Guess Politics are NOT for the Birds

Dateline Rye Brook, NY: Baby birds die due to state and local politics

The other day, a couple of birds - my daugher thought starlings, but who knows - appeared to have fallen out of their ramshackle nest on the side of my house. Clearly, the bird parents had not cleared this construction with the Rye Town zoning board, and the nest was totally out of spec, leading to the instant demise of at least one bird and the injury of another. Let's call this bird "Poli".

Poli had something wrong. He wasn't moving much when found by my exasperated kids, but he was alive. My daughters and wife quickly found some internet-based info on what to do with this bird: put him in a cardboard box, add some cushioning, and cover it part-way. But the REAL question was: what to do next to help him recover?

The bottom line is that inaction and political finger pointing across state lines killed this bird.

A call to the Connecticut Audobon Society - ostensibly there to help creatures like this - would not accept a New York bird. Guess this is similar in policy to the attempt to ban New Yorkers from Connecticut beaches (that failed). Maybe the bird needed to buy a permit first?

A call to the Greenburgh Nature Center was also unsuccessful, but the reason was that it is apparently illegal to bring the bird to them. Illegal (say it again and note the ironic "Ill Eagle" pronunciation)??

After a day of political battles and an inability to understand bird chirps, the unfortunately fowl died. He is now buried, a symbol of the struggles of the common bird in a political society.