This week in birds - #576

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

A Cooper's Hawk surveys my backyard, searching for a possible meal.

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2023 was the hottest year on record and 2024 may be even hotter.

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At the other end of the spectrum, Beijing experienced its coldest December since 1951. 

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Meanwhile, hotter, drier air in Europe is causing a greater wildfire risk and is affecting farmers' success in raising their crops.

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We have live oaks and red oaks in our yard and I can confirm that it has been a bumper crop year for acorns in Texas.

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Is this pyramid in Indonesia the world's oldest?

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Oil refineries on the Gulf Coast continue to pollute the air.

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Californians have been excited by recent sightings of orcas off their southern coast.

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This is the critically endangered Gorgeted Puffleg, a resident of the high Andes and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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There is finally some good news regarding the status of Florida's manatees.

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In Britain, the government has a strategy for restoring the country's degraded temperate rainforest.

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Collisions with high-rise buildings kill up to a billion birds a year in America. Architects are working on ways to prevent that. 

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Logging has inflicted severe damage to the boreal forests of Ontario and Quebec. 

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Twenty-one U.S. species were declared extinct in 2023.

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As Siberia's ice is melting, information about its past is being revealed.

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Many of Africa's birds of prey are experiencing the collapse of their populations. Poisoning and persecution by humans is a major factor.

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North of Sydney, the largest male funnel-web spider, measuring more than three inches wide, has been found.

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There may have been another species of tyrannosaur living alongside Tyrannosaurus rex.

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At the Berlin Zoo, animals are getting unsold Christmas trees as snacks and playthings.

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Get ready for a rare celestial event: A total solar eclipse will occur on April 8.

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                                                                  The cause of much excitement in Seattle.

Seattle birders are atwitter over a rare visit from a Black-and-White Warbler. 

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Was 2023 the "beginning of the end" of the fossil fuel era? Some climate scientists think so.

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Australia's Buff-breasted Buttonquail has never been photographed but some researchers are hoping to change that.

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Uruguay is making strides in its green power transition from fossil fuels to wind energy.

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This is Jonathan the tortoise who lives on St. Helena Island. At (about) 191 years old, he is the world's oldest known living land animal.