A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : This little cutie is the Mountain Chickadee , a resident throughout much of western North America from Canada right down into Baja Mexico and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . Much of its range overlaps with that of its close cousin, the Black-capped Chickadee . Its conservation status is currently of least concern although its population is decreasing. Climate change and loss of habitat pose the greatest threats to its continued survival. *~*~*~* A new study has found that bird declines are accelerating . *~*~*~* Livestock in many areas of Central Texas are protected from coyotes by dogs who live among the herds . *~*~*~* The oldest state park in the country is the Niagara State Park in western New York and it is about to get much bigger . *~*~*~* Most of us still have Neanderthal DNA as part of our genome and that actually highlights some interesting differences between them and modern human...
The Washington Post online is one of my favorite sources for the news of the day as well as for opinion about the news of the day. Moreover, the books section is a site that I turn to for reviews and recommendations. Thus it was with some consternation and sadness that I read ( in The New York Times ) that The Post's book section supplement is being scuppered. But it is not just the supplement that is being decimated. This week The Post has laid off one-third of its employees . As many will remember, The Washington Post was bought by Jeff Bezos in 2013. The paper was in trouble and Bezos " bought it to save it ." But that was a gentler time. The world and (perhaps) Jeff Bezos have changed since then. Bezos had already reduced the newsroom in recent years and now he has put an end to the book section that so many of his readers have relied on. As Marty Baron, The Post's former chief editor from the Watergate era was quoted as saying, " It is difficult to con...