This week in birds

This week in birds - #359

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

Tufted Titmouse image from Audubon.org.

Always a backyard favorite is the wonderful little Tufted Titmouse, sometimes seen in the company of the Carolina Chickadee, as they visit my feeders. The titmouse and the chickadee often visit the feeders with their chicks these days, as they teach their young ones where to find food.

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The entrance and recreation fees charged by the National Park Service at the nation's parks are primarily intended to be used to improve those parks, but this week almost $2.5 of that fund was diverted to pay for the military extravaganza in the nation's capital on Independence Day.

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The high temperatures in Alaska were breaking records this week. In more than a hundred years of Anchorage history, weather stations there had never recorded a temperature of 90 degrees F. On July 5, that record was reached, breaking the previous high record of 85 degrees.

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The magnificent Scarlet Macaw is the national bird of Honduras and it supposedly is protected there, but the bird continues to be a victim of ecotrafficking because there is a market for it in the illicit pet trade. The northern subspecies of the bird is particularly imperiled.

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Did you hear about the amazing journey of this young Arctic fox? The fox was tagged in Norway in 2017 and was later found in Canada, having trekked some 2,175 miles.

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Planting billions of trees around the world is probably the biggest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists. Research has shown that planting up to a trillion trees could capture a huge amount of carbon dioxide.

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Golden-cheeked Warbler image from Audubon.org.

A pipeline project that would cut right through the heart of the Texas Hill Country would raze significant parts of the habitat of the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler. The warbler is endemic to Texas and the Hill Country is its sole breeding ground in the country.

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The explosion of a wide belt of sargassum seaweed from west Africa to the Gulf of Mexico now seems to be a yearly occurrence. It first materialized in 2011 and has appeared almost yearly since then and it gets bigger every year. It can be both a boon and problematic to wildlife. The problems come when the mats get so thick they block sunlight and if those mats die and sink they can kill corals.

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According to a new study in the U.K., the introduction of non-native pheasants and partridges for the purpose of shooting them is boosting the population of several avian predators, even though the gamekeepers continue to persecute the predators.

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As Greenland warms and its ice sheet melts, sediment pours out along with the water. That creates a lot of sand which could potentially be of economic value to Greenland allowing it to help meet the world's increased need for that product.

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A seventeen-year study by Sydney's Centre for Ecosystem Science has shown that thirteen species of seabirds are declining along the southeastern coast of Australia.

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Poachers are invading Botswana, the last refuge of the African elephant. Last September, conservationists found 87 dead elephants with their faces hacked off and tusks removed.

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A single invasive rat appeared on St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands of Alaska and the hunt was on. Even one rat could do inestimable damage to the ground-nesting birds on the island. Last week a visiting birder found the rat dead and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Monitoring will continue for a few months to ensure that there are no other rats on the island.

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And speaking of invasive species, these non-native iguanas are flourishing and multiplying rapidly in the congenial climate of south Florida. The state wildlife agency is now encouraging people to kill them whenever possible.

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And now a new research paper has listed and prioritized islands where the removal of invasive species would be feasible and will prevent extinctions of native wildlife.

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Lead ammunition has now been banned for hunting wildlife in California. The ban was put in place primarily to protect the endangered California Condor but it will have a positive impact on the environment as a whole.

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UNESCO has named some new sites to be protected as world heritage sites. Among the new sites, along with the ancient city of Babylon, are an Icelandic national park, the Hyrcanian forests in Iran, and migratory bird sanctuaries along the Yellow River and Bohai Gulf of China.

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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