This week in birds - #520

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

Birds come and go through my yard throughout the year but the Northern Mockingbird we always have with us.

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The big environmental news on this continent this week has been Hurricane Ian which continues to wreak havoc as it passes up the eastern coast.

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Meanwhile, next door in New Mexico a huge wildfire has been raging causing many problems for residents, one of which is a severe shortage of drinking water.

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In California, one of the efforts involved in trying to prevent or control wildfires has been to remove drying and dying plants from the landscape.

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This may only be tangentially related to environmental news but is a very important story: In Zimbabwe more than 700 children have died of measles, a disease easily prevented by immunization. Why didn't their parents have them immunized? Because of the influence of an evangelical church that preaches against vaccinations.

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Urban "heat islands" put city residents at risk of injury to their health from the heat. 

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Human activities have imperiled waterways and the species that make their homes in and around them.

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The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is this little beauty, the Blue-headed Vireo. 

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Here's a story with a photo album of animals that have been added to the National Zoo in Washington since March 2020.

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The Department of Agriculture is encouraging climate-smart farming techniques and practices. They have $20 billion earmarked for the effort.

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And many gardeners across the country, like this couple in Los Angeles, are embracing the idea of drought-friendly gardens.

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The State of the World's Birds report warns that fully half of the world's avian species are in decline.

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Here are some incredible pictures from an animal sanctuary in Bolivia.

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In efforts to reach an agreement on a global plastics pollution treaty, the U.S. is reaching out to other countries in hopes of creating a coalition to drive negotiations. 

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And then there is noise pollution which is particularly deadly in the world's oceans.

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The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to address the disproportionate harm that climate change is doing in low-income areas and communities of people of color.

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Cephalopods are little known and understood by much of the public. One scientist is working to correct that.

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Rather than creating a manicured landscape around your house, how about creating a "wildscape" like this family in Connecticut?

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The sinking of a fishing boat off the shores of the state of Washington created potential dangers for the orcas that frequent those waters.

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Here are pictures from the bird paradise of Ghana.

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In Germany, this little wild boar piglet has been adopted by a herd of cows. Will he perhaps grow up to be bilingual?

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell: A review

I fondly remember Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess" from my long-ago high school literature class. According to Maggie O'Farrell, Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, was the inspiration for Browning's poem. Alfonso's duchess, Lucrezia di Cosima de Medici, is the inspiration for O'Farrell's novel.

Lucrezia was a fifteen-year-old girl when her family gave her in marriage to Alfonso. Less than a year later she would be dead. According to her husband, she died of a fever, but it seems more likely that she died at the hand of a murderous husband.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Lucrezia's older sister had been the intended bride for Alfonso, but when she suffered an untimely death, Lucrezia, as the next sister in line, was substituted for her. Had it not been for that unfortunate circumstance, Lucrezia might have had a long and happy life. 

Of course, the official cause of death for Lucrezia is listed as tuberculosis, but her death seemed highly convenient for her ambitious husband and rumors have persisted for four hundred years that he, in fact, poisoned her. That is the basis of the story that O'Farrell tells us.

Early in her marriage, Lucrezia intuits that her husband means to kill her. This is the reality she is forced to live with and she is an observer as the plot plays out. She is trapped and unable to protect herself. We see it all through her eyes.

We get to know Lucrezia in her adolescence in Tuscany. She is a precocious girl living in her father's palace. She is not unaware of the contradictions of her position which, though giving her a life of ease, also in effect imprisons her. 

She has no real control over how her life is spent and must go where her all-powerful father sends her. And where he sends her is to be a wife to Alfonso because that will assure him (her father) even more power. The well-being of Lucrezia is of little concern. Where her father sends her is to her death.

Her one consolation in her new life is painting. She herself paints; it is something she learned in her parents' home and continues for a time in her husband's home. Her husband hires painters to paint her portrait and she is fascinated by their work. She begins to suspect that this portrait is actually meant to replace her, a suspicion that is made stronger when she hears her husband refer to her as his "first duchess"!

O'Farrell gives us a memorable portrait of a woman - a child really - trapped, and yet determined to live her life as best she can to its fullest. Lucrezia is a character that will likely stay with the reader. She will not be easily forgotten or relegated to the yellowed pages of history. Alfonso underestimated her. We would do well to recognize her for the strong woman she was. 

 
 

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout: A review

Whenever I see that Elizabeth Strout has a new book out, I jump right on it, because she is one of my favorite writers. Moreover, Lucy Barton is one of my all-time favorite characters. So when I saw that Strout had written a new "Lucy" book, my joy was complete. Lucy by the Sea did not disappoint. 

The time frame of this novel encompasses the early part of the Covid pandemic. In the beginning, Lucy is living in New York and like many is pretty much blissfully unaware of what is about to hit. Her ex-husband and current friend, William, is a bit more clued into what's coming. He, after all, has a background in science and he can see trouble is coming. He persuades Lucy to go with him to a small town in Maine where there are few people and where he thinks they may be safe. 

Lucy, meantime, is beset not only with her own personal concerns but with those of her two adult daughters as well. During her lockdown with William, she has plenty of time to worry about her daughters and to reflect on her pre-pandemic life, her regrets, and her grief about past mistakes.

One of the things she reflects on is the family that she came from, her mother and father, and her siblings. Her ardent desire for her life was that she should not be the kind of mother that her mother was. It seems that she has fulfilled that desire and that she has been able to forge a more positive relationship with her own daughters.

In this novel, we do learn quite a bit about Lucy's daughters and their lives. We learn about their personal as well as professional lives and about their relationships with their parents which were not without their challenges. 

It is easy for me to identify with Lucy, perhaps in part because I also have two daughters, but also, like Lucy, I tend to dwell on the mistakes I've made rather than positive accomplishments. Maybe that is just a human tendency that Lucy and I share with others. The pandemic certainly increased our sense of isolation and disconnect from society in general, and Strout is so good at conveying that in her prose and through this wonderful character that she has created. It is easy for readers (at least this reader) to lose themselves in this prose and to forget for a time that Lucy is a fictional character. She seems more like a living, breathing friend, one with whom you can share your troubles or share a laugh. One who will understand and not judge you. What a wonderful gift it is to be able to write such a character.  

Poetry Sunday: September Midnight by Sara Teasdale

September seems to have been quite a popular topic for poets through the years. I googled "September poetry" and got a plethora of choices in reply. I decided to feature this one from 1914 by Sara Teasdale mostly because I liked its description of the "passionless chant of insects" that is, indeed, ceaseless and insistent at this time of year. The birds are mostly quiet now, many of them molting, and while they concentrate on growing new feathers, they tend to prefer to be as inconspicuous as possible. But the insects take up the slack and provide their own unique music - the music of late September, by which time we are all a little "tired with summer."

September Midnight

by Sara Teasdale 

Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
Ceaseless, insistent.

The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples,
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
Tired with summer.

Let me remember you, voices of little insects,
Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,
Let me remember, soon will the winter be on us,
Snow-hushed and heavy.

Over my soul murmur your mute benediction,
While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,
Lest they forget them.

This week in birds - #519

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

At certain times of the year, Common Grackles are prominent in my yard, but just now I seldom see them here. This one is a rarity who appears to be in the middle of his molt. His beak is open in response to the heat which still lingers in the upper 90 degrees Fahrenheit every day.

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Pakistan has been suffering from floods that have killed more than 1500 people in that country. A study of the floods has linked them to climate change.

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Poor nations are asking the United Nations to consider a global tax to pay for human-caused climate-led loss and damage. 

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In this country, California is still suffering a punishing drought and has instituted rules regarding water usage, but it seems that some ranchers are ignoring those rules. 

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Smoke from wildfires in the West has the potential to reverse much of the progress that has been made in recent years toward cleaner air.

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How many ants would you say there are on this planet? Researchers are estimating 2.5 million for every human on Earth.

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Lithium is an indispensable ingredient in electric car batteries and it is in short supply, but there is a mine in Quebec that might be able to help.

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This is the Bar-tailed Godwit, the bird that holds the long-distance flying record. The bird makes the 7,000-mile non-stop flight between Alaska and New Zealand twice a year.

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Incredibly, regulators are allowing states to spread toxic sewage sludge containing "forever chemicals" even though they have in some instances poisoned water and ruined livelihoods.

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Researchers found a unique and clever way to study ancient mariners: They built a replica of the ship that had been sailed by those seafarers and sailed it themselves.

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And speaking of clever, I give you raccoons!

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The January eruption of the Tonga volcano that sent water vapor into the stratosphere is expected to have a slight, though likely temporary, warming effect on the planet's climate.

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In yet another negative effect of the warming climate, it may be responsible for helping to spread a brain-eating amoeba that lives in warm fresh water.

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Miami Beach is suffering from an invasion of non-native iguanas and some want to fight the problem by putting a bounty on the critters to have the public bring them in, dead or alive.

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Those who have read and enjoyed Shelby Van Pelt's novel Remarkably Bright Creatures will likely appreciate this story about how octopuses hunt.

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Despite the Colorado River bordering more than 100 miles of land belonging to the Hualapai tribe, the tribe is unable to take water from it.

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The mayfly is the world's oldest winged insect and it is in trouble. They are among Nature's best environmental sentinels so maybe we should pay attention to what they are telling us.

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Honeybees have been in trouble for a few years now, but there may be a better and healthier way for beekeepers to house them that could help.

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Island nations that are in danger of being swamped by rising seas caused by climate change are proposing an initiative that they hope will help.

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A mystery ancient "alien goldfish" that swam some 330 million years ago was similar to modern sea slugs, according to paleontologists. 

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I love spiders. They are endlessly fascinating critters and here's one that is especially interesting.

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The Senate finally this week ratified a global climate treaty that would phase down the use of hydroflourocarbons that help to trap heat in the atmosphere.

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The changing quality of light beginning in September is our clue that autumn is almost here even if the thermometer hasn't yet got the message. Margaret Renkl has an appreciation of this time of year.  

Hilary Mantel

This morning, I opened the online news sites that I visit every day and learned that Hilary Mantel had died. It came as a shock, as a blow to the heart and to the mind that learned to love her writing, especially her Thomas Cromwell trilogy. 

I looked back at my reviews of those books and discovered that I had never posted the review of the first one on the blog, so here it is for those who may be interested:

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January 13, 2010

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel 

"The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman's sigh as she passes and leaves on the air a trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh..."  (Excerpt from "Wolf Hall" describing a meeting between Cromwell and the French ambassador.)

This is a novel about how a people's fate is determined. It is also about how an individual's - Thomas Cromwell's - fate is determined. It follows Cromwell from his childhood with an abusive father in Putney to his place at the right hand of the king, from whom he derives and wields enormous power.

I first made the acquaintance of Thomas Cromwell last year when I read C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series. Cromwell was Shardlake's mentor and protector early in his career. He was an interesting and conflicted character in those books, and so he is in this one as well.

This book, of course, was the Man Booker Prize winner of 2009 and it is easy to see why. It is lyrically written and it gives us the man, Cromwell, with his warts intact, but ultimately it is a sympathetic telling of his story. The reader feels that Mantel had a real empathy for Cromwell and was interested in helping the reader see the world through Cromwell's eyes.

The portraits that she gives us of Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon, and Anne Boleyn, as well as the lesser players in the story, are many-layered and complex. And always at the edges of this story is the young Jane Seymour, a lady in waiting to Anne - and queen in waiting to Henry.

All in all, it is a riveting story and it kept my interest throughout. One minor quibble and really the only reason I didn't give the book five stars - Mantel seems allergic to the use of quotation marks. Oh, she does use them, but now and then, she will slip into a long passage where they are totally absent and I found it sometimes difficult to know who was speaking at these times. Usually, when her indirect quotes indicate "he said" she is talking about Cromwell, but at times it is just unnecessarily confusing and irritating (at least to this reader).

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And here are links to the other two reviews:

Bring up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.

Hers was a unique talent and I think we will not see her like again.

Effigies by Mary Anna Evans: A review

Here's another archaeological mystery from Mary Anna Evans featuring archaeologist Faye Longchamp and her Native American friend and associate Joe Wolf Mantooth. This one takes place in Mississippi in Neshoba County where the great Nanih Waiya mound is located. Choctaw tradition says that this is the mound from which their nation and people sprang. 

Faye and her team hope to excavate a nearby mound but the farmer who owns the property refuses to give his permission. Not only does he refuse to allow excavation, but he also takes a bulldozer and attempts to level the mound. 

Faye and her associates as well as the local Choctaw people rush to defend the mound and the farmer's neighbors line up with him to press his rights as the property's owner. A standoff ensues and the young sheriff of the county is caught in the middle.

Things then take an even more serious - and deadly - turn. That night the farmer is found murdered. His throat had been sliced by a stone blade. Was his attempt to destroy the mound a motive for his murder and did an archaeologist do it? Or was the reason for his murder totally unrelated to the current controversy over the mound? Instead of a standoff over property rights and the demands of archaeology, the sheriff now has to deal with murder. 

Interspersed among the telling of this modern-day story are traditional Choctaw stories as told by a local resident. I found this to be the most interesting part of the tale. It blended well into the more current events and gave some added perspective to them. 

I very much like the characters created by Mary Ann Evans, particularly Faye and Joe. Their personalities and relationship are very believable. Moreover, Evans' description of the community and its residents and attitudes toward the mound are all quite realistic. I grew up in such a community with mounds like these and I could relate very easily to the situation as described.

The twists of the plot are sufficient to keep the reader guessing and just when you think you have it all figured out there is another twist and you realize that maybe you don't. This was the third entry in this series. I had read and enjoyed the two earlier books and now I look forward to reading the later ones. It is an interesting and well-written series.