I finally got pictures of gray catbirds this morning! They’re swooping around our back porch, like a lot of other birds have been doing lately. See my video from yesterday about the sassy robin!
The last time I got photos of them was about a year and a half ago. As Mr. Charles Muntz said in the movie Up: “I’ve spent a lifetime tracking it. Sometimes years go by between sightings. I’ve tried to smoke it out of that deathly labyrinth where it lives. You can’t go in after it.”
gray catbird gray catbird with chestnut color under tailgray catbird fanning tail
OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little. On the other hand, catbirds are more often heard than seen. Many times, all you hear is a mewing noise reminiscent of a cat, but raspy and mixed with a lot of other noises it mimics from other birds (which might be one reason why the literature says it’s related to the mockingbird). And while it doesn’t live in “deathly” labyrinths, the catbird can be almost invisible in thick shrubs where it builds its nest.
The catbirds have a rusty color under their tails, which can be hard for amateurs like me to get a snapshot of. But you can find a lot of excellent videos out there, like the one below:
Tonight, a female robin attacked our windows. My guess is that it’s attacking its own reflection. A lot of backyard birds are out, nesting, stealing our herbs, pooping on our deck. Sena saw a Baltimore oriole and we both saw a female goldfinch trying to do the same thing as the robin—bite the screen.
We’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.
I was all set to hear the Big Mo Blues Show on KCCK 88.3 tonight starting at 6 pm and guess what? I must have fell asleep sitting up in my chair and didn’t wake up until this song “Bye Bye Blues” by Larry McCray came on a little past 6:30 pm. It makes me think of my wife, Sena-until she starts winning too many cribbage games.
The FDA VRBPAC meeting today on the Covid-19 vaccines for 2025-26 is so far leading me to believe that the best choice for the voting question-
Based on the evidence presented, please discuss considerations for the selection of JN.1 and/or a specific JN.1-lineage strain for COVID-19 vaccines (2025-2026 Formula) to be used in the U.S.
-might just be sticking with last year’s Covid-19 JN.1 lineage vaccine rather than targeting the newest LP.8.1 strain. The strains so far aren’t suggesting a seasonal pattern. Some strains only last for weeks and it seems getting or making a vaccine for a Covid-19 strain that disappears by the time the manufacturer rolls out a vaccine for it could turn out to be a waste of time.
Neverthe less, all three of the industry presenters are calling this a “seasonal” update to their Covid-19 vaccine products. They’re hedging their bets, so to speak, and would be ready to market a vaccine targeting LP.8.1 if the FDA decides to license the product.
I’ve held off getting the JN.1 vaccine so far in anticipation of today’s meeting, to see if there’s any reason not to get it based on today’s decision.
But the day is young. I’ll probably be making periodic updates to this post today. I think Dr. Jerry Weir’s slides are excellent, as usual.
“Voting Question For the 2025-2026 Formula of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., does the committee recommend a monovalent JN.1-lineage vaccine composition? Please vote “Yes” or “No” or “Abstain”
“Discussion Topic Based on the evidence presented, please discuss considerations for the selection of JN.1 and/or a specific JN.1-lineage strain for COVID-19 vaccines (2025-2026 Formula) to be used in the U.S.”
Update: Of course, the committee voted unanimously for the JN.1 lineage because there was no alternate choice. The only choice for the members was to vote for the JN.1-lineage or against it. Although I agree with the “vote,” I think they should have had the alternate of LP.8.1 available, otherwise why have a vote at all? I wonder what the FDA will do now.
I ran across something quotable in Ray Bradbury’s novel, “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” It’s another one of his books I’ve never read but which I’m reading now.
“God, how we get our fingers in each other’s clay.” In the novel, it’s about how two friends influence each other.
On the one hand, it’s a seemingly trivial observation about human nature. On the other, it also seems profound because it’s so pervasive. You could reformulate it in any number of ways, e.g., “We’re always getting into each other’s business.”
The response is just as trivial. Mind your own business. Get out of my hair. I wonder how that song “My Way,” done famously by Frank Sinatra, could ever make sense when the reality is that we’re always either getting in each other’s way—or less often, always trying to integrate our approaches to create something better in our lives.
It’s kind of like what a former presidential campaign advisor (Wikipedia and other sources say it was James Carville) said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
The meeting of the FDA VRBPAC on the composition of Covid-19 vaccines will be tomorrow, May 22, 2025 at 8:30 am-4:30 pm EST. Some materials have recently become available on the FDA website.
The briefing document indicates that there will be a discussion of the most recent Covid-19 variants and whether the current vaccine needs to be modified as the viral antigenic strain has mutated.
The World Health Organization has formed a new technical advisory group: “Technical Advisory Group on COVID19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC) to review and assess the public health implications of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) on the performance of COVID-19 vaccines and to provide recommendations to WHO on proposed modifications to COVID-19 vaccine antigen composition. Recently, the TAG-CO-VAC advised that a monovalent JN.1 or KP.2 vaccines remain as appropriate vaccine antigen, while a monovalent LP.8.1 is a suitable alternative vaccine antigen (Ref: https://www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2025-statement-on-the-antigen-composition-of-covid-19-vaccines) to be included in the composition of COVID-19 vaccines (2025-2026 Formula).”
The VRBPAC meeting topics:
“On May 22, 2025, VRBPAC will meet in open session to discuss and make recommendations on the selection of the 2025-2026 Formula for COVID-19 vaccines for use in the U.S. The committee will be asked to discuss available evidence on recent and currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including data from virus surveillance and genomic analyses, antigenic characterization analyses, vaccine effectiveness and clinical immunogenicity studies of current U.S.- authorized/approved COVID-19 vaccines and nonclinical immunogenicity studies of candidate vaccines expressing or containing updated Spike antigens.”
The attendees include:
The TAG-CO-VAC presenter:
Kanta Subbarao, M.B.B.S., M.P.H. Professor Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty of Medicine Laval University (Laval University is in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada).
There’s an Iowa City member on the committee roster:
Stanley M. Perlman, M.D., Ph.D. Expertise: Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases Term: 08/23/2022 – 01/31/2026 Professor University of Iowa Distinguished Chair Department of Microbiology and Immunology Carver College of Medicine University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.
And the acting chair of the meeting will once again be: Arnold Monto, M.D. Expertise: Epidemiology Term: 02/01/2022 – 01/31/2026 Thomas Francis Jr. Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Public Health and Epidemiology School of Public Health University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
Vaccine manufacturer presentations will be from Moderna, Pfizer, Novavax, and Sanofi.
We got new Ray Bradbury’s books and I finally read “Fahrenheit 451,” which was published in 1953. It’s a fascinating book listing 451 ways to remember how to spell the word “Fahrenheit.” Actually, it’s a dystopian novel about society in the future which bans books which firemen burn because the government thinks it’s better for citizens to watch TV than to read.
I remember reading many of his science fiction works when I was a kid. But I never got around to reading “Fahrenheit 451.” My reaction to it was pretty much the same as I had to all of his other books—I found it difficult to put it down.
I started reading it last night. I got through Part 1 and it was late and stormy out so I decided to watch TV. Bad decision. I think the thunderstorm messed with the reception, pixelating and skipping audio along with the usual inane commercials. If I hear the joke one more time about why some snakes procreate only once a year followed by the punch line “That’s because they have e-reptile dysfunction” I’m going to throw my slipper at the screen.
Anyway, I shut the TV off and relaxed, believe it or not, to the thunder and lightening outside. That reminded me of “Fahrenheit 451” because in the novel, people have TV screens the size of the walls of their homes and they watch the same kind of garbage we do nowadays.
The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman, which means in the dystopian future setting, he and fellow firemen burn any books people are caught hiding in their homes. Then the firemen burn the houses down. I guess that means people with books would have to doomscroll on their various other devices including the smartphones which won’t fit in any pocket of the clothes they wear.
Montag has a “eureka” moment when a 16-year-old girl named Clarisse teaches him there could be other ways to experience the world than by watching how women with swaying breasts in the Blue Chew commercials on the Weather Channel manage to make people really focus on the size of hailstones bombing Boobs Canyon in Utah.
Just like that, Montag reforms and does things that I probably shouldn’t tell you because that would be a major spoiler. Well, I guess I can give you a hint—they involve flame throwers. And have you ever wondered how your supervisor would look wearing a charcoal leisure suit?
We just got a couple of books by Ray Bradbury, and I’m pretty excited. Some of the stories I recognize, but there will be some, perhaps many, that will be new to me.
I put 2.5 miles on the step counter today walking on the Clear Creek Trail, so my feet are complaining a bit more.
Sena didn’t come with me on the walk today because of some gardening she had to do. She deals with foot issues and has been trying shoe inserts lately. Trimming them is an inexact science, but she got it right. The thing was, her feet hurt even worse with the inserts.
That’s because they were upside down. There are raised gel contours around the bottom for extra support, which have to face downwards in the shoe. They were a lot more comfortable for her once they were in right side up.
I didn’t get any shoe inserts because my new shoes fit pretty well. I walked a little further than usual, moving east on the part of the trail which has a fair number of ups and downs. It feels more like a nature walk (which is on the Make It OK Calendar for May Mental Health Awareness Month).
The trail is paved, but the trees and other vegetation are thick and tend to crowd around both sides. The trees sometime bend in archways across the path.
It was tempting to park my butt on the bench, but just sitting might have invited more flying bugs to buzz around my ears—despite applying enough OFF to defend me and a few other people.
We’ve walked this trail many times, but I saw something a little unusual today. There’s a big old dead tree that looks like a tuning fork.
I set a goal to reach a familiar place that’s high enough and cleared of foliage to see the creek from high above. That’s where I saw the 3 ducksateers: mallards in a line swimming up and down the stream in a sort of aimless way, yet determined to make good time.
After I returned to the trailhead, I heard the camera-shy gray catbird I always hear in a tall shrub right next to the trail. I sat in a bench close by with my camera out. It made the typical catbird noises, which sounds like a collection of whistles, creaks, and meows. But it hid in the leaves and when it burst onto the paved trail, it moved too quickly for me to get a shot.
I think the catbird hides in the trees right next to other birds, like robins, just to misdirect you. And that fooled me today–again. I thought I got a video clip of the catbird—but it turned out to be a robin, hamming it up for the camera like robins always do.
So, I included an old picture of a real catbird I took about a year and half ago.
shoe inserts wrong side upshoe inserts right side upthe archway treethe beckoning benchthe tuning fork treethe 3 ducksateersthe catbird photo taken a year and a half ago
We’ve had encounters with Bigfoot on various walking trails, but most were on the Clear Creek Trail. I guess Bigfoot is one of those interdimensional beings, moving in and out of our world. It takes getting used to.
Avoid getting into thumb wrestling matches with Bigfoot. And moving in and out of various dimensions can get anyone a little mixed up on holiday dates.
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