This week in birds

This week in birds - #615

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

This little cutie is the Winter Wren, a bird that nests across much of southern Canada and the northeastern United States. Some of them spend their winters with us here in southeast Texas. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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Is it possible to unite the disparate factions of the climate movement to defend the Earth? A group in France is trying to do just that.

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A related question might be is it possible that birding could change the world? This new book tells how that might be done.

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Were our ancient ancestors more likely to be predator or prey? Perhaps we have misunderstood much about how our species evolved.

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Red wolves are an endangered species and it is important for us to help them avoid extinction. One way to do that is to help them safely cross roads.

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Balm of Gilead was a fragrant, highly prized resin in the ancient Middle East. For fourteen years, scientists have been growing a tree akin to Judean balsam, source of the balm, from a 1000-year-old seed that was found in the Judean desert.

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A SONAR camera has given proof that thousands of Chinook salmon have returned home to the Klamath River since a dam on the river was destroyed.

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You could be forgiven for thinking that the Bald Eagle has been this country's "National Bird" all along, but you would be wrong. It is only since Christmas Eve when President Biden signed a bill making it so.

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Newly unearthed animal remains in Alaska have offered clues as to how wolves became domesticated and morphed into dogs.

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Many in Auburn, Alabama are outraged that a local developer destroyed the nest of a beloved local pair of Bald Eagles.

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The land that straddles the Finnish/Russian border is being "rewilded" and as part of that project, wild reindeer are being reintroduced to the area. No doubt Santa would approve!

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Musk oxen are being pushed farther and farther north by the warming climate. Will these mammals that survived the Ice Age now be able to survive the heat?

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These sea otters are important soldiers in the war against invasive green crabs along California's coast.

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Farmers in the Midwest are embracing the idea of planting strips of native plants on their farmland to help reduce soil erosion.

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The Massaco people are an isolated group living in the Brazilian rainforest. They reject contact with the outside world but automatic cameras planted in the rainforest appear to show that they are thriving.

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Perentie lizards, native to Australia, are one of the world's largest lizards. The Los Angeles zoo has announced that they have been able to hatch two baby perenties. When grown, they could be as much as eight feet long.

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The last member of another uncontacted indigenous group living in the Amazon died in 2022. What should now become of the land where he lived?

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A surprising danger to the continued existence of sloths is electric power lines. They climb onto the lines and are sometimes electrocuted as a result.

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Humans are too often guilty of failing "see" or appreciate the plants around us. Experts call it "plant blindness" and it could cost us.

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Restoring oyster reefs helps not only the oysters but other residents of the reef and, ultimately, humans as well.

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Finally, here's to Flaco the owl, Moo Deng the hippo, and all the other celebrity animals that enlivened the news in 2024. What new celebrities will 2025 bring us?

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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