts.

    I think bats are cute.

    Different strokes.

  16. 16.

    prostratedragon

    In the ceaseless quest to get us to buy something new, MLB gear supplier ERA has come up this year with “overlap” caps, i.e. the familiar cap logos are superimposed on the team name or location spelled out. Caps for the two Texas teams have been withdrawn however, because of unfortunate interactions of the design plan with human languages.

    Bart Simpson illustrates my response. (And the caps are all plug-ugly to me.)

  18. 18.

    eclare

    I don’t see ballet in their movements, but I’m glad they’re here.

    Glad you’re here too, Betty Cracker.

  23. 23.

    scav

    @wil: Oh fuck off, you’d admittedly do anything for a teeshirt and pat yourself on the back for reaching that level of fiscal sophistication.

  27. 27.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Spent yet another morning in meetings to deal with the stuff that Trusk has broken. CDC, VA, private universities, and private contractors all getting fucked over. Yes, I have a complicated brief — but I’m a bit player.

    And now Bessent assures us that we are indeed heading into a recession. No pain, no gain is what I’m hearing. It would be great if the boneheaded Trump voters and the press ever got around to asking, “Please explain the “gain” part of that: what will it look like and when should we expect it?”

    So far, I haven’t heard ANYONE outside of Democrats asking these very simple, very obvious questions.

  30. 30.

    scav

    @wil: Oh sweetie, you’re right, you merely admired someone that could attain that level of fiscal competence at a music concert, you never presumed you’d have the acuity to manage it on your own.

  31. 31.

    lowtechcyclist

    @prostratedragon:

    The one for the Angels looks to me like ‘AnAels.’  Close enough to ‘Anals’ to make fun of anyone stupid enough to wear one, AFAIAC.

    In general, it just looks like they have too much going on in too small a space.  A few of them work anyway; most of them don’t, IMHO.

  32. 32.

    Josie

    I have noticed that a number of long legged water birds move gracefully. It has to do with the structure of their legs and feet, I guess.

  35. 35.

    Captain C

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    So far, I haven’t heard ANYONE outside of Democrats asking these very simple, very obvious questions.

    FTFNYT:  Why Recessions Are a Good Thing (subhead: And Why They’re Always Democrats’ Fault)

  36. 36.

    opiejeanne

    @prostratedragon: Good. That team has enough problems without that stupid hat, what with a Trumper owner (Arte Moreno) who won’t spend the money on pitching, hiring Ron Washington, and just wasting Mike Trout.

    Not to mention letting Ohtani get away.

  40. 40.

    frosty

    Wood storks are the closest looking thing to the dinosaurs that birds are descended from. IMHO.

  43. 43.

    Jackie

    @prostratedragon:

    MLB gear supplier ERA has come up this year with “overlap” caps, i.e. the familiar cap logos are superimposed on the team name or location spelled out.

    I agree: Ug-leee! The Mariners version turns MARINERS to MASERS – which at first glance looks like MASHERS.

  44. 44.

    wil

    @Chief Oshkosh: Anyone watching doesn’t need assurances that we are heading into a recession.  It’s totally obvious.  I just hope it hurts the Trumpers more than the rest of us.

  45. 45.

    prostratedragon

    @lowtechcyclist:  Stupid enough, or on an MLB team. One of the selling points is supposed to be that the teams really wear them with the day’s uniform at least sometime.

    Have to wonder if this company will have its contract with the leagues renewed. Last year they changed the uniform fabrics to something that players found much too clinging and revealing — something when you consider that athletes get used to being more on wide display than most of us.

  46. 46.

    WTFGhost

    Glenn Greenwald was a man I respected once. And, I must confess, he was instrumental in proving to me that you should never trust an attorney to be honest about their principles.

    crooksandliars.com/2025/03/filthy-waste-fox-news-viewers-attack-glenn

    “So I think we have to be careful to focus on the individual, not just sweeping generalizations about what we think Arabs are or Muslims are or protesters are,” he added. “Free speech, which the Trump movement has been saying they believe in so fervently, only really matters if you stand up for the rights of those who disagree with you, who express the views that you most hate.”

    Oh, WAAAAAAAAH, Glenn,. WAAAAAAAAHMBULANCE to Glenn Greenwald! WE DON’T HAVE FWEE SPEECH ANYMORE WITH TWUMPIE BEAW IN OFFICE!

    I hold Greenwald in somewhat… less respect, yes, less respect, today. My GOD, the man was so STUPID, he trusted TRUMP? What, did he also believe ELON MUSK? I bet he believed some real scum, like Glenn Greenw…whoops. Hehe. Too soon?

  50. 50.

    A Ghost to Most

    No storks here, but sandhill cranes move through here in spring on the way to the Sand Hills in Nebraska.

  52. 52.

    Belafon

    @Baud: It sounds like they were approved based on the computer image rather than actually making some. They seem to have forgotten that string doesn’t have a 50% transparency setting.

  53. 53.

    catclub

    @Suzanne: How can it be anti-Semitism when Chuck Schumer is Palestinian?

     

    Of course, both Jews and Palestinians are semitic peoples.

  55. 55.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WTFGhost:

    Also from that link:

    Following the interview, Greenwald was criticized by conservatives on social media.

    “Filthy waste of viewers’ time was anti-Trump advocate Howard Kurtz joining forces with fellow hater, the smirking Glenn Greenwald, to trash Trump as they celebrate their apparently mutual ‘martyred’ hero, Mahmoud Khalil,” one popular conservative wrote on X. “Kurtz’s gushing to Greenwald is suspiciously telling!”

    “Glenn Greenwald, I Heard You About Kahlil Mohammad This Morning,” right-wing commenter Ed Thoma opined. “And You Know What. As An American, I’m Tired of the Muslim Activists in my Country. If we can Deport Him for Causing Problems, Then Do it.”

    “Glenn Greenwald is really only an UN-Constitutional Lawyer!!!” Mark Ahlers argued.

    They didn’t address a single thing Greenwald actually said, which goes to show these people don’t give a damn about the Constitution or freedom of speech that they claim to love and revere. Where are those “constitutional conservatives” in Congress that waved those little pocket constitutions on the floor?

  57. 57.

    kindness

    I remember Glenn Greenwald beginning his slide to suckdom during Obama’s Admin.  Glenn became a bootlick to horrible Republicans.  Screw him.

  59. 59.

    p.a.

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They didn’t address a single thing Greenwald actually said, which goes to show these people don’t give a damn about the Constitution or freedom of speech that they claim to love and revere. Where are those “constitutional conservatives” in Congress that waved those little pocket constitutions on the floor?

     

     

    The fbook shitposters, admittedly not as facile at intellectual bullshit as “columnist” posters, are all basically: how dare the courts countermand the preznit; this is Murca!

    Having lots of fun with them.

  60. 60.

    WTFGhost

    @Belafon: Screw that. Trump should sell his books by the crate in front of the White House, just like he did for Elmo Elon.

    (I’m sorry – even if people are annoyed by Elmo, he’s a perfectly adequate, B+ Muppet, and deserves far, far, better than being used to overbill Elon, who deserves to be overbilled by Daffy Duck, AFTER he blows himself up (“I can only do the act once…”.”))

    Oh, wait, for Elon, it was for oversized Matchbox cars, including the “truck” that looks like a pregnant electric razor.

    Damn, I’m not being nearly as graceful as the storks in this thread.

  61. 61.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    We have a couple of wood storks that migrate thru Denver, literally.  They spend 1-2 days on the pond at City Park.  When in flight, they’re massive.

  62. 62.

    Belafon

    @WTFGhost: I was talkin about Schumer in this case, but Walz doing what he’s been doing to Republicans that aren’t hosting town halls.

  63. 63.

    Trivia Man

    Always be kind.

    Door knocked just now, canvasser for the supreme court election. He commented positively on my button that says Make America Kind Again. Good start.

    Asks if i know about the election april 1. ABDOLUTELY!

    Can i count on your support for brad schimmel? HELLO NO!
    Heh heh , i get that a lot. They flew me up from florida and i think they only send us to democrat areas. But i get paid for every door that gets answered.
    do you get paid for more than 1 person? Yes!

    So mrs trivia popped and repeated HELL NO.

    Then i directed him to the nearest culvers for cheese curds and custard.

    Always Be Kind.

  66. 66.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    Storks are wonderful and thanks for the video, Betty!

  67. 67.

    WTFGhost

    @Belafon: Right – I was thinking of what T should do for Schumer, and probably hit reply to the wrong comment. (Sorry :-) )

  68. 68.

    LeftCoastYankee

    @prostratedragon:

    3 teams in the AL West can’t figure out their hats and the A’s are squatting in Sacramento.

    In a sport as superstitious as baseball these should be good omens for Seattle.  But they are the Mariners….

  71. 71.

    kindness

    @MCat: Fruit bats are cute.  Insectavor bats I so like for their diet.  Cute though???  Eye of the beholder.

  73. 73.

    TBone

    Happy St. Peppermint Patty Day!

    May the blessing of light be on you—
    light without and light within.
    May the blessed sunlight shine on you
    and warm your heart
    till it glows like a great peat fire.

  74. 74.

    Hildebrand

    We’ve been watching the crows harvest sticks from the tree behind our flat for their nest.  Their process is fascinating and their success rate is very high.

    They do seem to kvetch a bit when they can’t snap a branch quickly enough – muted caws and other assorted crow mutterings.

  75. 75.

    Marc

    Storks are wonderful!  Here in the urban wilds of Oakland, we don’t get storks, but we do get Great Blue and Night Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, and my personal favorite giant weird birds, Brown and White Pelicans.  There’s also a pair of Great Horned Owls nesting in a neighbor’s tree.  Never actually seen them, but we sure do hear them.

  76. 76.

    WaterGirl

    @catclub: Pretty sure this was just started as mocking of FFOTUS who recently said that Schumer is not Jewish anymore, he’s Palestinian.

  78. 78.

    wil

    @scav: Oh sweetie, I did no such thing.  I didn’t admire the Trumper.  I merely stated some facts that made some people upset.

  80. 80.

    tam1MI

    @Trivia Man: A perfectly fine city! I just asked because I went to high school and college in Stevens Point, where I was introduced to the World’s Largest Trivia Contest. I play in it every year to this day. 😊

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @Marc: Green Herons are neat birds. The Green Heron is like a compact version of a Great Blue Heron. They’re scarcer where I live (Piedmont Virginia) than the Great Blues.

    There was a Great Blue Heron rookery near the place I moved into four years ago. I used to watch them fly off in the mornings looking for good hunting spots. But the pond next to the rookery got overrun by hydrilla. I think that was because of all the cows pastured upstream. Anyway, all the frogs and fish died out and the herons relocated.

  83. 83.

    Belafon

    The stock market is really trying to recover from last week. The DOW is up over 400 points right now.

  84. 84.

    Trivia Man

    @tam1MI: I have been curious about that, have never participated. One of my hobbies is writing trivia questions for work events. And playing but i am solo now so dont go often. I have won small games as a team of 1 but teammates add to the fun

  87. 87.

    Jay

    @Geminid:

    Stanley Park has The Theatre in the Park, mostly known for it’s Shakespeare plays in the evening.

    In behind the last row of seating, is a grove of very old Alder trees, containing the Lower Rainland’s largest Great Blue Heron rookery.

    Late spring of course is a time when the rookery heckles the actors for hours.

  88. 88.

    Matt McIrvin

    @tam1MI: There are two main types of bats–the big fruit bats that have flying puppy faces, and the ones they used to call “microbats” which have bizarre squished-up gargoyle faces. I think most people only think the ones in class 1 are cute. But they could be cute in different ways.

  90. 90.

    JoyceH

    Hey, Trump’s latest? Biden’s pardons are invalid because they were signed with an auto pen. Well, how the heck does he know how those pardons were signed? But obviously this means that Trump is going to go after the people Biden pardoned. This time he’s got a DOJ crazy enough to try it. So that will tie up a lot of lawyers on both sides, cause his targets a lot of trouble and expense, and a few years from now a bunch of Trumpy lawyers can join Giuliani in the Disbarred Club.

    But the best part, and the proof that Trump no longer has even the brain power of a fruit fly? Uhhhh – did he really hand sign all 1500 J6 pardons?

  92. 92.

    trollhattan

    Grace of the Storks sounds like a GOT character that didn’t make it into the series.

    “I am Grace, Grace of Storks.”
    “You are very tall, Lady Grace.”
    “We Storks are known for being leggy. Should you ever travel to Stork Island, you will find yourself looking up a good deal.”

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JoyceH:

    But the best part, and the proof that Trump no longer has even the brain power of a fruit fly? Uhhhh – did he really hand sign all 1500 J6 pardons? 

    Don’t you mean to ask if Dump scribbled like a child on all 1500 J6 pardons?

  94. 94.

    bbleh

    Didn’t know at first whether “Grace of the Storks” was a thing or a person.

    Lady Grace of the Storks
    really knew from her forks.
    For salad or fish,
    she knew which for which dish,
    unlike those Musk-ovite dorks

    (ETA: ah, trollhattan too.)

  100. 100.

    Jay

    muskwatch.com/p/the-schools-trying-to-teach-americas

    The centerpiece of Astra Nova’s curriculum is a series of ethical conundrums presented in animated videos and shared online. The conundrums appear in Astra Nova’s classrooms, and prospective students must answer at least one to apply to the school. They have also been viewed millions of times through Astra Nova’s partnership with ClassDojo, an online educational platform that purports to be used in 95% of U.S. schools.

    Early versions of the conundrums pulled directly from issues related to Musk’s businesses. One asked: “How should [Tesla] approach building out a supercharger network in South America?”

    Dahn has said the conundrums are “open-ended questions” that provide enough ambiguity to create “space for critical disagreement and constructive disagreement” between “classmates and hopefully with their teacher.”

    One conundrum poses a scenario in which a candidate for elected office promises to serve as a puppet ruler on behalf of “AVONA,” an AI overlord trained on past human governments. “ANOVA will make every decision, no matter how small,” the narrator asks. “So, would you consider voting for this AI-powered politician? … Are you Team Yes or Team No?”

  102. 102.

    Betty Cracker

    No pics because I was trying to keep children and a large dog from pushing through a glass door for a closer look, but I saw my first Sandhill Crane hatchlings of the year yesterday. Two adorable little fluffballs!

  106. 106.

    catclub

    @mrmoshpotato:

    And the Astros are assholes who should be stripped of their world series title.

    Umm, they are probably all assholes.  But the Astros probably were assholes while beating your team.

  107. 107.

    catclub

    @Belafon: The DJIA  is not the worst indicator of  general market conditions, but its run of being surprisingly similar to the S&P500 index, which is much better, is probably at an end.

  109. 109.

    Belafon

    @Jay: I brought up with a conservative coworker about Charles Calvin Rogers’ page disappearing and the way it was done and his response was “Maybe it will be fixed soon.”

  110. 110.

    bbleh

    @trollhattan: oooh, and the comic relief can be a group of bumbling yet arrogant trolls from another part of the island called the Musks.  They keep showing up because they, um, have an emerald mine where they live (too obvious? go with diamonds or gold instead?) but they’re really obnoxious, do everything wrong, and generally make messes that other people have to clean up — sorta like Vizzini in the Princess Bride.

    Too much fun.

  117. 117.

    RevRick

    @Betty:

    @Elizabelle: Grace is such a beautiful concept. It connotes effortlessness and flow, and is perhaps intimately related to beauty itself. 

    When I think of grace, I often think of athletes and musicians, because they embody grace in their own unique ways. What’s hidden behind what we see are the countless hours of practice and training.

    But then I think of what grace means in a religious context. The Serenity Prayer opens with the plea, “God grant me grace…” That Prayer has concluded countless AA and other recovery groups, but the original context was a pastoral prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr in a church in the midst of WW2. Grace in that context was an acknowledging of and antidote to fear. Grace allows us to let go of the things that would hold us in bondage.

    It was William Stringfellow, I believe, who in response to a question at an interfaith conference, ” What was unique about Christianity?” replied, “Grace.” Everything else had overlaps.

    We miss the power and significance of the way the apostle Paul opened many of his letters: “Grace and peace.” It was in deliberate contrast to the official  ideology of the Roman Empire: “victory and peace.” Actually, the formula was the zealous practice of all obligations of piety led to victory in battle which led to Roman-style peace. Grace, in Paul’s use, meant something entirely anti-imperialistic, an iinversion of the whole social order: the nonviolence of grace led to true justice (in the substantive  sense) which led to true peace.

    Perhaps we can learn something from the grace of storks, who tread lightly on their environment, playing their role of keeping things in balance.

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