This week in birds

This week in birds - #264

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

Great Blue Heron photographed at the South Texas Birding Center on South Padre Island.

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In 2014, I read Elizabeth Kolbert's book The Sixth Extinction. It outlined the five previous great extinction events that Earth has suffered and made the case that the sixth such event is underway, caused this time by human actions. It was a chilling read. Now, according to recently released research, there can be little doubt that a biological annihilation of wildlife in recent decades means that the sixth extinction event is indeed happening.

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Another new report says that it is a mistake to focus just on extinctions; population declines can be just as troubling and the extirpation of a species in a particular location can be a first step toward extinction and should garner more attention and preventive action.

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We don't generally think of predators as having predators but, of course, they do. Recently, a Great Horned Owl was caught on video snatching an Osprey chick from its nest on Hog Island. Cameras at the nests of Ferruginous Hawks, North America's largest hawk, have recorded predation by owls and by raccoons.

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Colombia has more than 1,900 species of birds, more than any other country. Now that the country's decades-long civil war has ended, they are trying to take advantage of this natural resource to encourage more ecotourism and to welcome birders who are eager to add some of those 1,900 to their life lists.

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This week marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henry David Thoreau, one of the founders of ecological thought and writing on that subject in America. The Thoreau Reader, a project in cooperation with the Thoreau Society, lists and gives links to many of his writings as well as writings about him.

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Did you know that crows hold funerals for dead members of their communities? Or at least something like that. They will often call to each other and gather around when they observe a dead crow.

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We probably shouldn't be surprised by "crow funerals" for after all the corvid family ranks among the smartest of birds. Recent experiments, for example, have proven that ravens, another member of the family, are able to plan for the future. That's more than some humans can do!

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Scientists have been monitoring the Larsen C ice shelf on Antarctica for several years, as a more than 120 mile long crack developed and grew. Now, it has been confirmed that the iceberg has broken free of the continent and is floating in the South Atlantic.

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The administration in Washington has assembled secretive teams to work with lobbyists to aggressively roll back government regulations.

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The newly named Cassia Crossbill is a member of the crossbill clan that feeds primarily on the cones of lodgepole pines. The bird is a non-migrating resident of Newfoundland and there are concerns about its continued viability as habitat is lost.

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Seaside Sparrows are another bird at risk due to loss of habitat. They are losing habitat as sea levels rise due to global warming and, as that happens, they are having to move farther inland to nest, but as they do that, they become more susceptible to predators.

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Grasshopper Sparrow image courtesy of USFWS

This is currently North America's most endangered bird species, Florida's Grasshopper Sparrow. There are only 50 to 60 of the birds left in the wild. A coalition of conservation organizations have joined together to try to save the bird through a captive breeding program.

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Unfortunately, it isn't just endangered and threatened species that face the danger of annihilation. The activists who risk their lives to try to save them are losing their lives to violence at a record rate. Two hundred were killed in 2016 and so far 98 have been killed in just the first five months of this year.

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The 62-million-year-old fossil of a tiny bird that was found in New Mexico is giving scientists new information about the speed with which birds evolved after the extinction of large dinosaurs.

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Bobcats are extremely adaptable critters, able to make a living even in some fairly urban environments. For example, New Jersey. The Endangered and Nongame Species Program there has been working to reintroduce and establish the state's only native wildcat and it seems that the program has been quite successful.

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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