This week in birds

This week in birds - #594

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

Baby Burrowing Owls trying to make sense of the world. I know just how they feel.

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Canada is burning. Hundreds of people have been evacuated in the westernmost province of British Columbia where many blazes are out of control.

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And firefighters must attempt to do their jobs on some of the hottest days on record. The planet broke its all-time heat record two days in a row.

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In red-hot Texas, a number of people have died after Hurricane Beryl left them without power for an extended period. (Which calls to mind the question of how humans lived here before air conditioning was available.)

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It should not be a surprise that humans and chimpanzees share fundamental features of communication that date back as far as their ancient common ancestor.

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Scientists studying Jurassic Age small mammals have found that those critters lived slow and died old unlike many of their descendants today.

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The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will provide funding for twenty-five new projects proposed by states, tribes, local governments, and territories to fight climate change.

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Wolverines are having a moment and Colorado will now participate in that moment by reintroducing the endangered species to the state.

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Brazil will be the host country for the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2025, but to do so they will be carving up an Amazonian reserve.

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The International Botanical Congress has voted to change the names of more than two hundred plants, algae, and fungi species, removing a racial slur that was a part of the names.

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The black market trade in wildlife is threatening bats. Add this to the threats of climate change and habitat loss.

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It's not just Canada that is burning; California, too, is fighting some of the biggest wildfires of the year.

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The ethereal and graceful Red-tailed Tropicbird, a bird native to Hawaii and other oceanic islands and coral atolls throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans, is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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The Audubon Society has suggestions for the best plants to grow to attract and shelter birds.

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A new study by Brazilian scientists has determined that wild sharks in the seas off the coast of the country have tested positive for cocaine, astonishing proof of how illegal drug consumption by humans is harming wildlife. How the cocaine actually made its way into the sharks' system is unknown.

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It seems that humans share some cognitive abilities with fruit bats.

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Life on Mars? Maybe.

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Komodo dragons are astonishing creatures and one of their amazing features is that their teeth are iron-coated which helps to keep them sharp and resistant to wear.

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Here's a look at another extraordinary creature - an arthropod that lived half a billion years ago.

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Giraffes as peace ambassadors? Well, stranger things have happened.

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My favorite picture from this week - July's full moon, variously known as the Buck Moon or Thunder Moon. It calls to mind the poem I loved as a child, The Wind and the Moon by George Macdonald.

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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