Vents

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis).Note the color in the vent region. This russet red can be more wide-spread on some examples of WBNs. The Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), on the other feather, is this color from the throat on down. So you would think these two species wouldn’t be hard to distinguish. The Red-breasted is smaller and has a bold white head-stripe. But in the dark of a conifer, the underbelly regions of these busy animals can sometimes be deceiving.

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Sunday is the Super Bowl. Pro football, corporate media, and mass consumption are not conducive to living a moral life in the normal course of things, and these are far from normal times. More and more fans have been turned off by the brutal consequences of this sports-concussion-industry, but this annual spectacle still brings in a huge number of viewers. And this year there’s a special resonance: the Patriots’ owner and starting quarterback are loud Trumpets. To watch them is to support them, and through them, him. How could there even be a question? (If memory serves, this team is also a cheating team, which is more than apropos.) Ten minutes of a ball in play over four hours of commercials is absurd enough already. There are so many others things to do! Live the resistance.