Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh
Support Your Local Family Farms
Sometimes graphics make a great story greater, and this would be as good an example as you might find at the moment. We like the basic story first of all because it is about a small family farm that is nearing a century of operation catering to the local market; but there is plenty more to appreciate: Continue reading
Bird of the Day: American Redstart
Granger Lake, Comanche Bluff Trail
Beware Of “This Is Big” & Other Snappy Catchphrases
The Miniature Science series of ads, created last year by the very talented folks at BBDO on behalf of their client ExxonMobil, are snappy.
By now most people who pay attention to climate science are aware of ExxonMobil’s active role in creating doubt about the emerging facts that their own scientists established about mankind’s impact on climate. In addition to actors like that giant petrochemical company, there are also behind-the-scenes, complicit creatives who have provided essential messaging to strengthen the deception. In a new essay, Bill McKibben turns his attention to those folks, and expects accountability:
If money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns, then P.R. campaigns and snappy catchphrases are the kindling. Illustration by Lia Liao
When “Creatives” Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis
Past sins are past no more: an overdue historical recalibration is under way, with monuments being pulled down, dorms renamed, restitution offered. People did things, bad things; even across the span of centuries, they’re being held to account, and there’s something noble about that. The Reverend Robert W. Lee IV, for instance, recently backed the removal of his famous ancestor’s statue from Richmond, Virginia. The memorial, he wrote, “is a hollow reminder of a painful ideology and acts of oppression against black people. Taking it down will provide new opportunities for conversations, relationships and policy change.” Such a response raises an uncomfortable question: What are we doing now that our descendants will need to apologize for? Might we be able to get ahead of the sin this time? Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Barn Owl Fledgling
Frauenkirchen, Austria
The Wonderful World Of Harbingers
Moments after posting about this owl, an email promoting a course about owls appeared in my inbox. Owls have been considered harbingers in different folk and mythic traditions, none of which I subscribe to. A harbinger event on the computer is now most likely an algorithmic event, where one thing triggered another on purpose. Normally I find those intrusive, at best. But, I get emails from the Lab of Ornithology frequently and this one came a few days after the news of the owl in Central Park. Did they put together this course and promo after seeing the publicity that the Central Park owl was getting? If so, bravo. Quick reaction. Well communicated. Watch the brief video that came in the email and tell me you have no interest:
As creatures of the night, owls can seem mysterious and kind of spooky. Some people think of them as bad omens, harbingers of death. But they can also be symbols of knowledge and wisdom.
Owls have fascinated people for millennia. Everyone knows what an owl is, even if you haven’t actually seen one in real life. They’re instantly recognizable, with their large, round heads, flat faces, and forward staring eyes. We seem to be drawn to them because they resemble people. They’re definitely birds, but they also kind of look like us…
Some people are interested in learning more about birds, others are not, but this lesson plan sounds like a good one for starters: Continue reading
Bird of the Day: California Scrub-Jay
Baja California Sur, Mexico
Winged Victory Of Central Park
Barry’s fans, in the North Woods of Central Park. Dave Sanders for The New York Times
Two years ago when a mandarin duck caught the attention of New Yorkers, and others with avian interests, I was struck by the diversionary value. Now, even more than then, winged diversion is welcome. This one provided me a diversion within a diversion. A sculpture dedicated on a Greek island more than two thousand years ago honored a victory, and the sculptor chose the goddess of victory to represent that honor. At that time, the goddess was always depicted with wings. If victory has been on your mind lately, you might see this owl as a harbinger.
Barry the Barred Owl is New York City’s bird of the moment. Dave Sanders for The New York Times
That’s up to you. Even without thinking of victory, a good owl photo is always a welcome diversion. The photograph by Joshua Kristal (click the image below to go to his Instagram feed) is particularly well composed. My thanks to Lisa M. Collins for this story:
‘I Had to See That Owl’: Central Park’s New Celebrity Bird
New Yorkers are so obsessed with Barry the barred owl that some are concerned he could be scared away. So far, he seems to like the attention.
Joshua Kristal finally got to see (and photograph) Barry during a Birding Bob night tour through Central Park earlier this month. Joshua Kristal
It was late afternoon in the North Woods of Central Park, and the sun was setting fast. Joshua Kristal, a photographer with a penchant for birds, was starting to feel despondent as he searched along the creek, looking for any movement. This was the third time he’d traveled more than an hour from Brooklyn to see Manhattan’s newest celebrity bird: an ethereal and majestic barred owl.
Currently known as Barry, the owl has intense black eyes and elegant poufs of white feathers streaked with brown and gray. He looks like a perfect stuffed animal from a high-end toy store. But Barry is also unusual. Though owls are typically nocturnal, he makes regular daytime appearances, and has become something of a performer. Practically vogueing, he stares, preens and swoops into the shallow stream to wash and flick his feathers. Barry will turn his head 270 degrees right and left and up above to check for his archenemy, the hawk. He plucks chipmunks with his talons and devours them, seemingly unfazed by adoring fans and the paparazzi, many of whom have already made him Instagram-famous. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: White-throated Mountain-gem
male – Talamanca Highlands, Costa Rica
What Very Hungry Caterpillars Really Do
Today’s post is a finding from the natural world that intersects with the premise of a favored book for kids:
Don’t Get Between a Caterpillar and Its Milkweed
Before metamorphosis, monarch butterflies will aggressively head butt each other for access to their favorite food.
In the 1969 children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” the tiny protagonist spends a week snarfing his way through a smorgasbord of fruits, meats, sugary desserts and, finally, a nourishing leaf. This family-friendly tale was missing one crucial and far less G-rated plot element: the pure, unadulterated rage of an insect unfed. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: White-throated Mountain-gem
female – Talamanca Highlands, Costa Rica
Organikos, Sophomore Year
Getting to one trillion trees planted will happen one tree at a time, requiring many helping hands in many places. The round hunk of granite in the photo above reminds me each day that even with a good plan and strong motivation, hurdles are always on the horizon. This morning, as hurricane Iota moves on from Central America, and we can see that the sun still rises in the east, Organikos is now in its sophomore year. Freshman year started auspiciously enough with the Brunca farm visit that completed our selection of one dozen coffees to offer in the Authentica shops.
Our first hurdle came when Costa Rica’s airports closed in March of this year. By the time they partially re-opened in August we were already jumping the hurdle. Our mission is to plant as many trees as we can. On the land that Organikos has right now, that means a few thousand trees. And we are well on our way to completing that mission based on sales during freshman year, hurdle notwithstanding. Many have been inspired to pivot and selling online is not our course correction. Organikos will continue its plan to acquire more land to regenerate more bird habitat; that will require exponential growth, relative to freshman year. We are also now planning to allocate funds for regeneration on land owned by others, leveraging currently limited resources into more trees planted. We will announce the first collaboration in these pages pronto.
Bird of the Day: Elegant Euphonia
Guatemala
Does Planting A Trillion Trees Sound Implausible?
A nursery manager plants a whitebark pine at Glacier National Park in Montana in September 2019, part of an effort to restore vegetation following a wildfire. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Here in Iota-drenched Costa Rica there is damage from this hurricane and from the one that just ended a week earlier, but it is minuscule compared to what Nicaragua and Honduras have sustained. If you are scientifically inclined, then two complementary ideas are easy to digest: 1) the people suffering most from the effects of climate change are among the least responsible for causing it; and 2) they live in places that may be best-suited for mitigating it. For our part, planting trees when coffee is purchased is a drop in the ocean of need. A story we missed from a few months ago gives some hope that this particular idea has a future:
Two-Thirds of Americans Think Government Should Do More on Climate
Bipartisan backing for carbon capture tax credits, extensive tree-planting efforts
A majority of Americans continue to say they see the effects of climate change in their own communities and believe that the federal government falls short in its efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change.
At a time when partisanship colors most views of policy, broad majorities of the public – including more than half of Republicans and overwhelming shares of Democrats – say they would favor a range of initiatives to reduce the impacts of climate change, including large-scale tree planting efforts, tax credits for businesses that capture carbon emissions and tougher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Yellow-throated Toucan
Costa Rica
Major Marine Sanctuary, An Unexpected Gift Of 2020
The marine sanctuary off Tristan da Cunha will be the fourth largest in the world. Photograph: Andy Schofield/RSPB/PA
The Guardian shares some welcome conservation news from a lesser-known bit of land surrounded by plenty water-based wildlife:
Tiny Atlantic island takes giant leap towards protecting world’s oceans
UK overseas territory Tristan da Cunha’s new marine protected area will be fourth largest sanctuary of its kind
Rockhopper penguins on Tristan da Cunha will be among a wealth of marine life to benefit. Photograph: Trevor Glass/RSPB/PA
A community of 250 people on one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth has made a significant contribution to marine wildlife conservation by banning bottom-trawling fishing, deep-sea mining and other harmful activities from its waters.
The government of Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic archipelago in the south Atlantic and part of the UK’s overseas territories, has announced that almost 700,000 sq km of its waters will become a marine protected area (MPA), the fourth largest such sanctuary in the world. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Wine-throated Hummingbird
Cerro Chuirraxomolo Reserve, Guatemala
Changing Seasons In Escazu, Changing Climate All Around
The plant in the photo above, called Rosa de Jamaica, which looks like hibiscus but is not, grew from a small cutting gifted by friends on the other side of the mountain where we live. After a few weeks in the ground it is doing well. In the photo below you can see one of the poro saplings we also planted a couple week ago, already home to what counts as charismatic wildlife in our family.
When we started to prep the land in order to restore an abandoned portion of an old coffee farm, seeds were just then falling from the poro trees that are essential to the plan. It is heartening to see how quickly the animal kingdom responded. The dry season normally starts this month, but we are expecting more rain from yet another Greek-named hurricane hitting the isthmus this week. Seasonal change, meet climate change.
Bird of the Day: Spotted Munia
Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu
Rudy’s Vegan Butcher, A Re-Conceived Tradition In London
When they opened, the timing did not seem promising, but against all the odds they sold out and are prepping for the next virtuous wave:
Back Soon – Promise!
Wow! Thank you SO much – you guys have cleaned us out and we have been so overwhelmed by your generous support and custom. We are heads down in the kitchen restocking as fast as we can, and are also currently looking for bigger kitchen so we can continue to meet demand. Thanks for understanding while we take a short break – we will be back online as soon as we can! Rudy’s Vegan Butcher, Islington is still open! We’re busy working on our Christmas feasting box too, stay tuned… 😉
Organikos 