This week in birds

This week in birds - #517

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

The beautyberries are ripe and that is always good news for the birds like this American Robin.

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A new study warns that the planet is on the brink of five dangerous climate tipping points and indeed may have already passed some of them.

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Meanwhile, a September heat wave is breaking records in the United States.

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California has suffered a triple threat this week: a heat wave, fires, and a hurricane.

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The heat wave in the West has broken records in California, which has suffered temperatures in excess of 110 degrees F.

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Here in the Gulf region, things have been hot but quiet. No hurricanes to contend with so far.

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Those wildfires in California have proved deadly. Two people died in the fires there this week. Prescribed burns in certain areas are being used to try to control the fires.

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In an unusual move to help protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, lobsters have been red-listed there because the whales frequently become entangled in the lobster nets and pots.

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A highly virulent form of bird flu has been found in a bottlenose dolphin and a stranded porpoise.

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Researchers said this week that large swathes of the Amazon rainforest have reached a tipping point and may never recover.

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People continue to put their lives on the line to try to save that rainforest and sometimes those lives are lost. It happened again this week.

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Farmers and ranchers are frequently at war with beavers but they would be wise to see them as partners in protecting the land.

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In Canada, a woman walking along a beach with her dog found a fossil from an unknown reptile that is probably older than the dinosaurs.

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A seven million-year-old fossil cranium found in Chad has provoked a rancorous debate over whether it is an ape or perhaps the oldest human yet found.

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And in Georgia (the European one not the American one) a 1.8 million-year-old tooth belonging to an early human has been found showing that humans lived there at least that early.

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The Yakima Water Basin in Washington provides a successful example of water management for areas like the Colorado River Basin where seven states need to agree on a plan of usage.

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A new paper out this week warns of the need to protect Earth's 60,000 tree species in order to stave off global ecological disaster.

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Three bottlenose dolphins that had spent years in captivity in a resort hotel were released into the open seas of Indonesia this week.

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In India, an 80+-year-old woman has devoted her life to planting and nurturing trees in order to prevent deforestation.

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A new study has revealed some striking differences between Neanderthals and modern humans in the development of their brains.

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The persistent drought in Europe has brought some ancient monuments to light including a structure that is being referred to as the "Spanish Stonehenge."

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Can an animal truly live forever? Maybe this jellyfish can.

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Sea lions along the southern California coast are being poisoned by a naturally occurring neurotoxin that is present in tiny single-celled marine algae.

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Elk in Virginia? Yes, indeed, and here they are.

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Motion-triggered cameras in the Olympic National Forest in Washington have documented the presence of the Pacific marten, a rare native carnivore of that area.

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Using Nature as a weapon in war? It may in fact be the ultimate weapon.

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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