This week in birds

This week in birds - #524

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

One of our winter visitors - the Red-breasted Merganser.

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It's not really a surprise but it is still disappointing - countries' pledges to help control climate change are falling short of the mark. The UN has determined that there is no credible pathway to meet the goal of keeping the increase in the planet's temperature to under 1.5 degrees Centigrade.

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So what will the world look like after climate change? Here is a visualization.

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Already Europe is experiencing an unseasonably warm autumn and climate scientists say that climate change is the cause.

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And in this country the mighty Mississippi River is looking not so mighty anymore; it is drying up.

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It's Bat Week and the Department of the Interior has thirteen (of course!) interesting and largely unknown facts about the underappreciated species.

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Bar-tailed Godwit

The champion of non-stop long-distance flights in the bird world is the Bar-tailed Godwit and a juvenile of the species has just set a new record of 13,560 kilometers (8,435 miles) on a flight from Alaska to Tasmania.

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Here is a video tour of the amazing Lava Beds National Monument.

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The Salish Sea in autumn is a busy, birdy place.

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Here's a story about the last-ditch effort to save the critically endangered black rhino.

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It's that time again - time to sign up for Project Feederwatch. It's an important effort to document what birds come to our feeders in winter.

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How do elephants actually use their trunks?

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Swarms of insects can be electric - literally. You might say they are all potential lightning bugs.

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The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and probably many anonymous others also changed the face of the Earth.

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In Iraq, archaeologists have uncovered some 2,700-year-old rock carvings from the time of the Assyrian empire.

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The leaves are falling and they are worth their weight in gold to the soil. If you can, please let them lie.

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There's something in the water in Virginia and that may not be a bad thing.

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There's something in Lake Mead's water, too, and that may not be such a good thing.

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Using drones to save whales? Yes, that really is a thing.

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These are Emperor Penguins. This week they were given protection under the Endangered Species Act. They are threatened because of the changing climate.

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It sometimes seems that news of the climate is all doom and gloom, but in fact, there is hope.

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Lastly, here is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week - the magnificent Great Gray Owl.

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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