This week in birds

This week in birds - #612

(Note to readers: If you are unable to access any of the links below, I encourage you search Google on the subject and find a link that is available to you.)

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

This is a Plain Chachalaca that I photographed on a visit to the Rio Grande Valley a few years ago. The Chachalaca is primarily a resident of Eastern Mexico and Central America but it does stray north into southernmost Texas where I saw it. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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Bird flu is abroad in the land once again, with several cases having been reported in California.

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If countries do not curb production of plastic, the world may not be able to handle the volume of plastic waste within ten years.

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Scientists are studying the flight of hummingbirds in order to help them design robots for drone warfare. That just seems wrong.

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Ancient footprints discovered in Kenya indicate that two of our related species probably shared the same habitat and may have interacted.

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Whale sharks are the largest fish found on our planet but their size does not protect them from predation by killer whales.

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Wisdom, a Laysan Albatross, is the oldest known banded bird in the wild, aged at least 74 years. She has a new mate and has returned to her nest and laid an egg which the mate is now incubating.

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Drones and artificial intelligence have helped researchers discover more Nazca lines in the Peruvian desert. The discoveries have doubled the number of known geoglyphs in the area.

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In the 1960s, the Bald Eagle was driven perilously close to extinction in the country where it is the "national bird." But, with a little help from its friends, it has come all the way back.

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In Massachusetts, where wetlands were once turned into cranberry bogs, there is a move afoot to restore the wetlands.

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It turns out one can learn quite a lot from dinosaur poop. Well, if you are a paleontologist you can.

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This is the fossilized skull of an amphibian that lived more than 230 million years ago on the land of the Eastern Shoshone tribe. The tribe gave it a name in their language. It is the Ninumbeehan dookoodukah.

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What a good idea this is! Across the country, cemeteries are rewilding, becoming homes for native plants, wildflowers, and animals.

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Finally, here are photos of the week in wildlife.

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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