This week in birds - #639

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

Isn't he cute? He is a Black-crested Titmouse and he is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. His range includes central and western Texas, Oklahoma, and northeastern Mexico. He is a cousin to the Tufted Titmouse, a resident of my yard, one that I frequently encounter, sometimes in company with Carolina Chickadees, whenever I am outside. The Black-crested often hybridizes with the Tufted when their ranges overlap.

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Earth's temperature is soaring and that is a threat to our food supply as food crops must quickly adapt to those higher temperatures in order to photosynthesize.

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Hurricane season started two weeks ago but so far the Gulf and the South Atlantic are quiet.

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Monarch butterflies in the western states are beginning to reach their summer breeding grounds and so hope for their continued survival is kindled.

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Ocean acidification passed a critical tipping point some years ago and is now a threat to global ecosystems and coastal economies.

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Ancestral lands that were taken from them over 120 years ago have now been returned to California's Yurok Tribe.

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We have a small goldfish pond in our backyard and I love to sit beside it and watch the critters that visit. Among them are dragonflies, including Autumn Meadowhawks like this one. 

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California's Anna's Hummingbirds are expanding their range northward and are changing the shape of their beaks in order to better take advantage of backyard feeders.

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Atlantic sturgeons are still endangered, but all along the eastern coast from Maine to Florida, the population is rebounding and the prehistoric species is staging a comeback.  

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Wild pigs are becoming a problem in the Bay Area of California and their numbers appear to be growing.

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Here are some fun facts about orioles.

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The Pacific island nation of Tonga is set to recognize that whales have legal rights.

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When I was about twelve or thirteen years old, I read The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It totally captured my imagination and I reread it several times over that summer. All these years later, Mt. Etna is again putting on a spectacular display.

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How do you round up fourteen million honeybees? These beekeepers know and they got the job done after the bees escaped from an overturned truck in Washington state.

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Axolotls fascinate me. In addition to being perfectly adorable, they have the ability to regrow missing limbs and scientists are studying them to try to understand the process.

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The giant long-necked sauropod dinosaurs were long believed to be vegetarian and now there is proof of that. 

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My introduction to Tasmanian devils was in the cartoons that were featured along with the Saturday matinees I used to frequent at the Princess theater when I was a teenager. Now, Australia has a breeding program to try to help the devils come back from the depletion of their population and this week they confirmed at least ten joeys growing in their mother's pouches.

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It can be hard to tell House Finches from Purple Finches but here are a few clues that might help.