OK, Yeah, There’s Still A Bird Post-

It’s Saturday, after all.

Nashville Warbler

Leiothlypis ruficapilla

Also Known As

Chipe Cabeza Gris (Spanish)

The Nashville Warbler is a lively songbird with elegant, understated plumage and a special fondness for sunny forests, brushy undergrowth, and juicy caterpillars. It is also one of several birds in the Western Hemisphere with a rather misleading name. This bird is only in the southeastern United States for a few weeks during migration on its way between the northern forests where it breeds and its wintering grounds in Mexico, Central America, and the California coast. The species was first documented in Tennessee, and the “Nashville” name stuck, although it only stops over in the area during migration.

The Latin name is also rather misleading to anyone watching this bird in the field — the species epithet ruficapilla refers to a small patch of reddish feathers on the bird’s crown, usually invisible among the gray feathers of the rest of the head. Like the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Yellow-rumped Warbler (scientific species name coronata, for the rarely seen yellow crown), this name may be mystifying to beginning birders, but it might also provide an avenue into the secret social life of the bird.

The ability to hide and reveal this bright, contrasting color patch allows these birds to produce a striking visual signal, which they use to communicate agitation and excitement, particularly in aggressive interactions between males at close range. The closely related Lucy’s and Virginia’s Warblers also have hidden reddish crowns, apparently used in similar contexts. In fact, colorful hidden crown patches have also evolved in distantly related species, like the Western Kingbird, suggesting they may play important roles in these birds’ lives. However, birds are rarely seen actually raising their crowns, and our understanding of their social use is only rudimentary.

Nashville Warblers are quite social. Once the young of the year are independent from their parents, these warblers begin to form large foraging flocks, numbering up to 100 birds. On their nonbreeding grounds, these birds are often at the center of equally large flocks with dozens of species, their persistent contact calls allowing other birds — and birders — to locate them in the forest canopy. In fact, Nashville Warblers may be a “nuclear species,” facilitating the formation of these large and diverse flocks with help from another energetic northern migrant, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Typically, nuclear species are resident birds, not migrants. But when this warbler-gnatcatcher pair comes to town, they bring the party. (snip-MORE)

(Well, it Is Scottie’s Playtime, after all … )

Some Good Climate News

Nobody Expected The Spanish (Energy) Transition!

The grid in Madrid is where prices have slid.

Doktor Zoom

As we like reminding you, with Donald Trump trying to kill clean energy, Europe has become the source of much of our clean energy Nice Times lately. Here’s one more example: Spain is among the big sleeper hits on Europe’s energy transition pop chart. In just a decade, Spain has ramped up its use of wind and solar power, resulting in some of the lowest wholesale electricity prices on the continent.

Oxford prof and energy policy analyst Jan Rosenow gets into the details at his “Bright Spots” newsletter, which we’ll recommend for folks who need a dose of climate optimism about now:

In the first four months of 2026, the average wholesale electricity price in Spain was €44 per megawatt-hour. In Italy, it was €127. In Germany, €96. In the UK, €103. Spain is now cheaper than France, well below the central-European bloc, and within striking distance of the Nordic hydro-and-nuclear heavyweights that have always topped the cheap-power league.

The basic reason is pretty simple, Rosenow explains, although he also goes into further detail beyond this. “Spain increasingly pushed gas increasingly out of its electricity supply, and the price of electricity followed.”

Over the last 25 years, Spain has gone from getting a third of its electricity from coal to effectively having zero coal power. Spain replaced most of that capacity with cheaper (and relatively cleaner but still climate-unfriendly) fossil gas, and it’s now replacing gas with renewables. Gas peaked at about 30 percent of Spain’s energy mix near the end of the 2000s, and is now down to about 19 percent. Another 19 percent comes from nuclear, which hasn’t changed over the last few decades and 14 percent is from hydro and bioenergy. The rest has been solar and wind, which combined are up to 42 percent of the mix in 2026. Here’s a pretty chart, with cheerful yellow solar energy and cool blue wind energy growing, and icky grey coal rapidly fading into nothing.

Chart titled 'Spain's electricity mix: coal and gas out, wind and solar in.' Based on Ember's 2025 global electricity review, it displays in graph form the data discussed in the preceding paragraph.

Here’s why the replacement of gas with renewables matters so much: Because wholesale electricity prices at any given time are set by the most expensive energy plants needed to meet demand, and gas is usually that most expensive source, getting more solar and wind on the grid during high-demand daylight hours brings down wholesale prices a lot. (snip-MORE)

Go and read, and click the links if you have time. It is heartening, even though it’s not happening here.

Decent Enviro News:

Boston Turns Bus Stops Into Living Shields Against Deadly Heat·

Written by Matthew Russell

Boston has turned 30 bus shelters on the #28 route into pocket gardens. The drought-tolerant plantings sit atop waterproof trays, shading riders, soaking up rain, and greening a corridor long hit hard by summer heat, Boston.gov reports.

The project is a three-year demonstration tied to the city’s Heat Plan and its “Cool Commutes” strategy.

Two men lean over a green, flowering landscape feature in an urban setting.

Photo: YouTube / Weston Nurseries
Thirty bus shelters now host green roofs.

Heat Relief Where It’s Needed

The Route 28 line runs through Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury. These neighborhoods are designated environmental justice areas and face higher, longer-lasting heat on hot days, Bay State Banner reports.

By replacing sun-baked clear panels with living roofs, the shelters cut radiant exposure and reduce the local heat-island effect.

Person in a neon shirt tending to a green rooftop garden.

Photo: YouTube / Weston Nurseries
Roof trays retain stormwater during downpours.

Stormwater Kept Out of Streets—and Harbor

Every downpour loads gutters, outfalls, and ultimately coastal waters. These roofs slow that flow. City officials estimate the 30 shelters will capture on the order of 1,400–1,500 gallons across the pilot period, helping curb runoff that can carry pollutants to drains and waterways, according to The Boston Globe. The city will also track water quality of roof runoff to understand filtration benefits.

City bus showing "29 RIDE FOR FREE" sign at a street corner.

The #28 route was chosen for high ridership.

Small Roofs, Big Biodiversity

Sedum forms the hardy base layer. Native plants will be added to attract bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators, building a tiny habitat network along Blue Hill Avenue, per Mass. Municipal Association. That boost matters in dense blocks with limited tree canopy.

Climate Action With Community Hands

Social Impact Collective designed the system and helped lead installation with YouthBuild Boston and Weston Nurseries, while JCDecaux, the city’s street-furniture partner, enabled the retrofit. The work revives a 2014 pilot and scales it across the city’s busiest bus corridor, The Architect’s Newspaper reports.

The #28 line is fare-free through 2026, positioning the program to reach riders who are most exposed to heat and least served by rapid transit.

Measuring Impact, Planning Scale

Over three years, Boston will collect data on temperatures, plant growth, stormwater retention, air quality, and pollinators to guide future standards for bus-shelter design, Mass. Municipal Association reports. If expanded to all 280 shelters, the city’s green roofs could hold roughly 15,000 gallons during storms—a meaningful dent in street flooding that also protects downstream marine habitats.