This week in birds - #635

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

The colorful Tropical Parula is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. This beautiful bird can be found breeding as far north as the southernmost tip of Texas and is a resident through parts of Mexico and Central America and into South America. It is decreasing in numbers across its range.

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Monarch butterflies are on the move and have reached as far north as Michigan, New York, and Ontario.

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Our closest cousins, the chimpanzees, have been observed and documented using medicinal plants to treat wounds and other injuries.

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The current iteration of the EPA is rolling back protections against "forever chemicals" in drinking water. (I don't think they are taking that middle initial very seriously.)

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The fight against global warming does not need to conflict with the effort to end global poverty. 

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A new report outlines how corporations have fought against accountability for their part in global warming.

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"Forest management" is not necessarily a good thing; in fact, it is often just the opposite.

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Our current president hates wind energy, but its proponents are trying to find ways to change his mind.

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Florida's mangrove forests have been hammered by Nature and by human intervention, but there is an effort underway to restore them.

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Research published in the journal Nature this week argues that the feathered dinosaur, the Archaeopteryx, was probably capable of flight, at least for short distances, not unlike its descendant, the chicken.

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Is bringing extinct species like the dire wolf or woolly mice back through selective breeding a good idea? Or is it an unnecessary distraction from saving the species that still exist?

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I must confess it warms my heart to know that Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still out there after more than forty-seven years, still carrying out the mission assigned to them.

Comments

  1. David M. Gascoigne,May 17, 2025 at 5:50 AM

    Hello, Dorothy. Thank you for the roundup. I have been fascinated by Archaeopteryx for about as long as I can remember, and there has been so much speculation about whether it was capable of actual flight. I am not sure we will ever know definitively. This whole business of resurrecting extinct species irks me to no end. This is pure intellectual curiosity at work, not useful science. Let the dead remain dead and let’s allocate our resources, both human and financial, to saving what we have and protecting habitat, otherwise there will soon be many more extinct species to bring back. Have a great weekend - David

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 17, 2025 at 10:55 AM

      I certainly agree that we need to focus our resources on saving what is still alive rather than resurrecting the extinct.

      Delete
  2. jabblogMay 17, 2025 at 6:14 AM

    The report about chimpanzees caring for each other was most heartwarming.
    The Voyagers are intrepid, it seems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 17, 2025 at 10:57 AM

      "Intrepid" seems not even a big enough word for the Voyagers!

      Delete
  3. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMay 17, 2025 at 6:24 AM

    I am glad that you and I are still able to think somewhat coherently after being besieged by disaster after disaster lately here in the US. I shall be comforted by the report on Voyager 1 and 2, I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM

      Well, there are days when I question my coherence but never yours. The constant news of truly awful actions by our current government is so appalling that it boggles the imagination.

      Delete
    2. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMay 24, 2025 at 9:28 AM

      I've been, frankly, struggling, and I've found that for my own mental health, I must set aside my focus on these people. I have chosen to focus instead on looking at people who are continuing to move things toward truth and justice and beauty and goodness, especially in nature.

      Delete
  4. thecuecardMay 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM

    That chimpanzee story was quite remarkable. I saw that earlier in the week. And glad to know about the monarch butterflies that far north, wow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 18, 2025 at 7:11 PM

      Monarch migration is truly one of the more remarkable stories in Nature.

      Delete

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