This week in birds

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.

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

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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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

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

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Also in Washington, gophers are becoming ecological heroes.

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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.

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

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

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Here is an appreciation of the Kookaburra.

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

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

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

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

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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