This week in birds

This week in birds - #657

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

This little beauty is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It is the Velvety Black-Tyrant and I think that we can agree that it is very well-named. It is a bird of the dry grasslands and forests of eastern Brazil, the only place, in fact, that it is found. The bird has not been well-studied, but scientists believe that its population is stable and that it benefits from having a very large range. Still, it is vulnerable to the dangers that face all birds: habitat loss, a changing climate, and pesticide use.

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Our current administration's Interior Department has canceled an enormous solar power project in the Nevada desert that would have been one of the world's largest.

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It has, in fact, been a crushing year all-round for American science as the administration has sharply cut funding for scientific research and cut thousands of jobs.

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The president seems determined to bring back the coal industry as he shuts down solar projects.

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In other bad news, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have jumped by a record amount, according to U.N. studies.

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California now has a "State Snake" and it's a beauty. It is the Giant Garter Snake.

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A tipping point in climate change has been reached with widespread coral dieback.

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Jeffrey Meldrum, a scientist who had studied "Bigfoot" (Sasquatch) has died at age 67.

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Sandhill Cranes and many other species are on the move in their winter migration.

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Future seas may look somewhat different from those today, because humans are altering them - like everything else on Earth, it seems.

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Zombie wildfires are causing extensive damage in the western states and testing the ability of the firefighters who are trying to control them.

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Republicans are attempting to weaken one of the nation's oldest environmental protection acts, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

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Wildfire plus rain can be a dangerous combination.

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Wolves have a well-founded fear of humans.

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Among all the bad news in the latest report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, there are actually some bright spots.

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Monarch butterflies have begun to arrive at their California and Texas winter sites.

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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