Monday, April 25, 2005
WEIRD
First it was the black-headed cardinal at our feeder that the "expert" in the birdfeed store assures us is the result of feather mites. Why only cardinals have feather mites, and only some of them at that, is a mystery for which no one has an answer. The cardinal is back again. First he had a grayish white patch around his eye. Gradually his whole head turned that color. Now he's turning black on top. Maybe it's just the summer variety of cardinal haute couture.
Ok, I can take that in stride. It's a fluke of nature that has just developed recently and didn't affect the cardinals at the feeder for many years.
But now comes the exploding toad:
Hundreds of toads have met a bizarre and sinister end in Germany in recent days, it was reported: they exploded.
According to reports from animal welfare workers and veterinarians as many as a thousand of the amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre (three feet).
Either the German toads are so elated over the election of one of their own to the Papacy that they burst with happiness, or the Mother Nature Goddess is on a rampage. Maybe she has a headache.
