This week in birds

This week in birds - #593

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

Typical ~~Barn~~ Cliff Swallow nests under a bridge.

*~*~*~*

Most birds seek to avoid hurricanes but one seabird actually flies straight into them.

*~*~*~*

Maryland is trying a unique method for getting rid of invasive fish; it is encouraging people to eat them!

*~*~*~*

A carcass of the world's rarest whale has washed up on a New Zealand, affording scientists a golden opportunity to dissect and study it.

*~*~*~*

A sea-level rise has driven the Key Largo tree cactus to extinction.

*~*~*~*

The Xerces blue butterfly went extinct in San Francisco in the 1940s but now scientists are releasing a closely related species in the area in an effort to establish it there.

*~*~*~*

Houston is called the Bayou City and when hurricanes pass through it sometimes becomes more bayou than city.

*~*~*~*

Climate change affects insects in myriad ways, including their colors and their sex lives.

*~*~*~*

Even Afghanistan's Taliban who reject so much of science have to admit the reality of climate change.

*~*~*~*

The Guadalupe Murrelet is the rarest of all the Alcids. It is also the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

*~*~*~*

Insects - especially ants - are some of the most amazing creatures on Earth.

*~*~*~*

Nevada is the driest state and it is testing a pilot program that will encourage farmers to conserve the precious water resource.

*~*~*~*

This is a Sumatran orangutan named Tua and her baby who was born recently at the Philadelphia Zoo. Both mother and baby are doing well according to zoo officials.

*~*~*~*

And here is another recent birth, a Siamese crocodile, one of sixty born in the wild last month. This is notable because the Siamese crocodile was listed as virtually extinct in the wild in the 1990s.

*~*~*~*

Asian honeybees have some impressive weapons with which to defend their hives from invaders such as ants.

*~*~*~*

Paint Rock in Central Texas was an ancient ceremonial site for Native Americans and it contains more than 1,500 individual images that were painted by them over many centuries.

*~*~*~*

Mysterious fossils from 310 million years ago may have finally been deciphered by paleontologists.

*~*~*~*

Forests that are being restored in Borneo are proving to help not only the creatures of those forests but the people who live there as well.

*~*~*~*

4,000 ancient skeletons unearthed in Berlin are being reinterred with honor, after having been studied by scientists for years.

*~*~*~*

Melting ice sheets are making Earth bulkier causing it to rotate more slowly and having the effect of making our days longer.

*~*~*~*

China has long been the world's biggest source of greenhouse gases but that era may be coming to an end.

*~*~*~*

A new study has postulated that Pompeii was actually hit by a double whammy - not only the well-known volcano but also an earthquake that happened about the same time as the eruption.

*~*~*~*

A wildfire destroyed Lahaina in the Hawaiian Islands but it is now being rebuilt as a wetland.

*~*~*~*

A new book, Women in the Valley of the Kings, details the history of 19th-century women archaeologists who explored the region.

*~*~*~*

Courtship among frogs can be a deadly enterprise for the males.

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