This week in birds

This week in birds - #626

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

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week was one of my favorite birds when I was growing up. It is the beautiful Eastern Towhee, although when I was a child I knew it as the Rufous-sided Towhee. By any name, it is a remarkably beautiful bird with a sweet song.

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Shall we celebrate "Gulf of Mexico Day" on March 18?

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The Environmental Protection Agency has become the Environmental Destruction Agency in the new administration. Apparently that administration believes that greenhouse gases are good for our health and there will be no resistance to climate change. And birds will die as a result.

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In fact, the Fracker in Chief, otherwise called the Secretary of Energy, believes that the world needs more fossil fuels, not less.

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A new study indicates that microplastics may already be affecting our food supply.

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Meanwhile, the fossil fuel lobby is campaigning for immunity from lawsuits.

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Planting more trees is one partial solution to protecting against heat deaths.

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Peregrine Falcons came close to being wiped out before DDT was banned in the United States in 1972. They've made a remarkable comeback but now they face new threats.

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Cacti smuggling has become a big thing but sometimes the smugglers do get caught.

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Monarch butterflies have been reported in my area but I've seen none in my yard yet.

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Dana Milbank of The Washington Post has an appreciation of the spotted salamander.

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As the current administration slashes foreign aid, including that for health care, it is having an effect around the world; e.g., tuberculosis is resurgent.

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But aren't Snowy Owls supposed to be...er..."snowy"?

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The Supreme Court refused to hear arguments by Republicans that states cannot sue oil companies over their role in global warming.

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Evidence of old wildfires can be found in the bark of ancient trees.

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Hawaii's endangered birds may be even further endangered by federal budget cuts.

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The Galapagos Rail had not been seen on Floreana Island in the Galapagos since 1835 when it was seen by Charles Darwin. But now it has turned up again, sighted at three different locations on the island.

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Sometimes moving animal species to new locations can be a good thing.

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This Bullock's Oriole has been causing quite a stir in the Bethesda, Maryland, neighborhood where it has turned up. The birds are normally seen out West or in Mexico.

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And in Washington, a Mallard Duck has been nesting at a busy intersection about a block from the White House.

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Drones flying over the Canadian High Arctic have captured images of Narwhals playing with their food.

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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