Odds & Ends: Yellow Warbler Video: Obama Caving on Budget?; Deferred Property Tax Law Changes; Open Season on WY Wolves?; & etc.

Hey, It's Summer, and I've Been Absent! Just can't waste it in front of a computer.

Here are a few of the most recent items that might be of interest. [Edited 7/8-9/11]

In This Edition:

- Short Video of Yellow Warbler Singing in Baker County

- President Obama, if you cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, don't ask for my help in 2012

- Cost Of Wars In Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan To Reach $3.7 Trillion

- Changes in Property Tax Deferral Program in Oregon

- Challenges for Wolves
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Short Video of Yellow Warbler Singing in Baker County

This male Yellow Warbler made it's home in the brushy riparian habitat that is so common along the Powder River Canyon and other streams and irrigation ditches in Baker County, Oregon. They also inhabit residential areas near running water with trees and shrubs in Baker City. Although they are common breeding summer residents, and are easily found if you know their song or look hard enough, they are not often seen by casual observers.


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Rumors abound that President Obama will do what he's famous for in negotiations with the Republican Hard Hearts and corporate sycophants (Oh, that's right, he's a sycophant to Wall Street and corporations too!)--cave in and sell out his supporters and the poor.

Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (BoldProgressives.org) sent out this alert today, concerning a potential repeat sell out, so I thought it would be worth passing along, including my own message to President Hope & Change.

President Obama, if you cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, don't ask for my help in 2012

URGENT: The New York Times reports that President Obama is offering Republicans "substantial spending cuts, including in such social programs as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security -- programs that had been off the table."

Will you join 100,000 others who have signed this urgent pledge, which we'll deliver to the Obama campaign?

‪"President Obama: If you cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits for me, my family, or families like mine, don't ask for a penny of my money or an hour of my time in 2012. I'm going to focus on electing bold progressive candidates ‬who will fight to protect our Democratic legacy." Click to add your name.

The Washington Post reports that "congressional Democrats were alarmed by the president’s proposal." 

Frankly, it's outrageous. 

President Obama is on the verge of doing what George W. Bush couldn't do with a Republican Congress: Put Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits on the chopping block.

We've done the polling in swing states -- by overwhelming margins, voters oppose these cuts. There's no need for a bad "deal." If we fight, voters are on our side.

But if President Obama caves on these core principles, he will be harming all Democrats in 2012 -- and millions of Americans will suffer. It's just wrong.

Tell the president that if he doesn't fight for Americans now, our money and time will be used fighting for others in 2012. Click here.

The 100,000 who already signed gave over $8.4 million and 1.4 million volunteer hours to the president in 2008. The White House is absolutely watching the progress of this pledge -- and we'll deliver it to the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago soon. 

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

-- Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Neil Sroka, Michael Snook, and the PCCC team.

P.S. We'll be on MSNBC's Ed Show tonight around 10:40pm EST discussing this.

My comment:

President Obama,

You've allowed no cost of living adjustments for SS recipients for two years running. The thing is, my cost of living for what I need, and the cost of living for other low income seniors--food, gas [& heating oil], property taxes, insurance, and etc., has risen sharply. Congress, and your administration has hurt SS recipients enough. NO MORE! END THE WARS and spend our money to reinvest in America and help the poor you've helped to create.

Quit serving the corporations and Wall Street and start serving the people who elected you. Leave Social Security, Medicare, and medicaid alone!

Christopher Christie

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Bernie Sanders' View:

Published on Saturday, July 9, 2011 by The Hill (Washington, DC)
Liberal Senators Warn Obama Over Social Security Cuts in Any Debt Deal
Bernie Sanders promises to filibuster if White House proposes 'piece of crap'

by Erik Wasson

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) warned Friday that President Obama faces turmoil in the Senate and in his reelection campaign if he includes Social Security cuts in any debt-ceiling deal.

Bernie Sanders
The senators said the White House has not communicated effectively to Senate Democrats and they and their rank-and-file colleagues are being frozen out of the process.

“I have talked to some of my colleagues, including some that you might not expect, who say if [White House officials] bring to the Senate a piece of crap that comes down heavy on working families and children and the elderly and they expect me to matter-of-factly vote for it, they'll have another thing coming,” Sanders said. He added that he would filibuster such a deal.

See Article for rest.
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Another View About What Obama's Up To:

Is Obama On The Brink Of Cutting Social Security? The Dangerous Game Over the Debt Ceiling.
By Joshua Holland

. . . .
[The] internal struggle between the GOP establishment and its Tea Party-infused base is only one of the divides that would have to be bridged in order to come to a last-minute agreement. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, doesn't have enough votes within his own caucus to move any debt limit deal that would have a chance of passing the Democratically controlled Senate – which is debating its own, more balanced plan – and gain the president's signature. He needs some Democrats. But the Dems, having offered most of what the GOP wants only to see them walk away from the table, refuse to accept any deal with a lot of painful cuts but zero new revenues.

Rep Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, told TPM that "without overwhelming support from our caucus I think it will be a hard deal to pass," and 24 house progressives sent a letter to the White House on Thursday demanding revenue increases and insisting that “no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security” be included in a debt deal.

If the White House has come to see a deal to raise the debt limit as unlikely, then this leak is about positioning itself politically for the fall-out. The consequences of a default aren't precisely known, but it would certainly be disastrous for the recovery, and this move would allow the Democrats to say that they put everything on the table, including the social safety net programs they cherish most, but the GOP refused to budge if it entailed closing a few loopholes for the wealthy. . . . .

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This particular impasse seems like a win-win for Tea Party and other Republican conservatives, given their seeming hatred for funding a government that actually has attempted, through many popular programs, to "promote the general welfare," as envisioned in the Preamble to the Constitution. Perhaps we'll see them change their tune if corporate and business welfare, along with other government services they've taken for granted, cease for them too during a prolonged shutdown. In the longer term, it seems to me that the nightmare that would follow any prolonged shutdown will certainly clarify the issue for most of the electorate and hopefully end the mean-spirited Tea Party conservative nonsense once and for all.
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Cost Of Wars In Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan To Reach $3.7 Trillion

Costs of War: 225,000 Lives and up to US$4 Trillion from Watson Institute on Vimeo.

WASHINGTON -- The United States will have spent a total of $3.7 trillion on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, costing 225,000 lives and creating 7.8 million refugees, by the time the conflicts end, according to a report released on Wednesday by Brown University.
The report, written by more than 20 economists, political scientists, lawyers, anthropologists and humanitarian personnel for Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies, gives staggering estimates for the cost of military action in those three countries. Nearly ten years since U.S. troops first entered Afghanistan, the report estimates the final cost of all three conflicts will be between $3.7 trillion and $4.4 trillion -- far higher than the $1 trillion price tag referenced by President Barack Obama earlier this year. The report estimates the U.S. government has already spent between $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion and will spend at least a trillion more over the next fifty years.

Speaking of Budgets, there was good article in yesterday's Herald on "Property tax deferral changes" (No link! Instead, you get "Saddle up, lil' cowboy (and big sister)" about the Hines Rodeo--very helpful.). The state, in a very un-Christian move, has started charging compound interest on deferred taxes (that's the world we now live in), and made some other changes that were possibly necessary, given the generosity of the previous program. Interestingly, the state website doesn't show the effect on recipients of compound interest, because they only show the old table on the effect of the previous law which allowed simple interest.

Here are some links that talk about the changes, perhaps the most important being that current recipients have only until July 25th of this month to reapply for the program and will have to recertify/apply every two years. Of course, many of the people who need this program probably do not have an internet connection.

2011 changes to the Property Tax Deferral Program

Re-certification form

June 2011 letter to participants and new applicants
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Challenges for Wolves



Fish & Wildlife Service Photo (above)

Shot on Sight? Back to the Future.

From Defenders of Wildlife:

Just hours ago, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and new Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe announced details of Wyoming's wolf management plan that would allow wolves to be shot on sight across most of the state.

Pups at their dens, pregnant females, parents bringing food back to the pups – they could all be killed for any reason across most of the state during most of the year. This is not only unethical, it undermines the continued recovery of the Northern Rockies grey wolf.

Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service that you’re outraged by their capitulation to anti-wolf extremists in Wyoming. Call the Service toll-free at:

1-800-344-WILD (9453)

And deliver this simple message:

“My name is [Your Name] and I’m calling from [Your Town], [Your State] to let Director Dan Ashe know that I’m outraged by the Fish and Wildlife Service’s support for Wyoming’s wolf management plan. This proposal is unscientific and unconscionable and would allow wolves to be shot on sight in most areas of the state outside Yellowstone National Park.”

Please let us know that you called. We’ll be monitoring public response closely and will report out on your calls Friday on the Defenders blog.

If you are unable to get through, please leave a message or try again in the morning.

We knew it would be bad when Congress approved a plan to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections in the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone, but this is just awful.

If approved, Wyoming’s plan would…

Allow wolves to be shot on site throughout most of Wyoming, during most of the year, including any of the Yellowstone wolves that happen to roam beyond the park’s borders; and Sabotage wolf migration from Wyoming to Colorado, Utah and other areas where wolves have historically made their homes.
Director Ashe was just confirmed as the nation’s top wildlife steward, and we need to let him know right now that Wyoming’s wolf plan is unacceptable. There will be a formal comment period on the proposed deal with the state, so it’s important that conservationists like you and me make our voices heard in these vital hours following this awful announcement.

Please call now.

For the Wild Ones,

Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife


P.S. Defenders of Wildlife isn’t taking this announcement lightly. We will continue to push for sound, science-based management of wolves in Wyoming and elsewhere. Please watch your email tomorrow for details on our rapid response plan and other ways you can help.

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Rob Klavins of Oreon Wild notes: "As many of you already know, amongst the many anti-environmental riders that have been attached to the appropriations bill is a measure that would pre-emptively insulate the rule from any legal review or challenge."

[Eliminating legal review or any sort of citizen challenge, of course, is one of the the usual commonplace tyrannies coming from the business captured Congress of our day.--Chris]

Wally Sykes of North East Oregon Ecosystems adds: "I called USFWS at 1-800-344-WILD (9453) and held for at least a half hour
to get through. But it was worth it, the operator said there were 100 more calls waiting and they were deluged.
There is no basis for this Wyoming plan other than political blackmail."
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Letters concerning the recent reestablishment of the Teanaway wolf pack in the Central Cascade region of Washington.
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Spring Bird Migration in Baker County, Part 1

Lazuli Bunting Male, singing in breeding habitat east of Sparta, Baker County, June, 2008.

Writing about spring migration in Baker County is something that can become a bit formidable, due to time and the numbers of birds available. Instead of presenting information on all the migrants I have photos of, which are at least several, the task has been broken down into segments.

As I'm beginning this project a little past the peak, perhaps, of the migration, it seems that writing about a few birds that are passing through right now might be most useful to anyone who is interested.

If you are interested, and would like to attract birds to your home, there are at least two factors to consider. Food and habitat.

Perhaps the most important is readily available food for birds that are currently on an energy intensive migration from many miles away, and who in many cases will have many miles to go. This is not likely a high priority item in the budgets of many Baker County residents, but if you want to see many migrating and other interesting birds at your home, it is essential, because they will not linger unless food is available. At this time of year, an important and sought after energy source is "black oil" sunflower seed, because it is rich in fat, carbohydrate, and protein, which will help many birds replenish depleted energy supplies and provide other needed nutrients after an exhausting trip. They also will readily eat the millet-sunflower mix such as that provided in the "Audubon Park" mix sold by Bi-Mart and the millet mixes sold by D&B and other and other retailers. The Bobolink in La Grande is an excellent source of all types of feed, feeders, bird boxes, and expert birding advice. This shop is at 1102 Washington Avenue, La Grande, OR 97850-2534, Phone: (541) 963-2888. Another expert birding friend of mine here in Baker County, Jim Lawrence, goes there for good value, and the owner, Trent, as an expert birder, can answer questions that the other retailers can't. Black oil sunflower alone is available from Bobolink, D&B, as well as Bi-Mart and some feed stores. For goldfinches (AKA "wild canaries" around the West) and pine siskins, I often will put out one or more specialized "thistle" or "nyger" seed feeders, the two most common of which are nylon socks and normal looking feeders with a small opening that the narrow bills of the two birds are adapted to.

If there is food available, birds will stay long enough for you to get a good look at them. I put feeders in both the front and back yards. As I spend an inordinate amount of the time at the computer, checking e-mail, processing photos, and sometimes writing, I have a flat, open feeder stationed just in front of the window by my computer desk, which in this case, also doubles as a dining room table. Also, out front in the tree beyond that, are other feeders. Right now, I have three black-headed grosbeaks squabbling as they seek out sunflower seed in my window feeder. An hour ago, there were six of them on the feeders I can see out the window.

In the back yard, I hang a seed feeder of some sort, along with hummingbird feeders. Hummingbird feeders can double as oriole feeders, especially if you can find the feeders with bee guards that fit over a tube. When you remove the bee guard, the orioles can easily access the sugar water that they will utilize as if it were wild flower nectar that they cherish. Additionally, and importantly, I also throw out millet-sunflower mix onto the walkways and grass in both back and front.

The persistent intrusions of the introduced fox squirrels are a real challenge, and they are ingenious at finding ways to get to the feed, but some feeders are designed to foil them, and hanging a feeder on a thin long wire also helps, as will well designed caging of the feeders. Good luck out-foxing the fox squirrel!

The second, more problematic, but no less important item you can provide is habitat. A mix of old growth trees which may provide both insects and seeds, like conifers, birch, and, god forbid, the ubiquitous and messy elms, will help bring in many migrants like warblers, tanagers, and lazuli buntings. Others, like towhees, some finches, and sparrows, like the cover provided by brushy borders around grassy open areas. Many of the commonly used ornamental shrubs will do, but it is best to chose those with edible berries, or hummingbird-attracting flowers (Forsythia and Japanese quince come to mind).

While not really a neo-tropical migrant (basically a bird that travels far south to warmer and friendlier climate in winter), the migratory, sleek, and beautiful cedar waxwings will also visit your home one or more times a year if you plant the shrubby, small-leaved ornamental junipers that you can find planted at 11th and Westview here in Baker City (see photo below). I have them in my yard, and the waxwings have visited many times since the New Year. (These plants require less water than most, but flourish in good sunshine for a decent part of the day. Waxwings also prefer Oregon Grape, an easily maintained native, that has berries in the fall and winter, as well as showy clusters of yellow flowers in the spring. Unfortunately, the introduced pest bird, European starling, will often strip the shrubs of berries before the waxwings arrive.

Now onto a few of the migrant birds that are in Baker City right now.

Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana (A. Wilson, 1811) :

Family: Thraupidae, -- Tanagers
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves

Western Tanager, Male, Monument Rock Wilderness,
Baker County, OR, May 19, 2008

I've had three male tanagers here yesterday and the day prior. They are among our most beautiful and colorful birds and, in my exerience, only stop here in May, on their way to local and more northern coniferous forests, although they also frequent deciduous forests. Previously, it was thought to be related to the next group we will look at, the Cardinals and relatives, but further research has muddied the waters as to their close relations. Locally, they inhabit ponderosa forest, especially older trees, and also riparian cottonwood groves. Like many birds, they are secretive and once sighted will disappear into dense foliage. The females are more subdued, and lack the red-orange colorationon the head. They primarily feed on fruit and insects and their song is easily confused with that of the Amerian robin (at least by me).

Lazuli Bunting, Passerina amoena (Say, 1823), :

Family: Cardinalidae, -- Cardinal-Grosbeaks, Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Saltators
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves

Lazuli Bunting, Photo taken through screen door window on cloudy day, Baker City, May 11, 2010

This bunting, related to the well known red northern cardinal, is also among our most gorgeous migratory song birds. I've never encountered so many as in this year, from my yard during the last two weeks, on down to Richland. They inhabit riparian areas adjacent to more arid scrub, like sagebrush, in the higher portions of the interior western U. S. The males, with their bright blue heads and buff to cinnamon breasts are unmistakable, but the females, once again more drab, with blue tails and less distinct wing-bars, are less often noticed. The males are very territorial and will quickly respond to recorded calls during breeding season. They primarily feed on seeds, for which their bill is adapted, but also feed on insects. They, like the next bird, to which they are related, like a sunflower-millet mix at the feeder.

Black-headed Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus (Swainson, 1827):

Family: Cardinalidae, -- Cardinal-Grosbeaks, Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Saltators
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves

Male Black-headed Grosbeak, Baker City, May 17, 2010.

The large bill of the colorful Black-headed Grosbeak is specialized for breaking open seeds and eating fruits, although, as the next photo will show, they also eat insects (normally during the breeding season). Like most birds of the Cardinal family, these grosbeaks are monogamous, and they have sharp. clear songs. They have flooded my feeders during the last few days, with, as noted above, as many as six males and females being visible out the front window Their preferred habitat is mature deciduous woodland, which is becoming scarcer by the day, as population growth, grazing, and generally poor habitat management puts increasing pressure on the regeneration of these woodlands. The photos below give examples of female Black-headed Grosbeaks.

Female Black-headed Grosbeak, after having caught an insect in the maple tree out front.

Female Black-headed Grosbeak, trying to figure out how to get into feeder with a squirrel guard (actually, a bit of a problem).

Bullock's Oriole, Icterus bullockii (Swainson, 1827)

Family: Icteridae, -- American Blackbirds, New World Blackbirds, Orioles
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves

Bullock's Oriole, 1st Year Male, Baker City Backyard, July 23, 2009

The western Bullock's oriole is closely related to the eastern Baltimore oriole, and will, occasionally, hybridize with it. The family includes the meadowlarks, blackbirds, and grackles, the latter which may become familiar to you in the ensuing decades, as climate change becomes more pronounced. Even though you will observe their many well constructed sock-like nests hanging from high cottonwoods or even in much lower willows in the riparian areas of Baker County during winter, most people rarely see them, even with their bright coloration. I find them to be highly secretive, vanishing into the foliage of nearby trees or shrubs of their usual habitat once they observe the human presence (who can blame them?). They eat primarily insects, although they do like nectar, as mentioned above. Winters are spent in Mexico and points south, but you can find large numbers of them in the lower Powder River canyon during summer. Last year, a pair nested in the neighborhood.

American Yellow Warbler, Dendroica petechia (Linnaeus, 1766)

Family: Parulidae, -- New World Warblers, Wood-Warblers
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves

Yellow Warbler, American Yellow Warbler, in cottonwood, Loenig Lane, Baker County, OR, June 9, 2009

In my experience, the yellow warbler is the most common of our local warblers. Perhaps I think that is so because their bright coloration and territorial nature makes them easy to spot. Anyway, I love them, and their presence assures me that things could be worse. They always come through Baker City in May, and I can find them in my old European weeping birch and the problematic old elm trees here at home. Once you find them in neighborhood trees or along the riparian corridors, you will soon enough remember their high-pitched song. They are primarily insect eaters (insectivorous) but may also partake of berries or nectar. In Baker County you can find them during the breeding season in riparian habitats of willow and cottonwood, including along irrigation ditches where these plants grow.

Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot, 1808

Family: Bombycillidae -- Waxwings
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves

Cedar Waxwing, 11th St. & Westview, Near Indiana Avenue, Baker City, Baker County, OR, January 2, 2010

Cedar Waxwings are another of my favorites, and perhaps the most "handsome" of our north east Oregon birds. No human artist could have come up with a more pleasing design. This year, they have blessed me numerous times, as opposed to earlier years, but perhaps I am just paying closer attention. A small flock was visiting my elms this week. Like solitaires and robins, they go to the bitter extremes in berry eating, favoring, among others, the berries of the ornamental junipers, that even the starlings won't often touch. They are a highly migratory species, searching high and low throughout the northwest for favored fruits during winter. They also will eat the buds of trees like maples, and some flowers and insects. "Sleek" is the word most commonly used to describe them, and I can't disagree. They most often breed in brush along streams and neglected fields. The scientists say that the red appendages on their secondary flight feathers are composed of waxy droplets, hence their common name. The much less common Bohemian waxwing also inhabits our area. The Bohemian waxwing looks a lot like the cedar waxwing, but its rufous under-tail coverts and larger size help identify it.

More on migratory birds in later editions I hope.
Cedar Waxwing

(Blog edited 5/19/10)