Since the 1880s we’ve referred to dopey people as birdbrains . I contend it’s a misnomer. Birds are actually pretty smart — think about how far they migrate without any access to maps or GPS! I think the people who like birds are pretty smart too.

Exhibit A of my argument would be what the Sarasota Audubon Society has accomplished in defending a bird sanctuary called the Celery Fields. A piece of property next door was targeted for development by the nation’s largest homebuilder, D.R. Horton , but the Audubon folks didn’t chicken out. They took them on and won.

“Sarasota County again rejects D.R. Horton development near Celery Fields,” the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported last week.

The decision wasn’t even close, either — a 5-0 vote by the Commissioners to tell the big

See Full Page