This week in birds - #661

 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.

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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.

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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Roundup is still out there, still doing damage to the environment and the 2000 study that declared it safe has now been retracted.

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The link between humans and the natural world still exists. The frogs tell us so.

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The COP30 meeting in Belém, Brazil has been plagued by extreme heat which might be expected at a meeting about climate change.

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In Washington (state) the Spotted Towhees and other birds are giving their own "Yelp Reviews" of forest restoration work.

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Scientists can now track individual Monarch butterflies using tiny sensors that can be attached to them. It is revealing new information about their journey.

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The Arctic is the hottest it has been in 125 years and that is not a good thing.

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The current administration in Washington is proposing changes to the Endangered Species Act that could represent new threats to the already endangered Piping Plover. 

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Fifteen coal plants that were scheduled to be closed will apparently live on, thanks to the current administration.

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The current administration is also proposing to limit the EPA's authority to limit pollution is rivers, wetlands and other bodies of water across the country.

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We knew wolves were clever but do they really use tools?

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In a monthlong global operation led by Interpol, nearly 30,000 trafficked animals were rescued.

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Ancient eggshells of a crocodile that inhabited the inland waterways of Australia some 55 million years ago have been discovered by paleontologists. 

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African Gray Parrots have become victims of  TikTok's obsession with them.

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Worker ants being tricked into killing their own queen? It's a plot straight out of "Game of Thrones" but apparently it is true.

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Are polar bears adapting to a warmer climate? Changes in their DNA are suggestive.

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Iowa's farms produce an incredible 110 billion pounds of manure in a year. Where does it all go?

Comments

  1. thecuecardJanuary 4, 2026 at 4:32 PM

    Some are of the articles are so alarming I'm too scared to read. Just letting the pollution go on. Thank goodness for the Monarch butterflies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersJanuary 4, 2026 at 7:13 PM

      I agree that many of the articles referenced are alarming and yet, as you say, we seem incapable of doing anything about the continued pollution. But, yes, thank goodness for the Monarchs and long may they fly!

      Delete

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