This week in birds - #611

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

The ever-present and ever-curious Carolina Wren, one of my favorite backyard birds.

*~*~*~*

President Biden visited the Brazilian rainforest on Sunday to emphasize the importance of taking action on climate change.

*~*~*~*

A "harbinger of doom"? A third oarfish has washed up on a beach in California.

*~*~*~*

Climate talks continue among the world's nations but the rich and poor are finding it hard to agree. Azerbaijan, the host of the talks, is getting a backlash over its support of fossil fuels. 

*~*~*~*

Sadly, the effort to save the endangered Northern Spotted Owl in the Pacific Northwest involves the killing of their more successful competitors, the Barred Owl.

*~*~*~*

Around Los Angeles, mountain lions are learning to coexist with their human neighbors - mostly by avoiding them.

*~*~*~*

Atmospheric river storms are getting bigger because of climate change and are wreaking havoc along the West Coast.

*~*~*~*

A frozen 35,000-year-old saber-toothed kitten has been found in Siberian, giving scientists a chance to study the differences between it and modern baby lions.

*~*~*~*

Giraffes, the tallest of land animals, are soon to be added to the list of endangered species.

*~*~*~*

In Washington, the Yakama Nation is helping to restore the Pacific lamprey.

*~*~*~*

Also in Washington, gophers are becoming ecological heroes.

*~*~*~*

EagleCams have become very popular with Nature lovers in recent years. A new one in Minnesota follows the lives of this pair, seen at their snow-covered nest.  

*~*~*~*

Following the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, salmon have returned to the area.

*~*~*~*

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is this lovely resident of the tundra and grasslands, the Lapland Longspur. 

*~*~*~*

Here is an appreciation of the Kookaburra.

*~*~*~*

The nation's northernmost town is in the dark now and won't see the sun again until January 22.

*~*~*~*

How to protect vulnerable Monarch butterflies, seen here congregating on their wintering grounds in Mexico, remains a difficult question.

*~*~*~*

New research has uncovered 4,000-year-old canals on the Yucatan peninsula that were in use even before the Maya occupied the area. 

*~*~*~*

Margaret Renkl ponders what we can do, individually and collectively, to help save what is left of Nature.

Comments

  1. jabblogNovember 23, 2024 at 4:00 AM

    Sad to hear that giraffes are now an endangered species. Oarfish as harbingers of doom are an interesting study. Ten foot long sea serpents are quite alarming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David M. Gascoigne,November 23, 2024 at 5:14 AM

    Good Saturday morning, Dorothy: Than you for the roundup. Your weekly dedication to this important post is remarkable. I was delighted to see the picture of the Lapland Longspur, a species that occurs here in small numbers in the winter, and it’s always a delight for us when we find a few - not without considerable effort I can assure you. They usually flock with Snow Buntings which occur in large numbers and it’s a question of sifting through them very carefully to find a longspur. If only they would sit still! Now I will go and get my second coffee and settle in to read the gloomy news. Giraffes about to be declared endangered is not a good start to my day! Best wishes - David

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 23, 2024 at 10:16 AM

      The roundup is just my little bit to try to increase awareness, but when I look back it just seems like a chronicle of disasters over the years.

      Delete
  3. Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are TakenNovember 24, 2024 at 11:23 AM

    So many topics to read about this week that are so crucial - as usual! The oarfish are terrifying. I can't even look at pictures of them. I just imagine them slithering around my ankles and pulling me down and drowning me. I love the eagle cams, they're one of my most favorite things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 24, 2024 at 1:11 PM

      I suspect the oarfish, terrifying though it may look, would be more afraid of you and inclined to avoid you.

      Delete
  4. thecuecardNovember 24, 2024 at 2:59 PM

    Thanks for the Renkl link & article. More must be done. Also sadly I went to the Minnesota webcam of the eagles ... and the nest has fallen and the chick was found deceased. Ugh. Wildlife has it so hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 24, 2024 at 6:08 PM

      Oh, I am sad to learn that. I had not checked the site since last week.

      Delete
  5. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzNovember 25, 2024 at 11:56 AM

    I cannot bear to think that giraffes will soon be on the endangered species list. Those tall, quiet animals...Sigh.

    I do love watching the Carolina Wrens that live in my backyard. What a delight they are!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersNovember 25, 2024 at 2:54 PM

      We can hope that adding the giraffes to the endangered list may offer them some protection. As for the wrens, they brighten my day every day!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

The Investigator by John Sandford: A review

Image
  I have read a few of John Sandford's books in the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. This book is a literal offspring of that series. It's the first in a series featuring Davenport's adopted daughter Letty Davenport. Letty is in her mid-20s and a graduate of Stanford. She works for a U.S. senator named Christopher Colles in a desk job but she's bored with her assignments. Then the senator offers her a chance to go into the field as a liaison between his office and the Department of Homeland Security.  In her first assignment in that position, she is sent to Texas along with DHS investigator John Kaiser to try to find out what is happening in regard to thefts of crude oil. The senator is not so concerned about the lost oil but wants to know where the money from its sale is going. Who is selling the oil and what they are doing with the profits? The suspicion is that a particularly nasty militia group led by a woman is involved. Letty and Kaiser head out to Texas, de...
Read more

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. ...
Read more