There are several this time! The titles are links, as usual, but for space consideration, I’m leaving Clay’s awesome commentary on his pages, and posting only toons this time. Go see what he has to say, though-it’s always good!
(You may listen to this, on the page linked above)
Sparky the Baltimore Oriole. Photo by Melissa Groo.
One early May, I watched a pair of Baltimore Orioles courting in my backyard. Before long, the female was weaving an intricate nest in the sugar maple outside my bedroom window. Three weeks later, the begging calls of chicks emanated from within.
As a self-professed โwildlife biographer,โ I sought to photograph every stage of their story. I learned each orioleโs unique traits: the fatherโs dulcet chirrups as he patrolled his territory and the specific flight paths he took to the nest, the motherโs burnt-orange plumage as she moved surreptitiously through the trees, and her cryptic, leaf-like flutter down to the jelly feeder. I marveled at their tireless vigilance against marauding Blue Jays and squirrels and the dozens of daily forays they made to find insects for their nestlings.
One day, hearing a great ruckus, I rushed outside to find the parents flitting about a chick on the ground. She was injured and squawking piteously, likely captured by a predator and then released in the ensuing fray.
I scooped her up, pleading uselessly with the parents for forgiveness, and raced her to Cornell Universityโs wildlife hospital, not far from my home. Sheโd suffered puncture wounds and a ruptured air sac. After a stint in the hospital and then with a rehabilitator, she was transferred to me (a subpermittee under a wildlife rehabilitatorโs license) in hopes of a release. But first, we needed to prove she could fly.
I named this tiny, spunky bird Sparky.ย (snip-MORE)
The Pigeon Guillemot is an attractive member of the auk family, a group of marine birds that also includes the puffins, murres, and auklets. The auks are largely known to forage on the open ocean, with some species diving to extraordinary depths for their food. The Pigeon Guillemot, however, forages in shallow waters near the shore and doesnโt usually dive deeper than about 100 feet. Nonetheless, they are graceful divers, โflyingโ underwater, their partially opened wings helping them maneuver and propelling them along. Like other auks, they use their feet as rudders.
Pigeon Guillemots are particularly fond of small fish and crustaceans, which they chase out from under rocks on the sea floor. But foraging among the nooks and crannies is not without its risks โ the Pigeon Guillemot itself is food for other marine life, including the giant Pacific octopus!
Nesting colonies can be quite large, especially on small offshore islands with few predators. And Pigeon Guillemots dress quite elegantly for the occasion: During the breeding season, males and females sport velvety black plumage with a broad, white, vaguely V-shaped wing patch, all set off by their flashy, bright red feet. After the breeding season concludes, however, these birds molt to a mostly white and ashy black-and-gray plumage. (snip-MORE)
A group of Black Skimmers in flight resembles an aerial ballet, circling, banking, and gracefully alighting as one. Although taxonomists place this unique, long-winged waterbird in a separate genus, itโs closely related to gulls and terns.
The Black Skimmerโs most striking feature is its gaudy red-and-black bill: Both jaws are long and narrow like a knife blade, with the lower jutting out well beyond the upper. Its unique appearance lends the Black Skimmer a number of evocative folk names, including Scissor-bill, Cutwater (Cortagua or Corta-agua in South America), and Seadog (after its calls, often compared to dog barks).
This odd bill is what affords these birds their distinctive foraging style, and the name โskimmer.โ A feeding skimmer flies low over the water with its beak open and lower mandible partially submerged. Where a broader bill would send a continuous spray of seawater straight down the throat of another species, the uniquely narrow mandible of the skimmer cuts through the water like a fin. When the extended lower mandible touches prey, such as a small fish, the billโs upper mandible snaps down, securing the birdโs meal.
Another remarkable feature of the Black Skimmer is its eyes, which have large pupils that can narrow to vertical slits, like a catโs pupils. This adaptation compensates for glare off the waterโs surface and may enhance the birdโs vision as it hunts in dim light or at night.
Threats
According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Black Skimmers have declined in the United States by almost 90 percent since 1966. This is largely due to habitat loss and human disturbance at nesting colonies. These birds are also affected by oil spills and chemical pollution in coastal waters, and may face additional threats during the breeding season with climate change as sea levels continue to rise. (snip-MORE)
Life has been happening here with me this couple of weeks, and I have a few things I’ve picked up here and there to post when I’m busy. Most of this is positive, because why not?
Hey-today is World Environment Day! Let’s be proud to care for our home; we all get overheated.
June 5, [since 1972]
World Environment Day was established by the U.N. General Assembly to commemorate the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in Sweden. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was established as a result of the conference.
UNEPโs mission: To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
Birds (Sources: Birdsandblooms, Blair Benson, Bill Duncan, Blair Benson, JM Arment, Hummingbird centarl)
It’s June 1, which means Pride Month begins again today. It’s my seventh Pride. I remember my first one, seven years agoโterrified and excited, going out dressed in the clothes I felt best in, using the name I wanted to use for the first time in public. I had people with me that day, people I found safety with, people who helped me grow into the person I am now. Seven years later, so sure of myself and so comfortable in my skin, I look back on those moments as some of the best of my life. And now, this year, as I have every year, I watch the new flockโcountless in numberโwho are wearing rainbow colors and joining a family that will show them more love than they have ever known. They are arriving even after a political winter that was, by any measure, cold and brutal to all of us. It is watching them that has me thinking about the beauty of what we witness starting today.
This year, I took up birding. I always thought it was a silly hobby, but my wife Zooey encouraged me to point my camera at a new subject. I first did so on the Pattee Canyon trail up in Missoulaโand caught, soaring in place, a single red-tailed hawk, just hovering, watching the ground below. I stared at it for a while in awe. That was all it took. And the timing was perfect, because in the weeks that followed I stumbled into the best time to be a birder: spring migration. Wave after wave of orioles, tanagers, flycatchers, and warblers of every different color and size came pouring through. I didn’t even know there were so many birds. It made me realize that for most of my life I had been walking through the world completely unaware of the beauty around meโthat there was this entire world that had always been there, just waiting for me to lay eyes on it.
What I also didn’t know was the incredible journeys so many of these birds had taken just to be hereโhow far they had traveled to find the flocks they’d spend the season with, to build nests, to raise families, to simply exist in a place that could sustain them. The Prothonotary Warbler I spotted in the marsh? It spent the winter in the mangrove swamps of Central America, then crossed the entire Gulf of Mexico in a single flightโmore than 600 miles of open water, eighteen hours in the air with nowhere to land. It had to travel that far just to find its family. And the most stunning thing about a bird like thatโone that has gone through so much, that has flapped its wings until it has exhausted itself and left everything behind? It arrived here in the most brilliant gold you’ve ever seen, and began to sing. The Prothonotary Warbler isn’t nearly the only species that does this. Ruby throated hummingbirds, blackpoll warblers, bobolinksโฆ all take incredible journeys.
I was unaware of all of this before I took up birding. It makes me wonder how much else I walk right past without seeing. I remember before I came out, I didn’t know how rich this chosen family was, how many different people were also queer like me. I had no idea that once I came out, I’d find so many of them had been here all along. They were just waiting for me, and all I had to do was stop and look and embrace something new. And I did, and an entire world opened up. I love moments like this, where life teaches you something about itself, and you realize that diversity and surprise might just be the best things it has to offer.
Today, as Pride begins, I am reminded that every single person who has made it here, put on their colors, and found their family has survived something difficult. Every one of them has just lasted through a winter where our rights were systematically stripped away. Politicians who hate us have spent the year dismantling everything we builtโhealthcare ripped from hospitals, identities stripped from documents. Corporations that once draped themselves in rainbows every June are nowhere to be found. Some of us have quite literally migrated to entirely new states looking for safety. And our gulf crossing this year was met with heavy headwinds.
And yet, so many of us still made it. This year, you will see your city streets filled with rainbows. This year, countless new people will celebrate their first Prides. People will put on the clothes that fit them best. People will love in ways they didn’t know how to before. People will dance and sing, and others will have no choice but to acknowledge our existence, because when we arrive, we do not do so quietly. Every single person you see in the streets this month is a testament to our resilience, and a reminder to the fact that this is a journey we have been making since the beginning of human existence. We call it something different now. We carve out a specific month for it. But we have always been here, and we have always had to search for ways to express ourselves, be ourselves, and find our kin.
Maybe birding is a silly hobby. Maybe dragging myself out of bed before dawnโand I am not a morning person, I might addโis more trouble than it’s worth. Birders look ridiculous. We stuff our pants into our socks so the ticks don’t climb up our legs. We carry binoculars and absurdly large cameras into places where everyone else is just taking a walk. But I think there is something more to it than that, something that opened my eyes to the way the world moves around meโsomething I wasn’t expecting to find when I first pointed a camera at a hawk and couldn’t look away. I think I understand something about this month that I didnโt understand before because of it. Pride isnโt just a celebration, itโs a testament to survival and a refusal to be quiet even after the journey. It’s putting on your most brilliant colors after the longest winter of your life. And Iโm so glad we made it one more year.
This sunlight-powered desalination breakthrough turns seawater into fresh water while harvesting valuable minerals.
Date: May 31, 2026
Source:University of Rochester
Summary: Scientists have developed a solar desalination system that turns seawater into drinking water without creating environmentally damaging brine. Special laser-textured metal panels use sunlight to evaporate water while automatically moving salt deposits away from the working surface, preventing clogging. The process was successfully tested with water from three oceans and can recover nearly all salts as solids. Those leftover materials could even become a source of valuable lithium for batteries.
Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.
Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulร ria 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.
The arrival of the snake on Santa Eulร ria, recorded by a local wildlife ranger, confirmed that the insatiable invader from the Spanish mainland โ which has almost wiped out Ibizaโs endemic population of dazzlingly coloured wall lizards โ had opened up a new front.
โThereโd beenincreasing anecdotal evidence from fishermen and tourists whoโd seen the snakes swimming, so weโd thought it was happening very often,โ said Oriol Lapiedra, a biologist at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (Creaf) in Catalonia. โBut this was the first proper [evidence] weโd had of a snake swimming from Ibiza to the islet.โ
The horseshoe whip snake, a non-venomous reptile found across southern and eastern Spain, has become an existential threat to the lizards since it began appearing on the island two decades ago.
Its rapid colonisation has been attributed to the fashion among wealthy property owners in Ibiza for importing ancient olive trees from mainlandย Spainย to adorn the grounds of their homes. Unbeknown to them, however, the trees โ replete with their nooks and hollows โ have provided ideal travel berths for hibernating snakes and snake eggs. (snip-MORE)
Getting rid of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to appease Donald Trump isn’t the only poke in the eye of CBS by Paramount Skydance.
Bari Weiss, the networkโs editor in chief, appointed by Paramount Skydance CEO and Trump ally David Ellison, has been accused by Scott Pelley of murdering 60 Minutes.
Ellison really wants to be on good terms with regulators in the Trump administration. He was at the inauguration, has attended UFC fights with Trump, and even hosted an invite-only Washington DC party for him.
Tech journalist and filmmaker Nick Bilton is the new executive producer of 60 Minutes, who was appointed last week after the firing of former producer Tanya Simon and her deputy, along with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Bilton held a morning meeting in Midtown Manhattan, which was a formal introduction to the staff of 60 Minutes, where he was told by Pelley that he had โslenderโ qualifications for the job and that Beri Weiss was โmurderingโ 60 Minutes.
This is Bodie. His presence indicates the beginning of Pride Month. May his whimsy and steadfastness bring joy and confidence to all. 14/10 the parade starts right behind him ๐๐พ
By James Jordan, Sumner Newscow โ The month of May is barely over, and the wheat harvest has already started in Sumner County. That is not a good thing. Last year, the harvest didnโt get going well until mid-June, which is still on the early side.
Drought conditions over the winter and early spring caused the wheat to mature earlier than it should have, resulting in poorer yields.
Recent rains are likely too little too late; wet conditions may even hamper the harvest.
Last year, there was good wheat in the fields, but wet conditions prevented a bumper harvest.
State and local wheat officials say the wheat that is out there is not in very good shape.
According to the Kansas Wheat Association, the crop generally looked good as it went into its dormant stage in the late fall. There was not much rain in March and April, which is the primary growing stage, turning a promising crop into a dismal one.
The drought conditions in that growing stage force the wheat to develop faster. It limits the yield and accelerates growth, which is why we have wheat ready to harvest so early.
There are still some areas in Sumner and Cowley County that may get good yields. Conditions are much worse in western and central Kansas.
According to USDA statistics, as of the beginning of May, 41 percent of the wheat was very poor or poor, with 35 percent being fair. Only 24 percent was rated good or excellent.
As of last week, the wheat commission reported 55 percent as poor to very poor, and 30 percent as fair. Only 15 percent was rated good.
Last year at this time, 48 percent was rated as good to excellent.
The USDA estimates that this yearโs crop could be the smallest nationwide since 1965 and 25 percent smaller than last year.
Scottie's Playtime 