This week in birds

This week in birds - #575

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

An Orange-crowned Warbler enjoying an orange!

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Here are some of the key biodiversity issues for the coming year.

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El Niño continues to build strength. What does that mean for the weather in 2024?

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At least it gave plenty of warnings; now an Icelandic volcano has erupted.

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Space rocks slamming into our planet have long affected life on Earth.

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Five endangered gray wolves have just been released into the wild in the western part of Colorado.

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Some of the weirdest life on Earth exists in deep caves.

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I would love to visit this exhibit of leaf-cutter ants at the American Museum of Natural History. Amazing critters!

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A bird of the alpine peaks is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It is the Black Rosy-Finch, a species that is endangered and decreasing in numbers.

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Have you ever seen an orange river? Some of the Arctic rivers are turning that color.

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That apes have remarkably long memories and can remember old friends from years earlier should not be a surprise.

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What were Earth's early days like? A lagoon ecosystem in Argentina's Puna de Atacama Desert may hold clues.

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Human activities have driven about 12% of Earth's bird species to extinction, according to a new study.

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As insects become more scarce, flower species are adjusting and evolving to self-pollination.

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President Biden has moved to ban most old-growth logging in national forests. That's a great step in the right direction but how can we save our forests?

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Here's a report about tracing Charles Darwin's route around the tip of South America.

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Maybe curling into a ball when things get tough is an instinctive reaction. Trilobites perfected it.

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It turns out there are plenty of "Christmas" lights in the cosmos at this time of year.

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And here on Earth, some of the smartest creatures have eight arms and one of them has a warning about climate change and rising sea levels.

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A Ponderosa pine called Bigelow 224 also contains a warning for us. Maybe we should listen to what Nature is shouting at us.

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This is Neil the Seal, a 1,300-pound southern elephant seal and he has captured the hearts of residents in southern Tasmania.

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The Guardian's "The week in wildlife" as always has some marvelous pictures.

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And finally, reindeer are multitaskers which is probably good news as Santa gets ready to steer his team on their annual journey.

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Whatever holidays you celebrate here at the end of this calendar year and the beginning of the new one, my wish for you is that they will be peaceful and joyful.

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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