The Nature of Things

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This is actually last week's Bird of the Week and possibly my favorite winter visitor. (Well, okay, I have many favorites!) It is the lovely little White-throated Sparrow . It is still fairly common around our neighborhood in winter, although some sources mark it as being in decline. *~*~*~* The well-named Golden-winged Warbler is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week for this week. Unlike the White-throated Sparrow, its population is not in good shape. It has lost nearly sixty percent of its population since 1966, mainly due to habitat loss. The ABC is working with several partners to try to restore appropriate habitat. *~*~*~* The weedkiller Roundup is still out there, still doing damage to the environment and the 2000 study that declared it safe has now been retracted . *~*~*~* The link between humans and the natural world still exists. The frogs tell us so . *~*~*~* The COP30 meeting in  Belém, B...

  This is my 'Peggy Martin' rose that lives and blooms on the side of our garden shed in the backyard, a fairly inconspicuous part of the garden. I have often regretted that I planted it there when I bought it fourteen years ago and wished that I had planted it in the front yard where passersby and more neighbors would be able to see and admire it. But 'Peggy' doesn't seem to care if anyone sees her. She produces her beauty every year just because that is what Mother Nature instructs. And I sit in my backyard and gaze at that beauty and it brings me joy and a kind of peace to know that, even in this troubled and chaotic world, 'Peggy' blooms on. ( Here is a link to the story of the 'Peggy Martin' rose.)