This week in birds

This week in birds - #586

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

My son-in-law is currently in China on a business trip and he sent me pictures of some of the various birds he has seen there. Among them were these, of what I identified as an Oriental Magpie, a lovely bird, which is apparently quite common there.

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And back on this continent, this lovely bird is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It is the Northern Waterthrush, a bird of the bogs and swamps of the northern parts of the continent during the breeding season, returning to Central America and the northern parts of South America during the winter.

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Studies show how environmental changes can actually rewrite a species' genome.

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Severe flooding in southern Brazil could cause the extinction of some local species.

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But the good news is that science has proved that conservation does actually work.

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African Penguins are in peril and conservationists are taking action to try to force the government to provide protection and prevent the species' extinction.

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Just how nasty are Asian hornets? Or are they simply misunderstood?

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Here in Southeast Texas, the battle against bloodsucking mosquitoes is well underway. (I think we are losing.)

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Over in East Sussex, the Great Tit chicks are fledging.

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In Mexico, extreme heat is causing the death of howler monkeys.

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P-22, the famous mountain lion from Los Angeles, is no longer with us but a new lion has been seen recently in the Hollywood Hills. A successor perhaps.

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Mangrove forests of the world are imperiled by human behavior, as are so many species.

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Migratory fish populations have fallen by more than 80% since 1970 according to recent reports.

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Here are some wonderful pictures from The Guardian of the Week in Wildlife.

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In Great Britain, the revival of medieval farming practices has provided a haven for wildlife.

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A soil fungi could help to save some of the world's threatened orchids. Scientists are transplanting the fungi in an attempt to help them.

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Streams and rivers in Alaska are turning orange, apparently as a result of melting permafrost.

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Can the endangered right whale be saved?

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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