This week in birds

This week in birds - #198

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

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are on their way. They've been seen along the Gulf Coast of Texas and some are probably already in our area, although I haven't seen any in my yard yet. I photographed this one in my backyard on March 20, 2015, so I expect to see them any day now. The adult males are always the first to arrive, followed by adult females and the one-year old birds.

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Residents of our nation's capital have been in a state of eager anticipation this week and it has nothing to do with presidential primaries or Supreme Court justice nominees. It's all about Bald Eagle chicks. A pair of Bald Eagles nesting at the National Arboretum have been followed by nestcam and this week, on Friday, the first of the two eggs hatched while the city watched. There hasn't been this much excitement since the last panda birth at the National Zoo.

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The news about Monarch butterflies has been very good during the past year. The population of the charismatic butterfly has made a comeback after several years of setbacks, but many other less well-known butterflies are also nearing the brink of extinction. Lest we get complacent about the Monarch, though, a late winter storm hit their wintering grounds in Mexico with snow and ice, killing an estimated 1.5 million of the butterflies. It's not clear how many of them had already left to start their northward migration. I have been seeing Monarchs in my garden this week - whether they are migrants or were hatched here I couldn't say.

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After months of unrelenting bad publicity about the program, SeaWorld has announced that it will stop breeding orcas in captivity.

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Birds that nest in the Arctic have adapted to the extreme cold of the region. What happens to those birds now that the temperatures there are rising? Will they be able to adapt once again to the stresses of climate change?

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A previously unknown butterfly named the Tanana Arctic has been discovered in Alaska. It is thought that it may be the only kind of butterfly that is endemic to Alaska, meaning that it is found there and nowhere else.

Tanana Arctic butterfly photo courtesy of National Geographic.

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I think of American Woodcocks as usually being found around rather swampy areas of the South, but here's a migrant that has chosen to hang out in the middle of Manhattan!

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A mountain lion in Los Angeles recently killed a koala at the zoo there. Zoo officials are taking extra steps to protect their animals from the lion, but they do not want the animal relocated or euthanized. After all, it was only doing what animals in the wild do. To try to relocate it might encroach on other lions' territories and cause more harm than good.

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There has been an unprecedented seabird die-off in the northern Pacific this winter, apparently attributable to the domino effects of a warming ocean, but recently some 6,000 to 8,000 Common Murres turned up dead at a fresh water lake, Lake Iliamna, in Alaska. Seabird experts are puzzled as to how and why the birds ended up there.

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The Obama Administration has done a 180 and decided not to allow deepwater drilling along the Southeast Atlantic shores.

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Common Ravens are mostly common these days in western states, but now a pair of them are nesting in a rather unexpected place - Washington, D.C. Never say "Nevermore!" to these birds.

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There is a deadly fungus spreading among snakes in the eastern United States, not unlike the fungal diseases that have plagued other members of the reptile and the amphibian families. This has dire implications for the environment since snakes are such an important part of a balanced ecosystem.

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There is some evidence that trees may not be as negatively impacted by climate change as has been feared and they may be more effective carbon sinks than had been projected.

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A study of Little Blue Penguins in the ocean between Australia and New Zealand aims to zero in on the ramifications of climate change on the aquatic life of the area.

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A previously unknown species of golden frog, scientific name Pristimantis dorado, has been found in the cloud forests of the High Andes in Colombia.

Pristimantis dorado is ready for his close-up!

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Some of the strongest advocates for our National Wildlife Refuge system are birders. Our National Wildlife Refuges are national treasures, not just for wildlife but for those of us who love wildlife and love visiting them in their natural habitats rather than zoos. We are bird lovers, and we vote!

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: 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. ...

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 ...

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