This week in birds

This week in birds - #571

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

Next week is Thanksgiving and these guys should be on the alert! These Wild Turkeys were photographed in a field near Anahuac, Texas.

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Climate and climate change are a big part of the environmental news this week. A new report documented the toll of climate disasters but also had a bit of good news. Trees are our allies in the fight against climate change but can't do the job all on their own. The city of Phoenix offers a prime example of why we must win this fight. And now a strong El Niño waits in the wings.

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We think of the Amazon as being a lush green area but an extended drought is changing that.

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At a climate summit in Paris, French President Macron pledged a billion Euros to research the melting ice caps. (But do we really need a billion Euros to tell us why the ice caps are melting?)

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Plastic waste is a major environmental problem and it is spiraling out of control across Africa. Countries met in Kenya this week to try to come up with a global plastic pollution treaty.

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An expedition in New Guinea has turned up a mammal that had been thought to be extinct. And in California, another kind of mammal, wolves, are returning to areas where they had been absent for nearly 150 years.

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In Iceland, people are waiting for and expecting a volcanic eruption.

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The orcas are mad and some would say they have plenty to be mad about.

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Since there was no TWIB post last week, we have a bonanza of "Birds of the Week."

This is the Red-cockaded Woodpecker which I have extremely fond memories of first seeing in woods near where I live several years ago. It was Bird of the Week last week.

And this is the Wedge-tailed Shearwater, an oceanic species, which is Bird of the Week for this week.

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For now, it is still the Wilson's Warbler, named for Scottish ornithologist Alexander Wilson, but the American Ornithological Society will no longer name birds for humans and will be renaming those that currently are burdened with such monikers.

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The EU lawmakers and member states have reached an agreement intended to restore and protect Nature.

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When a pond turns pink, there's a good chance that something is out of balance.

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In Minnesota, it's the beavers vs. the wolves. But it's not an athletic contest; it's a real-life Nature drama.

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In California, goats and sheep have been enlisted in the fight against wildfires.

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Viagra for crocodiles? It seems that helicopters do the trick!

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A great way to help birds get through winter is to plant native berries in your yard.

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A Georgia woman got quite a surprise when she discovered that a three-foot tegu lizard had taken up residence under her porch.

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When it comes to oil and gas production regulation, Texas is still pretty much the wild, wild unregulated West.

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Human activities are largely the cause of extreme droughts in the Middle East.

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Plans are being drafted to return grizzly bears to Washington's North Cascades.

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Seed-sowing drones could be an important tool in replanting ravaged landscapes.

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Here are some amazing wildlife pictures from the 2023 Nature Conservancy photo contest.

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Even within members of a particular bird species, there are variations of color and color patterns.

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Wildfires don't just affect forests; grassland and shrubland fires are a major wildfire risk.

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Texas recently experienced its fourth-strongest earthquake. (I think I must have slept through it.)

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Parakeets in Europe? Thanks to the release of a small number of the birds in the 1970s, that is now a thing. They have thrived and increased there.

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What is now North Dakota was once undersea and a giant mosasaur prowled its waters.

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The Chilean Desert known as Atacama is the world's driest desert.

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Fiona, Britain's "loneliest sheep," has finally been rescued after two years at the foot of a Scottish cliff.

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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