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This week in birds - #138

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A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The Cedar Waxwings are back! Just in time for the holidays and what a gift they are. A small flock of the nattily dressed birds have been making their way around the yard, renewing acquaintances with all their favorite trees, this week. I always look forward to seeing that first waxwing in the fall. I know I say this about all my backyard birds, but they really are one of my favorites. *~*~*~* Drought continues to be the big environmental news in the Southwest, even though the recent storms in California have offered some relief to that parched state. Some of the southwestern states have taken steps to reduce the amount of water that they draw from the Colorado River in order to keep from exacerbating the reduced water available to the river system. *~*~*~* A recent study showed that Golden-winged Warblers abandoned their breeding grounds in the mountains of eastern Tennessee in April 2014 just ahead of a devastating sy...
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This week in birds - #308

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A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The American Kestrel is the smallest and most common falcon in North America and also the cutest in my opinion. I photographed this one at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.  *~*~*~* Increased artificial lighting in the world is a cause for celebration in some previously dark areas as it signifies increased prosperity and better living conditions, but too much of a good thing can be very bad indeed, both for humans and animals. A survey has rated the brightest metropolitan areas in the world. Some of them might surprise you. *~*~*~* The Arctic sea ice inexorably continues melting and that has potentially serious implications for the world's weather. It may seem counterintuitive but the sea ice actually has a moderating effect on weather. What will happen when it is gone? *~*~*~* Preserved specimen of male Carolina Parakeet. 2018 marks the centenary of the death of the last of North America's only native parrot, t...
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Poetry Sunday: To Daffodils by Robert Herrick

Gardening is a hobby, some might say an obsession, of mine. I live in an area with a growing season that is virtually year-round so there's always something going on in the garden and I spend a lot of time attempting to grow many different kinds of plants. Many plants thrive here and it is very rewarding to watch them grow. But there are some that I've tried to grow that have been a bust. Among those failures are daffodils. You might think daffs would be easy. I mean you can see them growing wild around old abandoned home sites with no one to care for them, but there is something about the heat and humidity here, or maybe it's the soil, or perhaps a combination of both that is inimical to the growth of daffodils. I plant them and they bloom for one year and then they disappear, so I've pretty much given up on them and moved on to other things. Poets love daffodils, of course. One always thinks of William Wordsworth, but Robert Herrick was fond of them, too, and he saw t...
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