This week in birds - #623

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

In spite of its name, the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week, the Yellow Cardinal, is not a cardinal at all. It is a member of the tanager family. Found in southern South America from Argentina to Uruguay, it is a resident of open woodlands and dry savannas. It is endangered and, unfortunately, its numbers are decreasing.

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The new administration in Washington has set about dismantling laws that protect the environment in order to facilitate oil and gas drilling. Can the Endangered Species Act survive?

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At the remote Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific, Wisdom, the (at least) 74-year-old Laysan Albatross, has a new chick. Isn't it adorable?

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Wisdom's history is an amazing story of survival in many ways.

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A black anglerfish, a fish of the ocean's depths, caused quite a stir when it appeared on the surface of the ocean near Tenerife recently. Obviously, something was amiss with the fish and it ultimately died.

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New Zealand has once again chosen its "Bug of the Year" and it is a member of the family of velvet worms.

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Along Mexico's Pacific Coast in the Baja California Sur a rarely seen oarfish, another fish that normally lives in the ocean's depths, has been making itself at home recently. (Is there something unusual going on in the deep ocean that is causing these fish to surface?)

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2024 was a year of record-breaking heat on Earth's surface. It may be a harbinger of things to come.

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That heat has not been evident in the United States recently as it has experienced extremely cold weather thanks to a polar vortex. The cold has even reached us here in southeast Texas.

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Here are some amazing pictures from The Guardian of the Week in Wildlife.

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Regardless of what goes on in Washington, Mount Denali will always be Mount Denali, just as the Gulf of Mexico will always be the Gulf of Mexico.

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In Argentina, a contraception plan for capybaras is being devised. It does not enjoy universal approval.

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Here are ways to make your backyard safe for birds this winter.

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There is a move afoot to remove endangered species protections for the Florida Scrub-jay. Conservation groups are fighting back.

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Humans evolved on an icy planet. What will the heating up of Earth mean for the species? 

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Winter is still here but the Monarch butterflies are beginning to make their way back to us.

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Here are suggestions for attracting Mourning Doves to your yard.

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What are the effects of light pollution on the creatures of the night?

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Gila monsters made possible a medicine to help diabetics; now we need find a way to help them survive.

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How can we attract native sparrows to our bird feeders?

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Spring is on its way but we may experience a false spring before the arrival of the real thing.



Comments

  1. David M. Gascoigne,February 22, 2025 at 5:58 AM

    Good morning, Dorothy. Thank you for the weekly roundup. Odd though it may seem to some, the polar vortex you are experiencing in Texas is a result of global warming. The fact that we have affected the climate so deleteriously is cause for concern, and the inaction shameful, but that pales in the face of the current administration’s mission to actively roll back environmental protections and revert to former folly, and worse. I tell you, the world will never forgive you for electing Trump with all the levers of power and the Supreme Court in his back pocket. The whole world will suffer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzFebruary 22, 2025 at 6:09 AM

    After every book we read for my naturalist group, we talk about what are our take-aways from the book for action. Every time we say that we need fewer people on the planet.

    Thank you, Dorothy, for these links. You always offer us all a lot to consider and think about.

    ReplyDelete

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