This week in birds - #685

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the Andean Cock-of-the-rock, a non- migratory bird of South American forests. The main threat to the species is habitat loss. The population is thought to be decreasing but is of least concern to this point. 

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A meteorite that crashed into a New Jersey home in 2024 contains some of the building blocks of life according to scientists who have studied it.

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I've always been fascinated by the Mayan civilization and here is a particularly interesting character from that civilization - a math whiz who lived more than 1,000 years ago. 

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The Trump Administration has stripped the Endangered Species Act's ability to protect habitats.

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The Rusty Lark, a bird that had been lost for nearly a century, has been rediscovered by birders in Chad.

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New York state has banned the building of large data centers for a year while it studies energy and climate risks which they present.

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A worm-like creature that lived about 550 million years ago is the earliest known "right-handed" being. 

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Harvestmen, aka Daddy Longlegs (or Granddaddy Longlegs, as I knew them when I was growing up) are a particularly interesting and often misunderstood group of arachnids.

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Trump has reduced Bear Ears and Grand Staircase Monuments by three million acres with a single stroke of his pen. 

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"Space balls" have been washing up on Australian beaches presenting a mystery for authorities.

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Shrimp may be thought of as "bugs of the sea" but then bugs could be considered the "shrimp of the land."

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Sperm whales living in the eastern Mediterranean Sea seem to have developed a dialect of their own that is different from those in the west.

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We know that giraffes are clever animals but they may be even smarter than previously thought.

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Small-town communities are becoming alarmed about carbon storage projects planned for their area.

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Here are nine interesting facts about Bald Eagles.

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And here are some images from this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.

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Climate change is affecting how and where people take vacations.

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The Andean leaf-eared mouse has adapted to live at extremely high elevations where no other mammal is known to reside.

Poetry Sunday: Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye was born in St. Louis to a father who was a Palestinian refugee and a mother who was an American of German and Swiss descent. Through the years, she has been the recipient of many honors and awards for her work. This poem was written in 1952 and I think you will agree that it has aged well.

 

Kindness

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

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This week in birds - #684

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

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week for this week is the Pomarine Jaeger, a widespread species of both North and South America as well as Hawaii and the Caribbean. The bird's population trends are unknown but its conservation status is considered of least concern.

The Harlequin Duck was the Bird of the Week for last week. A bird of North America in both aquatic and forest habitats, its population is increasing and its status, too, is of least concern.

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On Friday, the Trump administration moved to open habitats of threatened and endangered animals to farming, drilling, mining, real estate development, and other activities that severely erode protections.  

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And, of course, the administration has appointed a critic of mainstream climate science to oversee the federal government's report on how climate change affects the country.

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Here are some fun facts about Bald Eagles.

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There is some evidence that early flowering plants depended on dinosaurs to eat their fleshy fruits and spread their seeds.  

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Bottlenose dolphins are clever animals and it seems that the females of the species have strategies for avoiding "pushy" males.

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The relationship between wolves and people is complex but the California Wolf Project is proving that it is possible for the two species to share the same land.

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Archaeologists have discovered a lost Mayan city that may yield clues about the civilization just before its collapse.

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Western Europe just experienced its hottest June on record. Moreover, higher temperatures in the seas around Britain and Europe are a threat to marine life. 

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So we have an administration that is anti-wind power and pro-coal and that policy is expected to add $650 billion to Americans' energy bills in the next fifteen years.  

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What is the meaning of the "cold blob" in the Atlantic Ocean? Inquiring scientists want to know.

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Here are eleven wildlife images that showcase the wonder of the planet's waters.

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Argentina's Blue-winged Macaw has bounced back from being declared "extinct in the wild."

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First described 189 years ago, the Himalayan Pangolin has emerged as a distinct species.

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Bumblebees seem to respond either positively or negatively to sweet or bad tastes.

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Sea mining could devastate populations of snails and other mollusks that live around hydrothermal vents.

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Maybe our hobbit-like cousins on Flores Island weren't very smart.

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Can the hammerhead shark be saved from extinction?

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More than 70 million years ago, North America was split down the middle by an ancient sea and some of its inhabitants are still perfectly preserved.

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There is evidence of "handedness" in animals even long before hands developed.

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Ten years ago, the White-rumped Vulture's population was devastated by poisoning but the species has now reappeared at a Cambodian sanctuary.

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A newly discovered spider species has the ability to launch ants into its web.

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Giggling humans and great apes have apparently shared our style of laughter for at least 15 million years.

Democracy

    Democracy

      lyrics by Leonard Cohen 

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Poetry Sunday: On the Fifth Day by Jane Hirshfield

Searching for a poem to feature this week I came across this one by an award-winning poet that I, frankly, was not familiar with and it felt just perfect for this moment. And now I will definitely be reading more of her poetry.

It seems that the scientists are now forbidden to speak or at least they are not listened to when they do speak. We will pay a price for this. We are already paying a price for this. Perhaps we have already reached the fifth day...

On the Fifth Day

by Jane Hirshfield

On the fifth day
the scientists who studied the rivers
were forbidden to speak

or to study the rivers.

The scientists who studied the air

were told not to speak of the air,

and the ones who worked for the farmers

were silenced,

and the ones who worked for the bees.

Someone, from deep in the Badlands,

began posting facts.

The facts were told not to speak

and were taken away.

The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent.

Now it was only the rivers

that spoke of the rivers,

and only the wind that spoke of its bees,

while the unpausing factual buds of the fruit trees

continued to move toward their fruit.

The silence spoke loudly of silence,

and the rivers kept speaking

of rivers, of boulders and air.

Bound to gravity, earless and tongueless,

the untested rivers kept speaking.

Bus drivers, shelf stockers,

code writers, machinists, accountants,

lab techs, cellists kept speaking.

They spoke, the fifth day,

of silence.

This week in birds - #683

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

The American Bird Conservancy's featured Bird of the Week is the Galapagos Petrel, a large, slender seabird that is critically endangered and whose population is decreasing. The bird's population declined by up to 80 percent when nonnative plants and animals were introduced to the Galapagos Islands. There is an effort underway to reduce the many threats facing the species. Continued control of introduced predators as well as the minimization of ongoing human impacts are important for the Galapagos Petrel's continued survival.

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Europe has been sweltering under an extreme heat wave this week.

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In Portland, Oregon, there is an effort to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for a heat wave that occurred five years ago. This would establish an interesting precedent.

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The current administration in Washington shut down a climate science website last year. Now former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees have recreated the site.

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The current El Niño could evolve into one of the most powerful ones on record, bringing extreme weather worldwide.

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The Commerce Secretary accuses California of "environmental extremism" and will launch an investigation of the state's powerful Coastal Commission.

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The goblin shark has the well-earned title of the "ugliest shark on the planet."

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The Euphrates River played an important role in the founding of early civilizations. Scientists believe they have now discovered its origins.

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Female dolphins remember males that were aggressive during mating season and may attempt to avoid them in future. 

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Ayahuasca is an Indigenous beverage from Brazil that has psychedelic properties and, unfortunately, it is now in demand outside of the Indigenous community which has increased pressure on the plants used in its concoction.

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A bit of good news from London where deaths linked to air pollution have fallen by 40%.

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Animal migration is becoming more difficult in the changing landscape. Is there anything we can do to help?

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The government is teaming with a private company called Colossal Biosciences to store samples of at-risk animals and plants.

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On Thursday the president issued an executive order aimed at reducing pesticides in the food supply and studying the health risks they pose.

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Sunflower sea stars disappeared from California waters during a heat wave more than a decade ago, but now some have reappeared there.

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Some tropical butterflies can live almost a year, vastly longer than most butterflies. Their diet might be what makes the difference. 

Poetry Sunday: The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

It is the first day of summer and so I'm featuring possibly my favorite poem about the season. 

I always love the poet's confession that "I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention..." To that I can only say "Amen!" 

So, here's to paying attention and to taking the time to notice the grasshoppers of the world.

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world? 

Who made the swan, and the black bear? 

Who made the grasshopper? 
This grasshopper, I mean— 
the one who has flung herself out of the grass, 
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, 
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down— 
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. 
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. 
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. 
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. 
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down 
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, 
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, 
which is what I have been doing all day. 
Tell me, what else should I have done? 
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? 
Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
with your one wild and precious life?