This week in birds

This week in birds - #580

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

The female Red-winged Blackbird looks nothing like her flashy mate. One could even take her for a large sparrow until one sees her striding across the yard. That strut definitely gives her away.

*~*~*~*

One might think that climate change denialism has run its course but not with 15% of Americans it seems.

*~*~*~*

A warm Atlantic could be foretelling an active hurricane season.

*~*~*~*

Thriving plant life on the Greenland ice sheet where it really shouldn't be is causing climate scientists to be concerned.

*~*~*~*

The side of a frog may seem a strange place for a mushroom to grow, but Nature will find a way.

*~*~*~*

Parthenogenesis is yet another solution that Nature has found but it is one that isn't available to us mammals.

*~*~*~*

Paraquat, a toxic herbicide linked to Parkinson's Disease, has again been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use in this country. That seems like a serious contradiction of the agency's name.

*~*~*~*

How was Earth sent into its longest winter? Scientists have a new theory.

*~*~*~*

Can we set up needed solar power projects without harming Nature?

*~*~*~*

Planting trees can be a good thing but they have to be the right kind of trees.

*~*~*~*

The North Atlantic right whale is already critically endangered but after two have been found dead recently there may be reason to believe their situation is even more serious than previously thought.

*~*~*~*

A defunct golf course in California has been turned into an ecological life raft.

*~*~*~*

The Amazon rainforest could be near to reaching the tipping point of its destruction.

*~*~*~*

This is Gaia, a black-footed cat living at the Hogle Zoo in Utah. Black-footed cats are a small, cute, and vulnerable species. They also hold the title of the deadliest cat on Earth.

*~*~*~*

We owe a debt to the turtle mothers.

*~*~*~*

Did the same asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs actually provide a boost to birds?

*~*~*~*

A new report from the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals says that more than a fifth of species under international protection are threatened with extinction.

*~*~*~*

Could a Stone Age wall found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea be Europe's oldest megastructure?

*~*~*~*

Alligator snapping turtles may start out as pets and then be released into the wild when the owners tire of them or can no longer care for them. Fluffy got lucky.

*~*~*~*

Raw sewage in the Tijuana River along the U.S.-Mexico border is creating a public health crisis.

*~*~*~*

Cave art recently discovered in Patagonia is over 8,000 years old.

*~*~*~*

A 23-year-old platypus found in a creek in Australia may be able to teach scientists things that will help its species survive.

*~*~*~*

Should one of Egypt's pyramids be "restored"?

*~*~*~*

These two Chilean Flamingo chicks, along with their four siblings, owe their lives to the creative thinking of an Alaskan Airlines flight attendant.

*~*~*~*

Coral bleaching has now exceeded the parameters of the alert scale that had been in place for more than a decade.

*~*~*~*

Collaring polar bears can teach scientists a lot about those animals and their environment and how climate change is affecting them.

*~*~*~*

Here's a report about Flaco the escaped Eurasian Eagle-owl's year of freedom in the wilds of New York City.

*~*~*~*

Who invented kissing? The Sumerians, maybe?

*~*~*~*

I'll leave you with a picture of Jackie, the Bald Eagle, protecting her three precious eggs after a recent snowstorm.

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

Search This Blog