Earth Month

It is Earth Month, and I’ve only posted a single acknowledgement of that, so far. Meanwhile, Ten Bears has us, with a full post of links regarding how things are, what needs to be done, and importantly, what we can still do.

Saturn Save Our Only Planet Day … !

All About The Birds

Ollie has endeared himself to some house finches who come here to eat. He’s done this by chasing the squirrel off the feeder they prefer. He doesn’t realize he’s doing favors for the birds; he wants to play with the squirrel, especially zoomies. But, for 2 days in a row, I’ve watched house finches, in pairs, chase a squirrel back in Ollie’s direction by swooping the squirrel. They also are, so far, the only birds who don’t fly up away from this feeder when Ollie goes outside. Even the crows tend to fly into the trees until he comes back inside. So the house finches fascinate me this year. Anyway, here are these about more birds, and a bat, too.

The Yellow-winged Blackbird

Also Known As

Trile (Colloquial, Chile)
Alférez (Colloquial, Uruguay)
Varillero ala amarilla (Spanish)

About

The Yellow-winged Blackbird is a conspicuous species of the Southern Cone of South America, congregating in colonies in marshes during the breeding season, and forming larger flocks in wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural fields the rest of the year. These birds are also extremely vocal, giving a startling variety of calls, including sharp and percussive sounds, clear and musical whistles, and a range of other rattling, chirping, whining, whirring, and gargling vocalizations. Their song in particular makes use of virtuosic trills, robotic whistles, and mechanical whirring or buzzing sounds, coming across as half bird, half sci-fi robot. This iconic song is also the source of one of the Yellow-winged Blackbird’s nicknames, “trile,” and some authors propose it may also be the origin of the name of the country Chile! As if to make the most of their raucous acoustic capacity, the males of an entire colony will sometimes sing together in one big, cacophonous chorus.

In addition to nesting together in the same space, Yellow-winged Blackbirds also synchronize their nesting in time. Most of the females in a colony will lay within several days of each other. As a result, most of the nests in the colony will be on the same timeline, with eggs and nestlings developing at about the same time across the marsh. (snip)

Historic Oregon Bill Generating Conservation Funding Is Signed Into Law

Oregon will soon have a new, dedicated source of conservation funding to support the recovery of struggling bird and wildlife species across the state. House Bill 4134, dubbed 1.25% for Wildlife Bill, passed the Oregon State Senate in February and has now been signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek. American Bird Conservancy (ABC) strongly supported the 1.25% for Wildlife Bill, a proactive measure expected to raise up to $30 million annually for wildlife conservation in the state.

“This is monumental: Oregon has chosen to invest in its wildlife and its future with the passage of this historic law. Habitat restoration, recovery programs, and anti-poaching efforts are just a few of the programs that will be funded by this landmark legislation,” said Hardy Kern, ABC’s Director of Government Relations.

The Act will create a sustainable funding source dedicated to conserving imperiled species like the Marbled Murrelet, a seabird that nests in mature and old-growth forests in the state. Nest predation by jays and ravens contributes to the species’ declining population. Actions that could boost nesting success, such as campground cleanup efforts to reduce jay and raven numbers near sensitive nesting sites, are currently unfunded, but could benefit from the revenue generated by the newly signed law. (snip-MORE)

F Yeah, Indeed!

From Friend Of Playtime, ‘The Bee Writes’:

some really cool fiction. We all need a brain cleanser, and this is short and sweet. The bit underneath the End emojis is in German, though your device may translate, which will be a duplicate. I included the German in case someone will enjoy that one, too.

Just A little Dittie

Beatrice Halton – Bee Writes Apr 14, 2026

“He’s done it at last?”

“I guess so, look at how he is jumping around!”

“Like a rabbit on speed!”

“There is this rumour he had trouble with drugs back in the ’80s.”

“Is that when he started building this… this well… I know it’s what they called a house on earth”

“Yes, I remember when he pulled the whole planet out of the other dimension. I think he had planned to build the house on the planet but of course, that’s not possible. You can’t build from one dimension to another. ”

“But it’s in this dimension!!!!”

“No, it’s not. See that’s the problem with quantum physics. Nothing is how it seems.”

“Ah. So he got frustrated and into drugs?”

“Probably.”

“He managed somehow though…”

“As we can see but he has a planet stuck on his entrance door.”

“Stupid!”

“Yes, really stupid”
🏠🤣🏠🤣🏠🤣🏠🤣🏠🤣

„Hat er es endlich geschafft?“

„Ich glaube schon, schau mal, wie er da herumhüpft!“

„Wie ein Kaninchen auf Speed!“

„Es gibt dieses Gerücht, dass er in den 80ern Probleme mit Drogen hatte.“

„Ist das die Zeit, als er angefangen hat, dieses … dieses … nun ja … ich weiß, man nennt so etwas auf der Erde ein Haus.“

„Ja, ich erinnere mich, als er den ganzen Planeten aus der anderen Dimension geholt hat. Ich glaube, er hatte vor, das Haus auf dem Planeten zu bauen, aber das ist natürlich nicht möglich. Man kann nicht von einer Dimension in eine andere bauen.“

„Aber es ist doch in dieser Dimension!!!!“

„Nein, tut es nicht. Siehst du, das ist das Problem mit der Quantenphysik. Nichts ist so, wie es scheint.“

„Ah. Also war er frustriert und hat mit Drogen angefangen?“

„Wahrscheinlich.“

„Er hat es aber irgendwie geschafft …“

„Wie wir sehen können, aber er hat einen Planeten an seiner Eingangstür hängen.“

„Dumm!“

„Ja, wirklich dumm.“

When You Need A Break-

Owlets Hatch At The Wildflower Center Great Horned Owl Nest

The Great Horned Owl Cam just got a whole lot cuter this week thanks to two new arrivals. Athena, the female owl, stood watch over the nest as her first egg hatched a down-covered owlet on April 8 after 34 days of incubation. The second owlet arrived two days later, on April 10. Over the next six weeks, viewers will get an intimate look at the nestling period of one of the sky’s most formidable predators.

This marks Athena’s sixteenth consecutive season nesting with her mate in a sotol planter above the courtyard of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. It is also the third year in a row that she has successfully hatched a pair of owlets on camera since the stream launched in 2024.

At hatch, the owlets are covered in white natal down and are largely helpless. They begin to raise their heads after about three days and may start snapping their bills and casting pellets of indigestible material within the first week. Their eyes remain closed until about 9–11 days old, and they rely on Athena to keep them warm and fed during their first weeks.

(snip-how owlets grow, etc.)

Watch the owls journey through the breeding season live on the Great Horned Owl Cam, and follow daily updates on Twitter/X and Mastodon.

Some Peace & Justice History For 4/12:

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryapril.htm#april12

Some Fun On Saturday

Male octopus has ‘sex arm’ that can mate in the dark

Scientists found that the male’s hectocotylus, the specialized arm for mating, is lined with receptors that can sense hormones from the female.

The California two-spot octopus is a solitary creature. How exactly they manage to find suitable mates has been one of the ocean’s best-kept secrets.

Now scientists have discovered that male octopuses have a unique way of sensing a female’s presence: they use special sensors in the arm they use for sex. Receptors in the suckers on this arm taste female sex hormones, and directly guide the arm to where it needs to go to deliver sperm, researchers report in the journal Science. (snip-MORE; click the title above)

The Goofiest Dogs Bringing Whimsical Canine Vibes

Dogs are the epitome of whimsical, and we’re going to tell you why!

(snip)

(snip)

(snip-there’s MORE)

Have You Heard?

Eastern Warbling Vireo

Vireo gilvus

Also Known As

Vireo Gorjeador Oriental (Spanish)
Vireo Cantor (Spanish)

About

The Eastern Warbling Vireo is a quintessential species of spring and summer across much of eastern North America. This rather drab bird is often hard to spot, hidden up high among the leaves of tall deciduous trees, but its buoyant, easygoing song is hard to miss. One of the most persistent singers through summer, this vireo’s song is considered by many ornithologists and naturalists to be among the most beautiful in its range. Males do most of the singing, but females sing as well — an unusual trait among songbirds in temperate regions. Even more unusual, these birds will even sing while sitting on their nests!

Unfortunately for the vireos, Brown-headed Cowbirds seem to cue in on this species’ habit of singing from the nest. Cowbirds are “brood parasites,” laying their own eggs in the nests of other species, often resulting in the death of some or all of the host’s young. Female cowbirds are quite crafty, even using the movements of parent birds to determine the location of a nest; the more often a parent uses the same paths to and from the nest, the more likely cowbirds are to find it. However, Eastern Warbling Vireos are remarkably efficient at removing cowbird eggs, often puncturing the offending eggs with their bills before discarding them. Studies of this behavior showed that these vireos seem to recognize cowbird eggs by differences in the pattern of speckles on the shell — and get rid of them 90-100 percent of the time! (snip-MORE-2 calls and a song!)

Science And Wonder And Beauty

I remember seeing a headline or a hyperlink somewhere, maybe yesterday or the day before, but I didn’t get to the story. Lucky for me, it’s linked again in an email today, so here it is!

Whale filmed giving birth, with a little help from her friends

Paris (France) (AFP) – Scientists have managed to film a spectacular event rarely witnessed by humans: a sperm whale giving birth while other females worked together to support the mother and her newborn.

A team from Project CETI, an international effort seeking to understand how whales communicate, were in a boat near a pod of 11 whales off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica on July 8, 2023.

A 19-year-old female named Rounder was surrounded by family members and others as she was about to give birth to her second calf.

Over nearly five and a half hours, the scientists documented the group’s behaviour, watching them from the boat, filming them with drones and recording the sounds underneath the waves.

The data they collected, which was published in the journals Scientific Reports and Science on Thursday, represent an exceptional rarity in the history of science.

Out of 93 species of cetaceans — a group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises — only nine have ever been observed giving birth in the wild.

Rarer still was that whales not related to the mother were helping out.

“This is the first evidence of birth assistance in non-primates,” Project CETI team member Shane Gero told the New Scientist.

“It is fascinating to see the intergenerational support from the grandmother to her labouring daughter, and the support from the other, unrelated females.”

Lifting up the newborn

The birth lasted 34 minutes, from their tails emerging from the water to the calf being born.

During labour, other adult females dove under Rounder’s dorsal fin, often on their backs with the heads facing her genital slit.

Immediately after the birth, the pod’s behaviour “rapidly changed” as every member became active, according to the study in Scientific Reports.

All the adults were “squeezing the newborn’s body between theirs, touching it with their heads”, the researchers wrote.

The whales pointed their noses towards the newborn, “pushing it around, under the water, and onto and across their bodies above the surface”.

The remarkable behaviour dates back more than 36 million years and is believed to be due to the unique history of cetaceans.

After their distant ancestors left the water and adapted to life on land, cetaceans are the only mammals that returned to the ocean.

This dive back into the water required some evolutionary tricks to prevent newborns from drowning.

For example, whale calves are born tail-first, rather than head-first like other mammals.

However, while newborn sperm whales become talented swimmers within a few hours, they still sink right after birth.

So other whales have to lift the calf up “to prevent the newborn from sinking while also facilitating its first breaths”, the researchers suggested.

Primates — including humans — are the only other mammals known to help assist each other out during birth.

Excited vocal sounds

The scientists also recorded the whales making many sounds, including significant changes in “vocal style” during key events, the study said.

This included when a group of pilot whales approached the pod after the birth.

The changes in vocalisation suggest that the group was coordinating to support the birth — or protect the newborn, the researchers said.

Sperm whales have one of the longest pregnancies in the animal kingdom, with a gestation period that lasts up to 16 months.

When calves are born they are already four metres (13 feet) long. They will rely on their mother’s milk for at least two years.

As they grow, the young become the centre of their pod’s social unit, with others helping out with babysitting while the mother searches for food.

After the birth was filmed in 2023, the pod was not spotted again for over a year. Then the newborn was spotted with Accra and Aurora — the other young members of the pod — on July 25 last year.

Surviving its first year is a good sign that the sperm whale will reach adulthood, the Project CETI team said.