This week in birds

This week in birds - #119

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Hummingbird traffic is picking up as the fall migration of the little birds gets into full swing. I'm seeing multiple birds around my yard every day now, including several males like this Ruby-throat enjoying a visit at my Hamelia shrub. There may be Rufous hummers among the visitors as well, but I can't absolutely confirm that.

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The makers of the rodenticide d-Con have agreed to pull their super-toxic products from retail shelves by early next year. This is a victory for conservation groups that have been campaigning for years to get this accomplished. The problem is that the product kills rodents very effectively, but often as those rodents are dying or dead, they are picked up and devoured by raptors or other predators and the poisons then kill them as well.

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And we know that poisons can persist in the environment for a very long time. DDT was banned in the United States more than forty years ago and yet it is still killing birds in Michigan. Presence of the poison is attributed to a chemical-plant-turned-Superfund site in the area.

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It was hoped that rains generated by El Nino this year might help to break the long and severe drought being suffered by California, but those hopes have pretty much been dashed. If the rains were coming, they should have arrived by now, but there is no rain in sight and the drought continues unabated.

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Artificial lighting in cities can create "light pollution" which can have a detrimental effect on the love life of songbirds. It upsets their circadian rhythms which tell them when it is time to mate.

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The Philippines have an incredible diversity of species, but that diversity is being severely imperiled by rampant illegal logging. The government has established a tree-planting program to try to stem the damage being caused.

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The estuaries of Northern Ireland have long been a haven for over-wintering shorebirds, but recently, populations of nearly all these species are declining precipitously.

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Migrant women and their children in Baltimore have a fellow-feeling for the migratory birds that pass through the area. They are volunteering their time to plant shrubs and flowers that feed and shelter the birds in Baltimore's Patterson Park as a part of the Audubon Center's Bird Ambassadors program.

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A bee hobbyist in North Texas writes in "The Bee Pasture" about providing habitat for butterflies - specifically for the Hackberry Emperor.

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There are many myths in various cultures throughout the world about gigantic, and usually angry, birds, some of them so big they could carry away elephants. No proof of the existence of any such bird has ever been found. They seem to be entirely inventions of our vivid imaginations.

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On the other side of that myth equation is the story about the extinction of dinosaurs. Of course they are not extinct! They are all around us. We are hardly ever out of sight of one when we are outdoors. They are called "birds" and they are descendants of the theropod dinosaurs which included such predators as Tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors. The theropods' strategy for survival was to get smaller and smaller and it was a very successful strategy. Yes, that Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the top of the page is just a tiny theropod descendant!

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The elusive Black-capped Petrel spends most of its life over the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Now, scientists are learning more about the bird's travels through the first-ever project to track them. This is a joint project of the U.S. Geological Survey, the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University, Grupo Jaragua in the Dominican Republic, and the American Bird Conservancy.

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The water levels in the Colorado River Basin have dropped by alarming amounts in recent years. Most of the loss has been attributed to the severe drought gripping the West, but a new study indicates that at least part of the reason for the drop is a loss of groundwater.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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