This week in birds - #666

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

I have been gratified this week to hear the voice of Mourning Doves whenever I have ventured out into our yard. Over the past few years they and the little Inca Doves had been largely displaced in our neighborhood by the invasive White-winged Doves.  The White-wings are still here but not in the numbers that they once were and the Mourning Doves and Incas have resumed their place in the habitat. 

*~*~*~*

The daily news is filled with doom and gloom for those of us who care about the environment but there is hope.

*~*~*~*

However the news about greenhouse emissions from last year for the United States was not good as it showed an increase while the two previous years had shown decreases. 

*~*~*~*

Moreover, conservative activists seem poised to succeed in their efforts to stop government efforts to combat climate change.

*~*~*~*

We know how it ended but how did the age of dinosaurs begin?

*~*~*~*

What lies under Antarctica's ice? A new map shows us.

*~*~*~*

This is a newly discovered deep-sea chiton. The public was offered an opportunity to give it its scientific name and 8,000 suggestions later that name has been chosen.

*~*~*~*

China has engaged in mass tree planting around the Taklamakan Desert and has managed to turn one of the world's largest and driest deserts into a carbon sink that absorbs more carbon than it emits. 

*~*~*~*

Gray wolves are returning to Los Angeles County in California for the first time in nearly a century.

*~*~*~*

How did life first reach Earth? Physicists are creating experiments to try to figure that out.

*~*~*~*

After that infamous asteroid hit the planet 66 million years ago, it seems that life bounced back surprisingly fast.

*~*~*~*

The Environmental Protection Agency is not living up to its name. It has reapproved the use of the controversial herbicide dicamba.

*~*~*~*

Antarctica's seals are collecting data for scientists in waters that could otherwise never be reached.

*~*~*~*

Rove beetles are entirely dependent on ants for their survival but that seems to be working out well for both species. Nature finds a way.

*~*~*~*

And here is (potentially) some good news for these rhesus monkeys at the Oregon National Primate Research Center: The center might be turned into a sanctuary.

Poetry Sunday: February by Margaret Atwood

"February, month of despair..." saith the poet.  But also month of joy - the month of my firstborn daughter's birth. Those of you who have been following the blog for a while may recognize that I have featured this poem before (the last time in 2024) but it is actually a favorite by a favorite author, so here it is again. I hope you enjoy it. 

February 

by Margaret Atwood

Winter. Time to eat fat

and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,

a black fur sausage with yellow

Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries

to get onto my head. It’s his

way of telling whether or not I’m dead.

If I’m not, he wants to be scratched; if I am

He’ll think of something. He settles

on my chest, breathing his breath

of burped-up meat and musty sofas,

purring like a washboard. Some other tomcat,

not yet a capon, has been spraying our front door,

declaring war. It’s all about sex and territory,

which are what will finish us off

in the long run. Some cat owners around here

should snip a few testicles. If we wise

hominids were sensible, we’d do that too,

or eat our young, like sharks.

But it’s love that does us in. Over and over

again, He shoots, he scores! and famine

crouches in the bedsheets, ambushing the pulsing

eiderdown, and the windchill factor hits

thirty below, and pollution pours

out of our chimneys to keep us warm.

February, month of despair,

with a skewered heart in the centre.

I think dire thoughts, and lust for French fries

with a splash of vinegar.

Cat, enough of your greedy whining

and your small pink bumhole.

Off my face! You’re the life principle,

more or less, so get going

on a little optimism around here.

Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring.

This week in birds - #665

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

This is the Puerto Rican Owl which holds the distinction of being the island's only endemic owl. It was once found on several of the Virgin Islands but is now extinct outside of Puerto Rico. It was most likely a victim of habitat loss. The little owl is primarily an insectivorous bird and is vulnerable to the impact of insecticides. Its conservation status is not presently a concern but its population is decreasing. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

*~*~*~*

The current president keeps trying to shut down offshore wind construction and keeps losing in court.

*~*~*~*

The salmon restoration on Washington's Elwha River has been jeopardized by the president's budget cuts.

*~*~*~*

A female gray wolf from a prominent Yellowstone wolf pack was illegally killed on December 25 which sparked a poaching investigation. 

*~*~*~*

PFAS "forever chemicals" have decreased in North Atlantic whales over the last decade which shows that regulation of these substances works.

*~*~*~*

On the other hand, it seems that PFAS chemicals are right under our feet in our carpets.

*~*~*~*

A fossil trove found in China is providing a window into a mass extinction event that happened more than five hundred million years ago. 

*~*~*~*

Research shows that vampire bats that become close friends start to use similar sounds to communicate with each other.

*~*~*~*

It seems that snakes have a taste for...snakes. Cannibalism among them is fairly widespread.

*~*~*~*

Western Monarch butterfly overwintering counts showed a slight increase over last year but this is still the third lowest tally since the counts began in 1997. 

*~*~*~*

A young mountain lion wandered into a San Francisco neighborhood which could have been a recipe for disaster but fortunately it was captured by wildlife officials and successfully released back into the wild.

*~*~*~*

Here are 24 amazing images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.

*~*~*~*

And here's how the Hargila Bone-swallower Stork of India was saved by an "army" of Indian women.

*~*~*~*

The recently enacted High Seas Treaty offers an opportunity to protect Earth's oceans as never before.

*~*~*~*

Wild jaguars sometimes meow just like our domestic pet cats.

Poetry Sunday: Midnight Snow by James Crew

No otters and no snow here but I can remember well living in places where there were both and I remember enjoying seeing otters playing in the water of a lake. That's why this poem spoke to me when I came across it in my search for a poem to feature this week. And so, here it is. I hope you enjoy it. 

Midnight Snow

by James Crew

Outside in the creek that feeds the lake
and never freezes, an otter slaps the water

with his paw to feel the current's pulse—

Slip in, lie back. Slip in, lie back. He shuts

his eyes and obeys, knowing the layers

of hair and underfur will warm him while

he floats on a faith we wish could carry us.

 

The sound of his splashing fades, but not

his joy in being pushed, light as driftwood,

back to the mouth of the den I have seen

carved out beneath the roots of a fallen fir

now packed with snow and lined with leaves

that promise his sleep will be deep.

 

Because no dreams wait softly for me,

I open the woodstove and strike a match,

hold the bloom of the flame to kindling

that catches quick as my wish: To be that

slick body sliding into the lake that holds

the moon, bright portal to glide through

without so much as a shiver, no doubt

about where I'm going, how to get there.

This week in birds - #664

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

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the seven-colored Painted Bunting. Happily, this is a species that is still maintaining its population throughout its range which includes the southern tier of the United States and northern Mexico. Its greatest threats are being trapped for the illegal pet trade and, as for many other species, habitat loss. Despite its bright colors, the birds (especially the males) are difficult to see because they are very secretive and often hide in dense thickets and grasses.

*~*~*~*

Research reveals that predators like alligators are our allies in protecting and preserving their habitats.

*~*~*~*

It seems that melting ICE might have benefits for the natural environment as well as the human environment.

*~*~*~*

Surveys of the overwintering population of Monarch butterflies in the West show a slight increase from last winter, but the numbers are still extremely low.

*~*~*~*

Scientists say that vaccines could potentially help protect some vulnerable species.

*~*~*~*

Archaeologists believe that a 430,000-year-old stick that has been unearthed in Greece may be the oldest wooden tool yet discovered. 

*~*~*~*

A young mountain lion that had wandered into a San Francisco neighborhood has been successfully captured and released in the wild.

*~*~*~*

New research indicates that Tyrannosaurus rex may have taken as long as forty years to reach adulthood.

*~*~*~*

Camels actually played an important role in the U.S. military's exploration of the Southwest.

*~*~*~*

Paraquat-maker Syngenta has settled a case that would have explored the pesticide's link to Parkinson's disease. They didn't want to go to trial.

*~*~*~*

Amsterdam has banned outdoor advertising for fossil fuels and meat products.

*~*~*~*

It seems that snakes eating snakes in the wild is a fairly common thing. 

*~*~*~*

AI-generated images of animals are spreading disinformation that can distort the public's understanding.  

*~*~*~*

Here's a Tom Toro cartoon that sort of says it all:

*~*~*~*

Admittedly it has nothing to do with birds and the environment (maybe the political environment) but here's the image that has broken the hearts of so many of us this week: five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos taken by ICE agents as he came home from preschool. Damn this administration!

  

Challenger

 

The space shuttle Challenger exploded forty years ago today taking the lives of these seven people. Those of us who witnessed it will never forget.

This week in birds - # 663

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

As Earth warms, how will penguins, evolved to live in a world of snow and ice, survive? Can they adjust fast enough to meet the new conditions? These Chinstraps are among the species most affected by the changing conditions. 

*~*~*~*

Here's the sad list of species that we lost in 2025.

*~*~*~*

According to a new United Nations report, the world has entered an era of global water bankruptcy which has irreversible consequences.

*~*~*~*

A plant called the black-bulb yam tricks birds into spreading its seeds by producing fake berries that are actually small clones of itself. 

*~*~*~*

A Mayan heritage site is under threat from a logging concession that has been granted to a furniture company. 

*~*~*~*

A 67,800-year-old stencil of a hand found on the wall of an Indonesian cave may be the world's oldest rock art.

*~*~*~*

In 2025, researchers at the National Museum of Natural History described a previously unknown species of pterosaur that had been unearthed in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

*~*~*~*

Based on some baffling bone artifacts discovered by an amateur archeologist, scientists believe that humans may have been hunting whales as long as 5,000 years ago.

*~*~*~*

A  407-million-year-old log-shaped fossil found in 1843 may represent a previously unknown branch of life.

*~*~*~*

Monarch butterfly colonies in California and Mexico ebb and flow as they continue to disperse.

*~*~*~*

Twin mountain gorillas have been born in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Twin births are extremely rare for gorillas.

*~*~*~*

Five hundred years ago, a cat left its paw prints on a medieval manuscript as the ink was drying. As one who has loved and lived with cats all my life, I salute this ancient member of the tribe for leaving its mark!