This week in birds

This week in birds - #560

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

Okay, it's not a bird but it is a representative of the most numerous of the "fliers" in my backyard at the moment. It is a Cloudless Sulphur butterfly sipping from the blossoms of Hamelia patens, aka Firebush.

*~*~*~*

Of course, the main news of Nature for us on this continent this week was all related to wildfires.

*~*~*~*

Wildfires in British Columbia were forcing evacuations.

*~*~*~*

The island of Maui in Hawaii was one of the latest places to suffer the destructive forces of wildfires.

*~*~*~*

It became clear that nonnative plants had fueled the Hawaiian wildfires.

*~*~*~*

In the historic town of Lahaina, a 150-year-old banyan tree was charred but still standing after the fires and has apparently survived them.

*~*~*~*

The staff of the Maui Bird Conservation Center fought the flames to save the endangered birds housed there.

*~*~*~*

Back in the Canadian city of Yellowknife, residents were given until noon on Friday to leave town ahead of the advancing flames.

*~*~*~*

And if it wasn't the heat from wildfires, it was the heat from that orange orb in the sky that was causing misery in many places, not least of which was Texas.

*~*~*~*

A United Nations climate expert warned this week that the world's food supply is threatened by global heating.

*~*~*~*

This magnificent, prehistoric-looking bird is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It's the Brown Pelican, one of my favorite birds of the Gulf Coast.

*~*~*~*

Off the Alaska coast, explorers are studying some of the world's deepest and most remote waters.

*~*~*~*

In California, a new pack of gray wolves has been discovered in Tulare County.

*~*~*~*

And in northern California, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe is working to return Chinook salmon to their ancestral waters.

*~*~*~*

Is it possible for the world to kick its coal habit? There is hope.

*~*~*~*

Paradoxically, it seems that the way to save the redwood forest may involve the judicious use of chain saws.

*~*~*~*

The farming of kelp is yet another enterprise that is threatened by the heating up of the world's oceans.

*~*~*~*

Trout introduced into Wyoming lakes have shown an ability to evolve rapidly in order to take advantage of their new habitat.

*~*~*~*

Proof that perhaps the human race is not entirely hopeless: This man uses an ultralight aircraft to teach endangered Ibises their migration route.

*~*~*~*

Great white sharks are normally solitary creatures, but two that were fitted with tracking devices off the coast of Georgia last December have confounded their trackers by continuing to travel together.

*~*~*~*

And more hope for the future: Some young Montanans have just held their government accountable for exacerbating the climate crisis and violating their fundamental constitutional rights. More of this, please!

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