A note on birdsong.

I got home from work today about the usual time (around 2:45 pm). As usual, I went out on my deck after tuning into my Lee "Scratch" Perry radio on Pandora dot com, (If you're not into Pandora, check it out.) to have a beer and a smoke. In a fully lethargic state after a full day of bustin' my as for the school district since 6 am. And what to my wondering ears should appear, but a pine siskin (or maybe a chickadee; I didn't have my binocs handy) going off on a full 90 second riff. I mean a nonstop tweettweettweetcheepcheepwhistlecheeptweetwhistle... you get the idea.
Now, I'm no expert on orinthology, but I do know that most birds that live in my part of the world have a geneticly implanted song to sing. That song is part of what identifies them as a species. As a first class porch sitter and general layabout who has lived in the higher elevations (above 7,500 ft) of Colorado nearly all my adult life, I am quite familiar with the birds hereabouts and can name nearly all of them from their customary tune. Once in a while, though, you can hear one go off like this; just yammerin' away to beat the band. I remember sitting on my deck about five years ago watching a pair of house finches perched on the wire than ran electric out to our barn light. There was a male and a female; the female was making such a racket that the male would hop a few feet along the wire to escape the noise. (At least thats my take on his motive) The female hopped along right behind, going full bore. It was quite something to see.
Anyways, this bird I heard this afternoon got me to wondering... Is there maybe some primordial jazz gene that makes some individuals go way beyond the norm of acceptable expression? I have known dogs that go off on quite a vocal binge upon hearing a ceyote, siren, or Ornette Coleman solo. Spike the wondercat used to do it too, for no appearant reason. Just go on and on until you'd think he must have three sets of lungs. Just something to think about when you're really bored.

Since you asked dept: The Oxford comma is the one after the penultimate word in a list and before the word "and".

Today's Music: To Bird With Love: Live at the Blue Note by Dizzy Gillespie

Quote of the day:
" What is the essential nature of these phenomena we call makyo? They are temporary mental states which arise during zazen when our ability to concentrate has developed to a certain point and our practice is beginning to ripen. When the thought-waves which wax and wane on the surface of the sixth class of consciousness are partially calmed, residual elements of past experiences "lodged" in the seventh and eighth classes of consciousness bob up sporadically to the surface of the mind, conveying the feeling of a greater or expanded reality. Makyo, accordingly, are a mixture of the real and unreal, not unlike ordinary dreams. Just as dreams do not appear to a person in deep sleep but only when he is half asleep and half awake, so makyo do not come to those in deep concentration or samadhi. Never be tempted into thinking that these phenomena are real or that the visions themselves have any meaning. To se a beautiful vision of a Bodhisattva does not mean that you are any nearer to becoming one yourself, any more than a dream of being a millionaire means that you are any richer when you awake.
Yasutani - Roshi

A follow-up on my post about the public option: Go to Salon.com and click the opinion button at the top of the home page, scroll down to "Memo To President Obama" Read it!