News — birds

http://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-rachel-carson

Wildlife is abundant on the Boulder creeks. The barn swallows returned to their nests under the bridge. A muskrat was popping up every 12 feet or so. A friend saw a wood duck on Boulder Creek last week. A few weeks ago, I saw a northern flicker chopping out scraps of wood, enlarging a hole. today I saw flicker head occupying the hole. There were 8 mallard ducklings spurting around on the pond a few days ago. Yesterday there were 17 cedar waxwings along Boulder Creek. One great blue heron spiraled down from 130 feet above, plunging towards the other. The great blue herons have their crest and chest feathers showing prominently. Avocets and killdeer are feeding in the ponds.

A friend immensely enjoyed the play acted by Kaiulani Lee. Rachel Carson found joy in observing nature, particularly in the seas and tidepools. And she collected the science, deduced that pesticides were killing the birds, and persuasively and poetically called to save the birds in her book, Silent Spring. The film of the play is available from PBS and iTunes.

http://www.kaiulanilee.com/a-sense-of-wonder.html

http://www.kaiulanilee.com/a-sense-of-wonder-film.html

Filling-in wetlands, having uncovered oil waste ponds, and dumping poisons into waterways would be not be regulated by the International Migratory Bird Treaty.

www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/The-Trump-administration-s-new-migratory-bird-12836494.php

Once they were common in the US and Canada. Then they were hunted for their feathers, skins, and meat. Around 1933 there were only 70 trumpeter swans left in the lower 48 states. Now there are more than 63,000. They recovered because hunting was banned, remnant populations were discovered in Alaska and near Yellowstone, wildlife refuges were created, and they were reintroduced to . Steve Jones gave a great talk to Boulder Audubon about how they are repopulating the lakes in western Nebraska. He likes to go and camp near them, watching their families grow, near spring fed lakes and rivers with otters, and chinook salmon. You can join the Trumpeter Swan Society to help them. http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/

Enter your zip code and find what plants are good for birds and butterflies. A friend plated a cherry tree that is good for birds and pies too. https://www.audubon.org/native-plants