This week in birds

This week in birds - #522

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

An Eastern Kingbird sits on a barbed wire fence.

*~*~*~*

Since it is also Bloom Day, we'll just do an abbreviated roundup of environmental news this week.

*~*~*~*

Hurricane Ian cut a swathe up the eastern coast of the United States last month causing at least a billion dollars worth of damage in the process.

*~*~*~*

Lack of rainfall has caused water levels in the Mississippi River to become critically low, resulting in a number of barges being stranded causing shipping delays and a backlog of vessels.

*~*~*~*

The latest assessment of the world's wildlife found that populations had declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970.

*~*~*~*

The Denman glacier in east Antarctica is melting at an alarming rate of 70.8 tons a year due to the ingress of warm seawater.

*~*~*~*

Yet another alarming report on the environment documents the decline in gray whale numbers along the West Coast. Numbers are down nearly 40% just since 2016.

*~*~*~*

Here are some of the best wildlife pictures of the year.

*~*~*~*

A loophole that was created in the final months of the previous president's term is allowing chemical companies to dodge the federal law designed to track how many PFAS "forever chemicals" they discharge into the environment.

*~*~*~*

Five California tribes will reclaim their right to manage coastal land significant to their history under a first-in-the-nation program backed by state money.

*~*~*~*

This is the Black Rail, the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It's the smallest of all North American rails and it is endangered.

*~*~*~*

The removal of a century-old dam in California has had many benefits for the environment and has resulted in endangered species being found in Mill Creek for the first time since the removal.

*~*~*~*

A highly contagious strain of avian influenza has broken out in the central part of the country and threatens to spread with fall migration.

*~*~*~*

Are monarch butterflies truly endangered? It turns out that the answer to that question may be complicated.

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

Search This Blog