This week in birds - #625

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

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is a handsome shorebird, the Hudsonian Godwit. The "Hudwit" is a particularly well-traveled bird that breeds in Alaska but, after the breeding season is over, it may fly all the way to the tip of South America, ending up on Tierra del Fuego. 

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The United States is burning. Literally. There are wildfires burning all across the country, many of them in Texas. Meanwhile, the federal government is cutting federal wildfire crews and the consequences of that could be dire indeed.

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Global sea ice hit a record low in February, which was the third warmest February on record.

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And then there is the El Niño/La Niña weather pattern in the Pacific that has its effect on global weather.

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There are thirty-six companies that are responsible for at least half of the world's climate-altering emissions.

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Here is a list of the worst villains who are damaging our public lands. Number one on the list is the Secretary of the Interior. I don't think that is what the creators of that position had in mind.

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Europe is suffering an invasion of Asian hornets which prey on native insect species.

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An executive order by the man whom a majority of those who voted in last year's election selected as our president has called for swathes of trees in national forests and on other public lands to be cut for timber.

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Off the coasts of Seattle, killer whales have been hunting seabirds rather than their usual prey of sea mammals.

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The Bald Eagle pair that nest at the National Arboretum in Washington is expecting chicks - possibly in early April.

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Here's how to garden so that you welcome birds into that space.

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A beautiful bird of the prairies - the Chestnut-collared Longspur.

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The Biden administration had sued a chemical manufacturer to stop the release of a carcinogen from its Louisiana plant. The new administration in Washington has dropped the suit. Presumably the carcinogen will now be released into the environment.

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In some good news for the environment, England will soon be releasing beavers into its waterways in an effort to help Nature recover. 

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The funding cuts by the new administration will have the effect of putting elephants and rhinos at increased risk of poaching.

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A new study shows that butterfly populations in the United States have shrunk by 22% over the last twenty years. See how the numbers are increasing or decreasing in your area.

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Those who care about butterflies are stepping up to save the ones where they live. The Western Monarchs in particular have their champions.

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In some areas, Monarch butterfly numbers are actually increasing.

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Nutrias are an invasive species in some of this country's marshy areas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is encouraging people to help control the population by hunting and eating them.

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Many things can influence birdsong, including age and migration status.

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Unfortunately, this iteration of the Supreme Court does not seem to be a friend of the environment.

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And, of course, national park facilities in many parts of the country are being targeted for closing. After all, Americans don't need or use those facilities, do they?

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The scientists who are attempting to recreate the woolly mammoth have managed to create the...woolly mouse! Well, it's a start... 

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Marley, a Northern Rockhopper Penguin who lives at Moody Gardens in Houston, is quite the artist!

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These days it often seems we are surrounded by nothing but lies, but the truth always matters.

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An Ontario photographer captured a twenty-minute battle between a Canada Goose and a Bald Eagle when the eagle attacked the goose. Spoiler alert: The goose won!