Avian Dissenter

News about birds and their interactions with humans (the good, the bad, and the ugly) can sometimes show up in the most unexpected places, such as Dana Milbank’s “Washington Sketch” column in today’s Washington Post. Here are the pertinent paragraphs:

Is there no safe haven for President Bush?

It happened midway through his news conference in the Rose Garden yesterday morning, in between his 10th and 11th mentions of al-Qaeda: A bird flew over the present and deposited a wet, white dropping on the upper left sleeve of his jacket. Bush wiped the mess off with his bare hand.

A caption beneath a photograph illustrating the story says, “The president encountered dissent from the avian-American community.”

The article fails to say what kind of bird it was that shit on the President, but my guess is that it was probably one of those trashy illegal-aliens of the bird world that litter our city landscapes with their fowl excrement, the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), or House Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

Somebody needs to warn the President and his handlers that The Birds is/are about to make a comeback. It would behoove them to be on the lookout for more avian dissenters!

Addendum: Coverage of the Bush bird incident is widespread in blogland.