This week in birds

This week in birds - #561

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

It's beautyberry season in my yard. The berries come in purple like these and in white. I have some of each and both colors are equally loved by the birds who will feast on them and strip them away pretty soon.

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Summer's incredible heat continues to be the main news in Nature. All of the northern continents are basically broiling at the moment.

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As Earth heats up, its birds, like this Willow Flycatcher, are adapting.

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In some good news for the planet, Ecuadorians have voted to halt drilling for oil in an Amazonian national park.

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This is the ‘akikiki, a critically endangered Hawaiian bird. Its caretakers are struggling to preserve and bring it back and now they face the new threat of the Maui wildfires.

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In New Haven, Connecticut, an 82-year-old man is on a mission to convince his neighbors to plant more trees.

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The oldest yet fossil of a dicraeosaurid (plant-eating) dinosaur has been found in the Thar Desert of India.

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Is the warming ocean a threat to some of the fish that live in it? It seems that the damselfish may be in distress because of the heat.

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Massive winter downpours have resulted in unprecedented blooms in California which has been a boon to conservationists collecting seeds to preserve endangered plants.

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Crocodiles are very vocal reptiles and scientists are eager to try to understand what they are saying.

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An unprecedented flash flood in the Grand Canyon this week caused about 100 people to have to be evacuated from the area.

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This bird looks too incredible to actually be real but it is. It is a Brazilian bird called the Gilt-edged Tanager and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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A recent study found that mountain treelines are moving higher in response to climate change.

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The last two survivors of Brazil's Piripkura tribe have been found and now the question is what Brazil should do regarding them.

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This is a rare spotless giraffe that was born recently at a zoo in Tennessee.

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Off the coast of California, female pearl octopuses are nesting, creating an "octopus garden" where they protect their eggs.

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A hot, wet summer is threatening to put a damper on the leaf-peeping season in the Northeast.

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Geckos are famous for their ability to camouflage themselves but this one from Madagascar may be the champion in that regard.

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Finally, here are a few bird pictures from a wonderful spot for viewing birds, the Bosque del Apache refuge in New Mexico.

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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