This week in birds

This week in birds - #576

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

A Cooper's Hawk surveys my backyard, searching for a possible meal.

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2023 was the hottest year on record and 2024 may be even hotter.

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At the other end of the spectrum, Beijing experienced its coldest December since 1951.

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Meanwhile, hotter, drier air in Europe is causing a greater wildfire risk and is affecting farmers' success in raising their crops.

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We have live oaks and red oaks in our yard and I can confirm that it has been a bumper crop year for acorns in Texas.

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Is this pyramid in Indonesia the world's oldest?

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Oil refineries on the Gulf Coast continue to pollute the air.

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Californians have been excited by recent sightings of orcas off their southern coast.

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This is the critically endangered Gorgeted Puffleg, a resident of the high Andes and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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There is finally some good news regarding the status of Florida's manatees.

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In Britain, the government has a strategy for restoring the country's degraded temperate rainforest.

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Collisions with high-rise buildings kill up to a billion birds a year in America. Architects are working on ways to prevent that.

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Logging has inflicted severe damage to the boreal forests of Ontario and Quebec.

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Twenty-one U.S. species were declared extinct in 2023.

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As Siberia's ice is melting, information about its past is being revealed.

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Many of Africa's birds of prey are experiencing the collapse of their populations. Poisoning and persecution by humans is a major factor.

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North of Sydney, the largest male funnel-web spider, measuring more than three inches wide, has been found.

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There may have been another species of tyrannosaur living alongside Tyrannosaurus rex.

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At the Berlin Zoo, animals are getting unsold Christmas trees as snacks and playthings.

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Get ready for a rare celestial event: A total solar eclipse will occur on April 8.

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The cause of much excitement in Seattle.

Seattle birders are atwitter over a rare visit from a Black-and-White Warbler.

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Was 2023 the "beginning of the end" of the fossil fuel era? Some climate scientists think so.

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Australia's Buff-breasted Buttonquail has never been photographed but some researchers are hoping to change that.

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Uruguay is making strides in its green power transition from fossil fuels to wind energy.

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This is Jonathan the tortoise who lives on St. Helena Island. At (about) 191 years old, he is the world's oldest known living land animal.

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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