This week in birds

This week in birds - #550

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

A Herring Gull stands in the middle of a duck convention featuring several species.

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Does the Ivory Bill Woodpecker still exist? Though thought to be extinct, there is new evidence that its obituary might have been premature.

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There's no doubt that bird flu still exists and is still killing animals. Moreover, it could become the next human pandemic.

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A heat dome weather system in western Canada threatens to push temperatures to new record highs and worsen the incidence of wildfires in the region.

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A new study assessed the economic burden imposed by fossil fuel companies and found that they owe reparations of $209 billion a year.

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Honeybees are essential to the production of healthy crops and to the protection of the environment.

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A proposed sanctuary on the California coast would be six times the size of Yosemite.

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Recent studies have reached a consensus that massive prehistoric stone structures, so-called desert kites found from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan, were built by ancient hunters to trap and kill wild animal herds.

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A new analysis has concluded that heat is likely to soar to record highs within the next five years.

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The consensus is that humans evolved in Africa but there is new information about just how and where they emerged.

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A Florida university professor is living undersea and plans to continue to do so until he reaches one hundred days and completes a research mission.

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Large parts of the Pacific Northwest are in the grip of an early and rare heat wave.

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Meet the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It's the conifer-loving Hermit Warbler.

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For the first time since 2010, an endangered Mediterranean monk seal has landed on an Israeli shore causing a sensation among local residents.

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Wild boars have reappeared in Kashmir after being absent for decades and their presence is not being welcomed.

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Research shows that birds and their songs are good for our mental health, to which my response is, "Well, duh!"

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Scientists have warned that a rise of 1.5 degrees Centigrade in Earth's temperature could have dire consequences and it is now predicted that we may pass that threshold as early as 2027.

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The opportunity to watch tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes take off simultaneously draws tourists to Nebraska in March and April every year.

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Yakama Nation hunters hunt the bison of Yellowstone.

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California's "ghost lake," Tulare, has reappeared after a wet winter.

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A new species of shark, one having bright, white eyes, has been discovered in the deep waters off Australia.

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I need this! There is now a "smart bird feeder." It's a feeder that takes pictures of the birds that come to feed and sends them to your phone.

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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