Bird Watching

You may not have noticed in all the news about the conservative victory in the recently-concluded British elections that another election of consequence was also held in Britain at the same time. Yes, Dear Readers, along with the selection of a ruling party, British subjects also flocked (sorry) to the polls to vote for a new National Bird to replace the Robin*. Possible candidates included the Barn Owl, the Puffin, the Wren, the Red Kite, and the Blue Tit**.

This is not a trivial issue. National symbols - particularly birds and animals - play an important role in defining the character of a nation. Russia has the Bear and China the Dragon, for example. America's national bird is, of course, the Bald Eagle - known for its majestic stature, stately soaring, and stern gaze.

Benjamin Franklin favored the wild turkey as a more suitable symbol, but - perhaps fortunately - he lost out in the voting. Today, the Wild Turkey is less often invoked as a symbol than imbibed as a way of minimizing the pain of watching the ludicrous antics of our elected reprehensives. If we were going to select a replacement for the bald eagle as the national bird, we might as well select the bird most often seen in current social and political discourse  ...

There are other possible replacements for the national bird, should we choose to go down that path. We might nominate the Common Loon, the Booby, or the Nuthatch in honor of Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, and some of the other less-desirable GOP presidential hopefuls ... all of whom are clearly for the birds. From the GOP perspective, I'm sure that there are those who might select the Bat in honor of Hillary Clinton or the Coot for Bernie Sanders. And in honor of anti-vaccination zealots, religious bigots, and those who reject proven science on issues, we could perhaps go with the ostrich ...

What are your suggestions? Should we replace the Bald Eagle as the national bird? If so, with what? And what might be an appropriate national animal? Leave a comment and let the rest of us know what you think.

I think you'll have a good day ... after all, a little bird told me.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* Why the Robin when they could have had the Batman?

** Please, no jokes about witches' bosoms and brass bras.