Storks Return! Derby Wetlands Welcomes Them Back After 600 Years
Big news for bird lovers: white storks have returned to Willington Wetlands near Derby, England, for the first time in 600 years.
Just how long is 600 years? Long enough that if the storks had stuck around, they could have watched every Harry Potter movie back-to-back more than 2.5 million times — with plenty of bathroom breaks left over. In American terms, storks disappeared from this area around the time Christopher Columbus was still a kid, decades before he ever sailed to the Americas.
Storks used to be a common sight across the UK, kind of like how you might spot herons, egrets, or bald eagles near lakes and rivers in North America. But they disappeared centuries ago — and now conservationists are trying to bring them back.
Three New Arrivals
Earlier this year, three young storks — one male and two females — hatched and grew to full adult size in just about 12 weeks (for comparison, humans take about 18 years). They've now been moved into a specially built enclosure at the wetlands, complete with its own pond, and have already started exploring their new digs.
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As much fun as the beach can be, it can also be dangerous. Ocean conditions can change rapidly, turning waves from calm to catastrophic in a matter of moments. It’s one of the reasons why lifeguards are so important, and a witness recently caught video footage of a lifeguard — ahem, hero — in action at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, where the waves seemed normal at first, then seemingly suddenly turned rough enough to challenge even strong swimmers.
A 10-year-old boy was swept about 15 yards offshore before 16-year-old rookie lifeguard Ryder Williams reached him. Several beachgoers also joined the effort, and the entire rescue lasted just over two minutes. That might not seem like a long time when you’re scrolling on your phone or hitting the snooze button in the morning, but think about fighting against the ocean to save a life for 120 seconds. That’s a lot of pressure!
Williams has since been invited to the White House to receive a high civilian honor for his actions, but the rescue is also important for awareness in general, because it shows why lifeguards matter even when things seem calm.
It’s been a summer of fires all over the world, and Canada is no exception, as wildfires swept through western Canada, officials say some of them spread with frightening speed.
Thousands have been forced to leave their homes as fires move through remote areas. One resident described watching a fire grow from about 50 hectares to 5,000 hectares — that’s about 0.2 to 20 square miles — in only two to three hours. Think about something growing to 100 times its size in the time it takes to watch a movie!
Of course, these are scary by themselves, but they're part of an even larger problem. Earlier in the summer, about 200 fires burned around Ontario, and smoke traveled hundreds of miles, affecting places as far south as Minnesota and New York. In British Columbia alone, officials said there had been 70 new fires in seven days and 105 active wildfires across the province.
The fires triggered a massive response — more than 2,000 people across many different jobs, including firefighters, aviation teams, heavy-equipment crews, and people protecting buildings — have been working to help contain the damage. It’s great there are brave individuals helping, but they may not have so much time to rest. Wildfires aren’t new, but they are becoming more common and more severe as the climate changes.
They say “it’s always darkest before dawn,” but that may just have a nicer ring than “it suddenly gets really dark if you’re in the path of totality during a solar eclipse, which happens somewhere on Earth about once every 18 months.” Yup, first one definitely stitches better onto a decorative pillow.
A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon completely blocks the Sun. Although a total eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth roughly every year and a half, only people inside a narrow strip called the “path of totality” get to see the Sun completely covered. This path is created as the Moon’s shadow moves across Earth while both Earth and the Moon change position.
This mid-August eclipse started off over northern Siberia at sunrise, then crossed the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and a small part of Portugal before ending near the Balearic Islands at sunset. Those outside of the path could see a partial eclipse, but a lot of the world missed out on the full experience.
Eclipses are amazing to watch, but partial eclipses can be especially dangerous! Even as much as 95% coverage of the Sun is not close enough when it comes to eye safety. If any bright part of the Sun is still visible, you should use certified eclipse glasses, since looking directly at the Sun can permanently damage your eyes.
Most of our sub-par pictures just take up space on our phones and show off the insides of our pockets, but one blurry photo launched an almost two decades-long scientific endeavor.
A search that began with a picture of a tail in the trees eventually took researchers deep into Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a quest to find out exactly what kind of monkey they were dealing with. Using microphones, cameras and genetic testing, they gathered enough evidence to confirm that the animal is a distinct species, now named Colobus congoensis — the first time a monkey is being named after the Congo!
It belongs to a group of plant-eating primates that live high in trees and do not have thumbs, but the Colobus congoensis has some unique characteristics. It uses a roaring call that announces its presence through dense tropical forest and has distinctive pinkish-orange lips that researchers think could act as a visual signal, perhaps helping it attract a mate. It also gives you someone to blame if your sibling asks, “Who ate the last orange creamsicle?!”
Scientists still have a lot to learn about this monkey, but it seems rare and limited to a particular habitat in the central-eastern part of the country. Researchers hope that officially recognizing it as a separate species will help protect both the monkey and the environment it depends on.
As much fun as the beach can be, it can also be dangerous. Ocean conditions can change rapidly, turning waves from calm to catastrophic in a matter of moments. It’s one of the reasons why lifeguards are so important, and a witness recently caught video footage of a lifeguard — ahem, hero — in action at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, where the waves seemed normal at first, then seemingly suddenly turned rough enough to challenge even strong swimmers.
A 10-year-old boy was swept about 15 yards offshore before 16-year-old rookie lifeguard Ryder Williams reached him. Several beachgoers also joined the effort, and the entire rescue lasted just over two minutes. That might not seem like a long time when you’re scrolling on your phone or hitting the snooze button in the morning, but think about fighting against the ocean to save a life for 120 seconds. That’s a lot of pressure!
Williams has since been invited to the White House to receive a high civilian honor for his actions, but the rescue is also important for awareness in general, because it shows why lifeguards matter even when things seem calm.
It’s been a summer of fires all over the world, and Canada is no exception, as wildfires swept through western Canada, officials say some of them spread with frightening speed.
Thousands have been forced to leave their homes as fires move through remote areas. One resident described watching a fire grow from about 50 hectares to 5,000 hectares — that’s about 0.2 to 20 square miles — in only two to three hours. Think about something growing to 100 times its size in the time it takes to watch a movie!
Of course, these are scary by themselves, but they're part of an even larger problem. Earlier in the summer, about 200 fires burned around Ontario, and smoke traveled hundreds of miles, affecting places as far south as Minnesota and New York. In British Columbia alone, officials said there had been 70 new fires in seven days and 105 active wildfires across the province.
The fires triggered a massive response — more than 2,000 people across many different jobs, including firefighters, aviation teams, heavy-equipment crews, and people protecting buildings — have been working to help contain the damage. It’s great there are brave individuals helping, but they may not have so much time to rest. Wildfires aren’t new, but they are becoming more common and more severe as the climate changes.
They say “it’s always darkest before dawn,” but that may just have a nicer ring than “it suddenly gets really dark if you’re in the path of totality during a solar eclipse, which happens somewhere on Earth about once every 18 months.” Yup, first one definitely stitches better onto a decorative pillow.
A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon completely blocks the Sun. Although a total eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth roughly every year and a half, only people inside a narrow strip called the “path of totality” get to see the Sun completely covered. This path is created as the Moon’s shadow moves across Earth while both Earth and the Moon change position.
This mid-August eclipse started off over northern Siberia at sunrise, then crossed the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and a small part of Portugal before ending near the Balearic Islands at sunset. Those outside of the path could see a partial eclipse, but a lot of the world missed out on the full experience.
Eclipses are amazing to watch, but partial eclipses can be especially dangerous! Even as much as 95% coverage of the Sun is not close enough when it comes to eye safety. If any bright part of the Sun is still visible, you should use certified eclipse glasses, since looking directly at the Sun can permanently damage your eyes.
Most of our sub-par pictures just take up space on our phones and show off the insides of our pockets, but one blurry photo launched an almost two decades-long scientific endeavor.
A search that began with a picture of a tail in the trees eventually took researchers deep into Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a quest to find out exactly what kind of monkey they were dealing with. Using microphones, cameras and genetic testing, they gathered enough evidence to confirm that the animal is a distinct species, now named Colobus congoensis — the first time a monkey is being named after the Congo!
It belongs to a group of plant-eating primates that live high in trees and do not have thumbs, but the Colobus congoensis has some unique characteristics. It uses a roaring call that announces its presence through dense tropical forest and has distinctive pinkish-orange lips that researchers think could act as a visual signal, perhaps helping it attract a mate. It also gives you someone to blame if your sibling asks, “Who ate the last orange creamsicle?!”
Scientists still have a lot to learn about this monkey, but it seems rare and limited to a particular habitat in the central-eastern part of the country. Researchers hope that officially recognizing it as a separate species will help protect both the monkey and the environment it depends on.