This week in birds

This week in birds - #535

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

A favorite winter visitor - the Chipping Sparrow.

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Our ancestors were very hairy creatures and we still carry with us those genes for hairiness, so why don't we look like Australopithecus afarensis?

Depiction of Australopithecus afarensis.

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Seven states rely on the shrinking Colorado River for water. Since they seem unable to come to an agreement for sharing the water, it seems that the federal government may have to impose such an agreement.

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Prescribed burns, a long-time Indigenous practice, can help to restore depleted lands.

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Inuit communities are calling for mandatory measures to reduce underwater noise pollution which they blame for the disappearance of narwhals and ringed seals from areas where they used to hunt them.

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Why do the newts cross the road and why are there volunteers out there helping them to do it?

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When scientists tagged a southern elephant seal in 2011, they could little have guessed the important information that would be provided by that tag.

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This is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week, the Sharp-tailed Grouse and it is one tough customer!

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The federal government has banned roads and logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, restricting development on more than nine million acres of the continent's largest temperate rainforest.

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Did you know that freshwater stingrays exist? Well, they do exist in the Amazon and they have just received some much-needed protection.

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A 600-square-mile iceberg has just broken off of the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. According to scientists, this was a natural event not related to climate change.

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New Yorkers have recently been delighted by the sight of common dolphins frolicking in the Bronx River, something that had not occurred for many years because of pollution in the river. Their return is a sign of the improving condition of the waterway.

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Turf wars between salt marsh microbes dictate how much carbon the salt marshes store and how much methane they release into the atmosphere.

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Precipitation has been above average in the West this winter but it will not be enough to pull the region out of drought conditions.

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Seeds held in a seed bank, many of them as old as agriculture itself, may hold the key to our survival from climate change.

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They are cute and furry and they may just be the key to saving the ecosystem of the West Coast. A non-profit conservation group is hoping to restore the sea otter all along the coast to help bring back its decimated kelp forests.

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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