brushfinch.jpg

(AP Photo/Blanca Huertas.)

Here's the Sunday Talking Head line-up for the morning shows.  Read it and weep -- or in a couple of cases, rejoice (see if you can pick those out...): 

• "Meet the Press" (NBC) Guests: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy and Democrat Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota candidates for U.S. Senate.

• "This Week" (ABC) Guests: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. and Republican Bob Corker, Tennessee candidates for U.S. Senate; actress and voting activist Marg Helgenberger.

• "Face the Nation" (CBS) Guests: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Sen. John Warner, R-Va.; former Sen. Sam Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

• "CNN Late Edition" Guests: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman; Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.

• "Fox News Sunday" Guests: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

• "C-Span Washington Journal" Guests: 7:30am - Jennifer Duffy, Editor, & Amy Walter, Sr. Editor, Cook Poltical Report;  9am - Nancy Yousseff, McClatchy Newspapers, Baghdad Bureau Chief; 9:30am - Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift (USN), Defense Dept. Office of Military Commissions, Judge Advocate General.

For once, I'm excited about the "celebrity" booking on This Week -- because Marg Helgenberger is one of the actresses featured in the Women's Voices, Women Vote campaign that I spotlighted earlier this week, and I am very excited that it is getting a wider circulation among the talking head set today.  The group is a fantastic organization, and I could not be happier that they are getting some much deserved recognition.

When you add that into the C-Span Washington Journal line-up this morning -- folks from the Cook Report doing the latest campaign number crunching breakdown, Nancy Youseff from the Baghdad bureau of McClatchy Newspapers (who have been doing amazing reporting from the region) and Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift -- well, that just brings a big ole smile to my face. 

So you'll pardon me if I decide to give Captain Mustache a miss, along with his sidekick Ferragamo Gurrrrl.  I'm not certain there are enough antiacids in the entire world for that this morning, although for news watching sake, I should probably subject myself to it anyway. 

The lovely bird above is a newly discovered species from a cloud forest in Colombia that has been named a Yariguies brush-finch.  According to the AP (via NYTimes):

The bright yellow and red-crowned Yariguies brush-finch was named for the indigenous tribe that once inhabited the mountainous area where it was discovered.

For conservationists the discovery of the species came at a crucial time -- the government has decided to set aside 500 acres of the pristine cloud forest where the bird lives to create a national park.

"The bird was discovered in what is the last remnants of cloud forest in that region," Camila Gomez, of the Colombia conservation group ProAves, said on Monday. "There are still lots of undiscovered flora and fauna species that live in the area."

The small bird can be distinguished from its closest relative -- the yellow-breasted brush finch -- by its solid black back and the lack of white marks on its wings.

"There are about two to three new birds found in the world every year," Thomas Donegan, the British half of an Anglo-Colombian research duo who discovered the bird in January 2004, told The Associated Press on Monday. "It's a very rare event."

There is much more information in the article, but suffice it to say, just getting a glimpse of this little fellow is an event. I thought you'd all enjoy sharing this little wonder this morning.

(H/T to reader "DM" for the link to the Colombia story.  What a treat.)