This week in birds

This week in birds - #618

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

This fantastically colored creature is the very aptly named Shining Sunbeam, also called the Copper-winged Hummingbird, a large, conspicuous hummingbird whose habitat includes both slopes of the Andes, from Colombia south through Ecuador and Peru. Its population is believed to be stable.

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In his last days in office, the current president is doing what he can to protect climate funding from the depredations of the incoming president.

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The deadly Los Angeles wildfires affect wildlife as well as people. Here are some ways to help them.

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"Guerrilla rewilding" is now a thing and is apparently responsible for the recent release of four lynx in the Scottish Highlands. All have now been safely recaptured.

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This little cutie is the Danish-Swedish farm dog.

We are not big football fans in my family (sacrilege I know) but we always look forward to Super Bowl Sunday. No, not for the game but for the American Kennel Club dog show that is broadcast that day. This year, we may see a new breed of dog that has just been recognized by the AKC. It's the Danish-Swedish farm dog.

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Melting ice in Wyoming has led to the discovery of a 5,900-year-old forest of whitebark pine trees.

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And speaking of cuties, here is the little Northern Saw-whet Owl, a master of hiding.

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On the other end of the size scale from the Saw-whet Owl is the giant Steller's Sea Eagle. It's not a native North American bird species but one has been spotted at various places across the continent in recent years and has lately been sighted at an eastern Canada park.

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Tattoos have become very popular in American culture in recent years but they are definitely nothing new; the Chancay people who lived on the Peruvian coast around 900 to 1500 C.E. also adorned themselves with sometimes quite intricate tattoos.

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Climate change is happening over the long term but is affecting daily weather as well and has recently contributed to deadly floods around the Mediterranean Sea.

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The Environmental Protection Agency has warned that "forever chemicals" are present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer and they could pose risks to human health.

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This story reminded me of one of my all-time favorite television series, Detectorists: A hoard of eleventh century silver coins has been discovered in England.

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Here are some quite amazing images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.

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A 4,100-year-old burial chamber of a physician who treated ancient Egyptian kings has been discovered and excavated by archaeologists.

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Unsurprisingly, the president-elect's choice for Energy Department Secretary rejects the idea that climate change is contributing to more frequent and severe wildfires.

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And in other news of the incoming administration, the pick for secretary of the Health and Human Services Department claims that we are being poisoned by seed oils.

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Migrating bats use storm fronts to help them on their way.

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The news of the world can be unrelentingly depressing but Dana Milbank assures us that spring will come again.

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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