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Scientists believe penguin poop might be cooling Antarctica — here's how

In a paper published on Thursday in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, they describe how ammonia wafting off the droppings of 60,000 birds contributed to the formation of clouds that might be insulating Antarctica, helping cool down an otherwise rapidly warming continent. 
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I discovered a reference to bumblebees nesting in a birdhouse.  It turns out that you can also build a house just for the bumblebees.  
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Acts of Restorative Kindkess (ARK) is a project devoted to rewilding the land and making space for wildlife.

Compare with my laissez-faire permaculture approach. I favor native plants, but I include other things too, some ornamental and others edible. I have small gardens and containers, but most of the space is loosely managed. The prairie garden is mostly wild and so is the forest garden.

Wildlife comes and goes as it pleases. I saw a skunk today wandering through the savanna after a storm. He wasn't bothered by my presence at all. We just shared the space, each going about our business. There are birds everywhere -- blackbirds, sparrows, finches, doves, crows, all kinds. Soon they'll be nesting, which is always fun to watch. Already there are a lot of bees out. Not many native flowers bloom this early, but I've got crocuses and other bulbs that the bees swarm eagerly.

So it's pretty nice. It's also very jungle-esque (I have an actual emergent layer) as the ARK is described as "untidy." One of my gardening hats came from the North American Dandelion Appreciation Society, which is about loving the weeds and the wildness. :D It's all fine.
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US bird populations continue alarming decline

2025 State of the Birds Report calls for urgent conservation action.
The 2025 U. S. State of the Birds Report, produced by a coalition of leading science and conservation organizations, reveals continued widespread declines in American bird populations across all mainland and marine habitats, with 229 species requiring urgent conservation action.

The release of the 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report was announced today at the 90th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The report, produced by a coalition of leading science and conservation organizations, reveals continued widespread declines in American bird populations across all mainland and marine habitats, with 229 species requiring urgent conservation action. The report comes five years after the landmark 2019 study that documented the loss of 3 billion birds in North America over 50 years.

Key findings from the new report show that more than one-third of U.S. bird species are of high or moderate conservation concern, including 112 Tipping Point species that have lost more than 50% of their populations in the last 50 years. That includes 42 red-alert species facing perilously low populations, such as Allen's Hummingbird, Tricolored Blackbird, and Saltmarsh Sparrow -- birds that are at risk without immediate intervention
.


Remember what I just said about the butterfly apocalypse? No butterflies and moths --> no caterpillars --> no birds, because most terrestrial birds raise their chicks on nature's hotdogs.
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Gray Slums of Brazil Turn Green with Rooftop Garden Project in Full Bloom

From the rooftop of a Rio de Janeiro slum, amid sheet after sheet of corrugated iron, one man reclines amid succulents and ficus.

His name is Luis Cassiano Silva, and he is the progenitor of the Teto Verde Favela, or Green Roofs Favela initiative, described by one academic as an exercise in “insurgent citizenship.”
[---8<---]
Taking responsibility for improving the lives of the community, in 2014 Cassiano began teaching and planting, gardening and growing, all over Parque Arara, one of Rio’s large favelas. Green roofs are used widely in Europe to climate-proof buildings.

They not only lead to a reduction in the heat island effect, but also contribute to slowing rainwater runoff, keeping indoor areas cooler, and keeping outdoor air cleaner and more moist.


Read more... )
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This haiku collection is spillover from the January 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. (I oopsed a book again.) It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] scrubjayspeaks. It also fills the "WILD CARD: The Peacock Fan" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Bingo fest. This collection has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette.

Read more... )
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Discovering the traits of extinct birds

Analysis of 216 extinct species by biologists found birds endemic to islands, occupied ecologically specific niche, lacking flight, with large bodies and sharply angled wings were the ones likely to disappear the soonest after 1500.


In other words, humans are lazy and hungry, also prone to bring pests.  :/

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