This week in birds

This week in birds - #602

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

My yard is still alive with migrating Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Sitting on my patio today, I counted nine at one time who were jostling over access to my feeders that hang next to the patio. But so far, I am seeing only adult females and immatures - nary an adult male like the one in this picture that I snapped last fall. I assume the males will be passing through soon.

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Floods and wildfires in Europe are a direct result of climate change according to authorities there. And it is not only in Europe that rising global heat is causing catastrophic damage.

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Moreover, a new reconstruction of prehistoric Earth shows that it was indeed a very hot place.

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Why do birds migrate?

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The Zimbabwe government has ordered the culling of 200 elephants because an extended drought has caused food shortages for the animals.

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Rising sea temperatures have contributed to a decline in the population of Florida's queen conchs. Now scientists are stepping in to try to aid the endangered shellfish.

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Some states are petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate "forever chemicals" air emissions.

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The nearly extinct Sihek, aka Guam Kingfisher, is getting an assist from biologists who are intent on saving the species.

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Are Indigenous peoples protecting Earth's biodiversity? That has been a widely spread factoid but it is now being debunked by scientists.

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Vultures are essential to the proper functioning of Nature and when they die out it is bad news for Nature and that includes humans.

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The Fish and Wildlife Service has petitioned the court to delete the gray wolf from protections of the Endangered Species Act, saying that the species has now sufficiently recovered to no longer require protection.

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The shy and secretive Bachman's Sparrow is decreasing in numbers. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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Scientists are using in vitro fertilization to produce young corals that can survive record heat events and reverse the widespread bleaching of reefs. They are planting them in reefs around the Gulf of Mexico.

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White-nose syndrome has devastated North American bat populations but scientists are finding ways to combat it.

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Eelgrass is an important part of a coastal environment so its decline along the coast of Maine is cause for concern.

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Thousands of people gather in Portland, Oregon to watch the nighttime routine of migrating Vaux's Swifts. (Maybe there is hope for humanity, after all.)

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Did you know there is a contest to see which water lily can hold the most weight? The answer is "quite a lot," as it turns out.

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A high school in Los Angeles was built over a bone bed from the Miocene era and a shell bed from the Pleistocene era and now researchers are revealing some of the secrets buried there.

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A federal study has found that climate change will boost the use of hydropower in the Pacific Northwest.

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The Canada Goose is familiar across the continent, at least in migration. But familiarity does not necessarily mean understanding.

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The rock art of the San people of South Africa may reveal a knowledge of paleontology that predates the Western study of that field.

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Native to eastern Asia, the giant joro spider has found its way to North America. First seen in Georgia in 2014, they've recently been sighted for the first time in Pennsylvania.

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The Dodo lived quite successfully on Earth for millions of years before being wiped out by humans. The last one died in 1662.

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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