This week in birds

This week in birds - #573

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

Its call is its name - Chachalaca. They are endemic in South Texas.

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Here are those pesky scientists again! This time they are warning that Earth is on the verge of five catastrophic tipping points.

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Here's some good news for a change: The wildfire season has been exceptionally quiet this year. But don't expect that to hold in the future.

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Indigenous advocacy has led to the removal of four dams along the Klamath River in northern California.

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In the Southern Ocean, the world's biggest iceberg has broken free and is drifting with the steering wind and currents.

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Efforts are underway to try to save Brittany's rare Quimper snail before their habitat is destroyed by the construction of a tramway.

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This is the Prairie Falcon, a bird of the plains of North America. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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2024 is expected to be a particularly bad year for coral, with unprecedented bleaching possible.

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Cuttings and seeds from the famed Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall that was felled by vandals are showing signs of growth. Hope is kindled.

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This wonderful creature is the axolotl, an endangered amphibian of Mexico which is

being introduced back into some of its former habitat.

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In the Yukon River, the salmon that were once plentiful no longer are and that is reason for concern.

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A giant rat indigenous to the Solomon Islands has been photographed alive, proving that it does still exist there.

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The Kelly Parcel, part of the Grand Teton National Park, where this pronghorn antelope was photographed, is facing multiple threats from development, recreation, and a warming climate.

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Every time I despair of the human race, I read a story like this about a chicken who lost his toes and has people sending him shoes to compensate. If we can muster such compassion for a disabled chicken perhaps there is hope for us.

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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