This week in birds

This week in birds - #646

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

The ʻAlalā, or Hawaiian Crow, is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. Sadly, this bird has effectively been extirpated in the wild but an effort is being made to bring it back. That will be a decades-long process and its success is in no way guaranteed, but we can hope...

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So, the idea of a border wall between the United States and Mexico is on the table again and is just as stupid and destructive to the environment as ever.

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In other terrible news for the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing that pollution limits be revoked. What will the nation's environment look like after four years of this?

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The bane of my childhood summers were the little red bugs known as chiggers. They are still out there, burrowing into the skin of another generation and making life miserable for their victims.

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The world's supply of water is threatened and that is a very bad thing.

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When did you become a birder? (I'm assuming, of course, that you are.) For me, it was as a teenager; for others, it may come a bit later (or earlier) and the motives may be different, but the passion is the same.

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A treasure trove of fossils from the Cambrian Period has been uncovered in the Grand Canyon.

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Aspen trees are beginning to flourish again in northern Yellowstone Park, and that is thanks, in large part, to the reintroduction of wolves into the park.

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Why are female raptors larger than male raptors?

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If you are one of those people who go into the ocean, how worried should you be about being attacked by a shark?

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In Montana, the concern is not sharks but grizzly bears, but bear dogs are helping to keep the animals at bay.

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There's a new scheme afoot that may help to cool the water around the Great Barrier Reef and thus help to save the reef.

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There was a big earthquake in Russia this week but it did not produce the expected giant wave.

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It seems that the human brain is naturally wired by evolution to see biodiversity in the world around it; no expertise or additional training required.

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It's the fifteenth anniversary of the big oil spill into the Kalamazoo River and environmental groups are using the anniversary to try to raise awareness of the potential for another disastrous spill.

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A new DNA monitoring tool allows scientists to identify specific animals by their feces.

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Rooftop solar is a promising source of solar power and this administration, a champion of fossil fuel, is throwing roadblocks in its way to becoming widely available.

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Have you heard of "Earth Overshoot Day?" It's the day when the human demand for materials obtained from Nature exceeds what Earth can naturally regenerate in one year. This year that day came earlier than ever before - July 24.

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Studying the ice caps of Antarctica is helping scientists to search for alien life in the solar system.

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Some ancient dinosaurs had voice boxes similar to birds and may have sounded like them.

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The sacred ballgame of the ancient Mayas is being revived by their modern descendants.

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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