This week in birds - #567

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

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continued passing through my yard this week on their migration south. Until the last couple of days, I had only seen females and immatures, but on Friday afternoon there was an adult male at one of the feeders.

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It's that time of year again; it's Fat Bear Week! The winner of the competition this year was a female grizzly named Grazer.

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And speaking of grizzlies, you might not think the big bears would be interested in moths as food but apparently they find them to be quite tasty.

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And continuing with news of bears, black bears have become much more widespread in recent years until it is not altogether uncommon to see them in backyards.

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Northern Spotted Owls are an endangered species and in order to protect them biologists are sometimes faced with the choice of having to kill Barred Owls, a much more aggressive and successful species.

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Birds in migration face many hazards but one of the most intractable in high-rise buildings in cities. One such building in Chicago recently killed 1,000 birds in one day. 

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A new LNG plant being built off Canada's west coast poses a dire hazard for whales in the area.

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The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the flamboyantly beautiful American Flamingo.

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Deforestation in Bolivia has increased by an alarming 32% in only one year.

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In other tree news, there is an ancient cedar in British Columbia that stands 151 feet tall and is about 17 feet in diameter.

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Whales can be playful creatures and one of their "toys" is kelp. They enjoy rolling in it, rubbing against it, and just generally tossing it about and playing with it. 

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Here's a diary featuring the insects of a park in Mississippi.

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Native Americans in Nevada are fighting plans for a lithium mine on one of their sacred sites.

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This is the Sora, a secretive resident of coastal areas.

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Scientists say the largest solar storm ever to hit Earth likely occurred about 14,300 years ago. 

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A bipartisan coastal protection bill is making its way through Congress.

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In September, the Biden administration announced plans to strengthen protections for America's fragile Arctic region. 

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Across much of the planet, thin, wildly interconnected filamentous structures called mycelium are holding the earth together. The humble fungi are the stuff that makes all this possible.