This week in birds - #547

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

A Snowy Egret searches for its meal while wading in the shallow waters at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

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The virus H5N1 is devastating the world's birds once again.

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And in Canada, leaks from tailings ponds at oil sands operations are also having a devastating effect on the environment.

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Lights Out, Texas is Audubon's campaign to have Texans turn off outside lights at night from March 1 through June 15 to avoid disorienting birds during their spring migration through the state.

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European countries are pledging to expand their use of "green power" by increasing their reliance on North Sea wind farms.

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You probably will not be surprised to read that 2022 was "nasty, deadly, costly and hot."

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Removing river barriers such as dams and weirs is allowing rivers in Europe to flow freely and migratory fish to reach their breeding areas. 

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A bird of the prairies, the Horned Lark is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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Solar power microgrids in Puerto Rico are boosting the island's ability to withstand the effects of hurricanes.

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Asia is experiencing record heat for the month of April which does not bode well for the coming summer months.

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Amazing as it sounds, it seems that elephant seals are able to nap during their deep ocean dives.

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Here's a link to Audubon's native plant database. These plants can help welcome birds to your yard.

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Chimney Swifts are among my favorite summer visitors so I'm happy to see that municipalities in Canada are working to protect swift habitats.

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As the climate heats up, trees are responding by moving farther north.

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Here's a report on a 15-day bird tour in the bird-rich environment of Ecuador.

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Coral reefs are in trouble. Can they be saved?

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Big cats are endangered as well, but there is some good news on that front.

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Hellbenders, the eastern salamander, are turning to cannibalism and that is a threat to the continued survival of the species.

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An April heat wave in Spain has seen temperatures in excess of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

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The climate crisis that is causing drought in the Horn of Africa has been caused in no small part by human actions.

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The Menominee tribe in Wisconsin has sustainably logged its forest for 160 years but it is now facing a crisis.

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It's good to know that my "elder generation" isn't leaving all the work to save the environment to the younger generation!

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Life in the ocean's twilight zones could be facing drastic declines.

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It's nesting season along the Texas coast and Audubon Texas is on the job protecting rookeries.



Comments

  1. David M. Gascoigne,April 29, 2023 at 6:03 AM

    Good morning, Dorothy. Thank you for the roundup. I am ashamed, but not surprised, that Canada made the list of horrors this week. The tar sands of Alberta are a disgrace, an environmental nightmare, multiple disasters waiting to happen, and industry will walk away (ultimately) and leave it to the taxpayers to clean up the mess while suffering the devastating consequences. Let's change our name from Homo sapiens to Homo ignoramus. And now in Sudan we have another war to blight the landscape. Sapiens? I think not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CathyApril 29, 2023 at 1:33 PM

    Thanks again, Dorothy, for these round-ups... although I have to agree with David and say that homo ignoramus is a much better name for our species.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMay 7, 2023 at 6:16 AM

    Lights Out is a great idea for a program, I think, because everyone can participate and do their part. Collectively, the changes will be huge.

    It's startling to see the changes in the zones in which plants and trees grow.

    I have not given up on humans. Yet.

    ReplyDelete

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