This week in birds

This week in birds - #523

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

A Buff-bellied Hummingbird sips from a feeder in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

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An Energy Department study has found that the wildfires in the West affect not only the area where they occur but they fuel extreme weather in the other states as well.

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In Alaska, billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the waters around the state and as a result, officials have canceled the snow crab season.

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Twenty nations that are at high risk from climate change are considering halting repayments on their debts and plowing the money into conservation instead.

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The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the little Buff-breasted Sandpiper, a bird that once numbered in the millions but is now uncommon and its numbers are decreasing even further.

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The drought is causing such low water levels in the Mississippi River that ancient shipwrecks are being uncovered.

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Climate change that makes precipitation and snow melt less predictable is forcing changes to the way of life in the Pacific Northwest.

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The establishment of Hawaii's marine reserve area has proved to be a boon to overfished tuna populations and is helping them to recover.

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The Biden administration is one step closer to making a massive West Coast wind farm a reality.

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As their environment changes with the melting of glacial ice, bighorn sheep and mountain goats are finding themselves in competition for the same territory. It's a competition that the goats almost always win.

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Here are some pictures of birds in early autumn on the Salish Sea.

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Here's a strange phenomenon: It seems that Erect-crested Penguins on the Antipodes Islands in the South Pacific willingly abandon one-half of the eggs that they lay.

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The Brazilian Amazon is being deforested to make way for cattle ranching.

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When plans are made to combat the effects of climate change, too often the needs of people with disabilities are not considered.

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North Dakota seems to be a treasure trove of mummified dinosaurs. It's a treasure trove that has long fascinated the public as well as paleontologists.

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The wonderfully-named sarcastic fringehead fish is a creature to reckon with.

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Is this Earth's oldest tree? It is a bristlecone pine that lives in the Inyo National Forest in California. These trees can live 5,000 years or more.

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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