This week in birds

This week in birds - #658

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

This is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. It is the Groove-billed Ani, a bird of the most southern tip of Texas, into Central America and on into the northern and western parts of South America. The bird is given the common name of "Tick eater" which is a bit misleading, but like Cattle Egrets, it does enjoy dining on the insects that are stirred up by the feet of cattle.

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Although the federal government is shut down, some employees are still working - those who issue permits for oil, gas, and mining operations, for example. Priorities...

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And no more climate research in the Arctic region, it would seem. Will we even notice when everything finally melts?

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It seems the phrase "survival of the fittest" may be somewhat misunderstood.

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A close friend of Vice President J.D. Vance has just been appointed to take over the NIH Environmental Health Institute.

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Was the evolution of our species shaped in part by our exposure to lead? New research seems to indicate that.

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Colorado is building the "world's largest" wildlife overpass, giving big animals like elk a safe way to pass.

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Here's a link to fifteen images from this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.

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A 3,500-year-old Egyptian military fortress has been discovered in the Sinai Desert.

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A zoo filled with misfit animals is almost out of money for its operation.

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A maternal lynx named Lena was rescued from a fur farm and now she helps to raise young orphaned animals including kittens, bear cubs, and puppies.

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The North Atlantic right whale is one of the planet's rarest whales, but the good news is that its population is growing.

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Fire Island, New York's only federal wilderness area has seen an explosion of the population of feral cats which has dire consequences for the islands native birds.

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Off Santa Cruz, California, those feisty otters are at it again - stealing surfboards.

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The first discovery of hand and foot bones of an ancient cousin of our human ancestor, Paranthropus boisei, suggests they were capable of making and using simple stone tools.

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The "Coral Triangle" is a biodiverse patch of ocean around the Philippines and Papua New Guinea that seems to be resilient to climate change.

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In Sequoia Park, California, a young black bear broke into the zoo in order to visit the zoo's bears.

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A 1-in-30 million calico lobster was recently caught off the coast of Massachusetts, after which she found a home in the Northeastern University's Marine Science Center.

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The green sea-turtle is making a comeback and the once endangered critters have now been reclassified as "a species of least concern."

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A new study has found that lizards with missing limbs still seem to thrive amazingly well.

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A California student took chickens from a slaughterhouse. Was it a rescue or a crime? (As one who grew up on a farm and whose early playmates were often chickens, I'm definitely on the side of the rescuer and the chickens.)

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Finally, here are the finalists from this year's Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. Enjoy!

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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