Circus of the Spineless

The first edition of Circus of the Spineless is up today at Milkriverblog. This is a new carnival started by Tony G. for blogging about invertebrates. If future issues follow the first one's precedent this should be quite a popular carnival: the first edition lists over fifty posts.

Endangered Species Act Gutted

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that weaken the Endangered Species Act substantially. Among other things, it would require payments by the federal government when endangered species stop intended development. It also would place political appointees instead of scientists in charge of determining when a species is endangered. I expect that both of these measures will basically stop further species from being listed as endangered or threatened. Given what happened with the sage grouse earlier this year, I think we know what to expect from political appointees. The bill now goes to the Senate where the committee overseeing the legislation is chaired by Lincoln Chafee (R-RI). Chafee has a reputation as a liberal, but when push comes to shove he usually gets shoved, so I am not too hopeful about what the results will be.

I and the Bird

The seventh I and the Bird is now up at Bird TLC.

Autumn

Today was the autumnal equinox, even if it did not feel like fall in Washington, D.C. We have been in the midst of a prolonged heat and dry spell. Really we have not had all that much rain since early to mid August, when I complained several times on my blog of being caught in the rain. Since that time, every predicted chance of rain has fizzled, with most of the storms passing either to our north or to our south. Recently a heavy thunderstorm hit Fairfax County, but just missed the district. (Our dry spell just was classified as a drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor.)

The temperatures have not changed much either. While we are no longer cracking ninety, we are still getting into the mid and upper eighties regularly. Even last weekend, which was predicted to have highs in the seventies, reached the mid eighties on both Saturday and Sunday. The expected cold front never really brought much relief.

At least the birds have begun moving through in good numbers, as attested by our good results last weekend, and other good reports in the area. Yet we still have not had the strong cold fronts that one typically associates with large movements of migrants. Perhaps that is just as well since strong tropical cyclones have been churning across typical migration paths to our south.

Katrina and the Environment

Speaking of tropical cyclones, I still have not made the post on Katrina and the environment that I had hoped to make. That may not ever get finished. However, another blogger has been on the case. Take a look at the New Orleans Environment Watch for the latest news on the environmental situation in New Orleans (via Daily Kos).

Twenty-third Post Meme

Via Pharyngula and Thomasburg Walks:

Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

Well, my twenty-third post has only two sentences in it, so I will cheat a bit and post from my twenty-fourth post, Evening Mall Birds:

I watched a few parents [birds] feeding their young in the garden behind the Smithsonian Castle.