The Nature of Things

I grew up in the country and the summer that  Léonie Adams  describes in this poem is very familiar to me, especially the description of stars on a summer night. They seem so close that one could reach out and touch them... Country Summer by Léonie Adams Now the rich cherry, whose sleek wood, And top with silver petals traced Like a strict box its gems encased, Has spilt from out that cunning lid, All in an innocent green round, Those melting rubies which it hid; With moss ripe-strawberry-encrusted, So birds get half, and minds lapse merry To taste that deep-red, lark’s-bite berry, And blackcap bloom is yellow-dusted. The wren that thieved it in the eaves A trailer of the rose could catch To her poor droopy sloven thatch, And side by side with the wren’s brood— O lovely time of beggar’s luck— Opens the quaint and hairy bud; And full and golden is the yield Of cows that never have to house, But all night nibble under boughs, Or cool their sides in the moist field. Into the room...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : A bird of the shoreline - both fresh and salt water - is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week , the Spotted Sandpiper . It can be seen teetering, bobbing, and darting along the water's edge throughout most of North America. It is also called the "Teeter-peep" which well describes its actions. It breeds all the way from the northern Arctic to the southern United States. Its non-breeding range includes the extreme southern U.S., including south Texas. *~*~*~* It should not come as a surprise that climate change is making forest fires more common around the world. *~*~*~* Brazil's Congress has  voted to weaken environmental protection rules  despite fierce opposition from environmentalists.  *~*~*~* Some animals seem to have an appreciation of music and are actually able to keep a beat. *~*~*~* Light pollution is a serious problem especially for birds on migration, and some cities, like ...

Summers, growing up in the South, were the best of times. Nikki Giovanni described them well in this poem.  Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni I always like summer best you can eat fresh corn from daddy's garden and okra and greens and cabbage and lots of barbecue and buttermilk and homemade ice-cream at the church picnic and listen to gospel music outside at the church homecoming and you go to the mountains with your grandmother and go barefooted and be warm all the time not only when you go to bed and sleep

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This is a Harpy Eagle , one of the largest and most powerful raptors in the world. It has a wingspan of 6.5 feet and talons the size of a grizzly's claws. Despite their size and strength, they are not known to be a threat to humans, but recently a woman in French Guiana was attacked by one . The woman was part of a tour group that it is thought may have interrupted the bird's hunt.   *~*~*~* Kerr County, Texas recently suffered devastating floods. It turns out that the voice that might have warned of danger had been silenced by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency .  *~*~*~* You may recall the story of the Sycamore Gap tree that was chopped down by vandals in September 2023. Now a section of the tree is going on display in England. *~*~*~* U.S. Customs and Border agents at the border crossing in San Diego recently discovered fourteen Keel-billed Toucans , a threatened species of bird that it ...