The Nature of Things

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The traffic at the bird feeders has been heavy this week. Frequent visitors have been Red-winged Blackbirds , like this female.  *~*~*~* The new administration's pro fossil fuel agenda is a threat to our national monuments . *~*~*~* And right on cue, the administration has killed a major report that was due on the state of Nature in the country. Those who worked on the report are hoping to publish it anyway. *~*~*~* Also thanks to the new administration, plastic straws will be returning to our lives, because, you know, that's what he ran on. *~*~*~* The president has nominated an oil industry insider to oversee drilling on public lands, because, of course, there will be drilling on public lands.  *~*~*~* Here are the species we lost in 2024. *~*~*~* Pollution from factory farms can be seen from space . *~*~*~* A new study has found that people do actually pay attention to and are willing to follow expert clim...

I've featured this poem here before and I probably will again. It is a personal favorite of mine and is the most perfect poetic expression of love that I know. Valentine's Day is coming up, the day on which we celebrate our love. I hope that you, dear reader, have much love to celebrate on that day. Sonnets from the Portuguese - #43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right; I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This striking bird is the Phainopepla and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . It is a bird of the desert riparian scrub and high elevation oak woodlands and canyons. I have seen it on trips to West Texas and New Mexico and I can attest that it is just as handsome in the feather as it is in this picture. *~*~*~* The arrival of  La Niña  conditions in the Pacific Ocean could have been expected to lower the planet's average temperature but, in fact, last month was the hottest January on record . *~*~*~* The heat is even affecting the Greenland ice sheet, causing it to crack more rapidly than ever. *~*~*~* The new administration's freeze on foreign aid threatens to hamper Brazil's efforts to fight deforestation. *~*~*~* The recent flurry of executive orders has  disrupted the work of scientists  studying environmental health. The environmental justice movement is gathering its resou...

Blessings on all the winter birds who cheer us with their "full-hearted evensongs" flung "upon the growing gloom." Hope is scarce on the ground at the moment and we need that cheer.  The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy I leant upon a coppice gate       When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter's dregs made desolate       The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky       Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh       Had sought their household fires. The land's sharp features seemed to be       The Century's corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy,       The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth       Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth       Seemed fervourless a...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This imposing pair is Jackie and Shadow, Bald Eagles who are nesting in the Big Bear Valley of California and who have a devoted following (including me) on Facebook . They are presently incubating three eggs. They've not had the greatest of success in past years. Fingers crossed that this year turns out more happily for them. *~*~*~* The senate has confirmed as the new director of the Environmental Protection Agency  former congressman Lee Zeldin, a man with no creditable environmental experience. *~*~*~* And on that note, welcome to the Year of the Snake . We can at least hope that it is a propitious one. *~*~*~* How do birds cope with the cold weather of winter? *~*~*~* The new administration in Washington has thrown spending on addressing climate change into chaos . It is likely that chaos will continue for the next four years. *~*~*~* A study has found that genetic diversity of plant and animal species is de...