Tag Archives: Wales

Will KNF-E3 01 be Valentine or Trey?…Osprey memories…Saturday in Bird World

28 January 2022

Good Morning Everyone.

It is 2230 on a Friday night on the Canadian Prairies and it is -24 C with a wind speed of 13 kph. A little breezy. Temperatures are set to fall to -30 Saturday with an extreme cold warning due to wind chills which will go below -40. They are warning us not to be outside if it is not absolutely necessary. Many of you, especially in Australia, are at the opposite end with high heat. Everyone, please take care, wherever you are.

As of Saturday morning at 10:33, 230 votes have been cast for little KNF-E3 01. Of those 49% favour Valentine and 39% voted for Trey. There is still time but it looks like this baby could be Valentine.

A Trip down Memory Lane:

Every once in awhile I like to mix things up and a video posted today on FB reminded me of a very special Osprey, Blue 5F Seren. We are still in Bald Eagle season in the US waiting for the two Osprey nests in Florida – Achieva and Captiva – to have eggs. The Ospreys will be packing their bags in Africa soon to return to the UK and Europe. Some are not as familiar with the UK Osprey nests so I thought, before the season starts, that it would be good to introduce you to the nests and the adults that we expect will be returning in late March or early April. I hope to dig into the archives on Saturday and again on a weekday. I hope that you are amused and learn something. I will work my way through four nests that are on streaming cams in Wales: Llyn Clywedog, Glaslyn, Dfyi, and Llyn Brenig – in no particular order. There are now 7 ‘known’ pairs of Ospreys breeding in Wales. In 2022 they produced 17 chicks. If you take the 14 adults and the 17 chicks, that means 31 Ospreys of ‘known’ origins in Wales. There are others, unringed. It is not certain how many of these unattached birds there are OR unknown nests. What is known that at least 5 of the chicks fledged from Llyn Clywedog have returned. They are KS7 (2018), KS8 (2018), KA7 (2019), 550 (2020), and 551 (2020). That is marvellous. All of those returnees are Dylan’s chicks either with Delete his mate from 2016 through 2019 or with 5F Seren.

Here is the hatching chart for Llyn Clywedog thanks to John Williams.

We are going to start with a hilarious video from the nest Llyn Clywedog in the Hafren Forest off. Blue 5F Seren’s first chick is hatching. Seren was not young when she bonded with Dylan. She hatched in Rutland in 2012, making her 8 years old. She had spent some time at the Pont Cresor platoform where she was courted by Aran, had a nest, laid eggs and then Aran would go back to Mrs G. This is how John William’s puts it in his blog about the ospreys of Llyn Clywedog:

In 2018 she formed a polygamous pairing with the male from the Glaslyn nest Aran. She laid 3 eggs in the Pont Croeso nest unfortunately the male concentrated his efforts on providing for his main nest and didn’t feed 5F at all. So she had to hunt for her self which left her eggs exposed to predators, and the elements. Unfortunately these eggs failed to hatch. Last year she spent a lot of time with the young Dyfi male Tegid (ZI) also at the Pont Croeso (near Glaslyn) nest. It was thought that they may of returned there in 2020 and attempt to breed there. But 5F had other plans.

Some say Mrs G sent her packing in 2020. Others see it as a big relief when she left the Glaslyn/Pont Cresor nests and made her way to Llyn Clywedog and Dylan. I adore her. Dylan is unringed. He ousted the much loved Dai Dot to take over as the male at the Llyn Clywedog nest in 2016. Dai Dot was extremely popular and it was unclear if Dylan would be popular but, he has turned out to be a very interesting male chasing intruders off as far as 25 miles and then stopping to fish for Brown Trout to take back to the nest (figured out by John Williams over the last few years by driving and watching).

Seren Blue 5F was seen yesterday in her usual spot, in nice form, in The Gambia, eating a fish. Indeed, she has been photographed most of the winter. She leaves Wales and lands on her favourite tree in Africa. How marvellous is that. We will look forward to her return. She is a much loved Welsh female who has now raised 7 chicks in three years.

When you watch the video imagine that Seren has laid eggs but, of course, they never hatched. Here is that video:

In this next video, Dylan will arrive with a fish after seeing his first chick for the first time. Strong little one. Ready to eat. Did I saw that all three of these chicks will fledge. Quite an accomplishment!

All three hatched and Dylan and Seren are tandem feeding. Three osplets is a handful. They were all males: 550 weighed 1250 grams at ringing; 551 weighed 1350 grams and 552 weighed 1450 grams. All fledged.

In 2021 only one of three eggs hatched. It was a male, Blue 496 (quite the character) weighing 1400 grams at ringing. Also fledged. In 2022, Seren and Dylan further fledged three very healthy chicks. This is the information on their numbers, gender, and weight: 553 Is female weighing 1710g at 40 days old; 554 is Male weighing 1485g (40 days old); and 555 is also male weighing 1410g (37 days old).

Oh, it will not be long until all of the Ospreys begin their migration from Africa and the Iberian peninsula to the UK and Europe. I cannot wait! Now that I have said that at least twice today, I know you know I am excited. Here is a beautiful sunset from Friday at the Chesapeake Osprey Conservancy in the US.

In the Mail:

‘L’ sent another news story about the adoption of Sanibel on US National Save the Eagles Day. Thank you ‘L’. It is always wonderful to hear good news and an eagle who cannot be released getting a special home.

Sanibel’s Story: In Honor Of U.S. National Save the Eagles Day 

Nest News:

The eaglets at the KNF-E3 nest of Alex and Andria are adorable. Alex flew in with a fish around noon and 02 got the first bites. 01 already had a big crop and hung back. 02 remains the ‘king’ of snatch and grab and got those first bites that 01 thought were theirs.

Voting for KNF-E3 01’s name is ongoing until noon Saturday. Three choices are Valentine for the Valentine Lake Trail, Trey who is the husband of Lucy Lewis, the Forestry Supervisor since 2017, and I am not sure about the connection of Tercel to the area. I associate Tercel with falcons or third hatches. There must be a local connection! I will continue exploring. Valentine is currently in the lead. We will know tomorrow at noon. Next week there will be the naming of 02. It really is exciting to be part of chasing what they will be called. I would love to be a little fly on the wall listening as to how they come up with the 3 choices.

Alex arrived with a fish and fed the eaglets til they just about popped.

At the end of Alex’s feeding, both eaglets are so full that they can hardly move.

Food coma!!!!!!!

Adorable.

All is well over at the nest of Anna and Louis where there is a single little butterball growing and growing and growing.

Did something happen at the Captiva Bald Eagle nest? Just look at the clown feet on Connick! No, no, no. There are hardly any fuzzy little eaglets left!!!!!!

Natal down is coming in and there is a cute little tail. If you look carefully, the beginnings of the feathers. I know…it seems like Connick just hatched yesterday!

Oh, that little Berry College eaglet of Pa and Missy is the cutest thing. Still soft and fuzzy. They have to develop quickly but it just seems like it is overnight and the wee ones are getting feathers.

Ron and Rose are the cutest eagle couple. Ron came in with a nice headless fish for Rose…they are so sweet together. It is so funny to see Ron in the nest cup all the time.

Ron always looks like he is smiling!

HeidiMc caught Ron and Rose with a bit of a controversy over stick placement. Too funny. Reminds me of Shadow with his sticks and the SWFlorida nest from M15 wants Harriet to shift.

It is a beautiful day today at the Achieva Osprey nest in St Petersburg. Both of the ospreys have been around. No eggs yet.

That early morning sun is just gorgeous. It paints the nest a perfect rose gold. Diane is beautiful.

In Australia, Indigo is still around. He has been heard in the evening and morning but has not been to the scrape. Indigo is likely catching his own prey now. Mum and Dad enjoying some quiet moments together.

After the attacks by the Corvids, Jackie and Shadow are taking no chances. Check out this perfect swap over caught by SK Hideaways.

A quiet moment looking at the precious eggs.

Shadow has been doing a great job relieving Jackie so she can have a break. Sometimes Jackie just doesn’t want to get up and go! Having seen raptors do amazing stretches after incubating or brooding for long periods of time, they must get stiff just like we do.

Both eaglets at Superbeaks are flapping their wings and self-feeding. The adults continue to feed them as well and no one is going hungry, not even for a second on this nest in Central Florida.

There are very few natal down dandelions left on the eaglets. They are almost completely covered with beautiful ebony/espresso juvenile feathers.

Another feeding after the IR camera clicks in.

And last here is a link to the page that will take you to January’s Monthly Condor Zoom Chat by the Ventana Wildlife Society.

https://www.ventanaws.org/zoom-chats.html

Thank you so very much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, videos, posts, announcements, and streaming cams that make up my screen captures: ‘L’, Llyn Clywedog and John Williams, CarnyxWild, Chesapeake Conservancy and Explore.org, Virginia Zoo, KNF-E3, KNF-E1, Window To Wildlife, Berry College Bald Eagle Cam, WRDC, HeidiMc and the WRDC, Achieva Credit Union, Elain and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, SK Hideaways and FOBBV, FOBBV, Superbeaks, and Ventana Wildlife Society.

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Mrs G arrives home at Glaslyn!

No one can seem to settle on the exact time because they were so excited to see her fly in – and the camera does not have a clock. It looks like it was around 12:32 for the oldest female Osprey in the UK to arrive home to her nest in Wales.

Mrs G is thought to have been since first during the middle of the summer in the Glaslyn Valley in 2003. She would have been two or three looking for a nest and a mate. She first bred in 2004. No one knows precisely how old she is but taking from all the clues, Glaslyn believes she hatched in 2000 or 2001. That would make her 21 or 22 years old this year. They know that she has laid 54 eggs from 2005 to 2021. It is not know how many eggs were laid in 2004. Out of those eggs with her two mates 11 (98) and Aran, 46 hatched and 41 fledged.

Mrs G is also a grandmother having 112 grand chicks that are known – there could be more. She now has 10 great-grand chicks and there will certainly be more this year!

It was a sad year for Mrs G and Aran last year. There were three chicks. They hatched during a period of wet and cold. Aran was injured at the time they were hatching and could not provide food and Mrs G could not leave the chicks to fish. The community of Glaslyn provided a successful fish table for the family which kept Aran and Mrs G alive. Sadly, by the time it was put up the chicks were already past the stage where the food would help them.

Everyone hopes that this will be a much better year for this Welsh Osprey icon and her mate, Aran.

As you can see from the image above, the community at Glaslyn has been working on the nest creating beautiful reinforced walls so all that Aran and Mrs G need to do is bring in the nesting material.

What a gorgeous place for an Osprey nest! Glaslyn means ‘Blue Lake’ in English.

The Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn is located in the northwest of Wales.

Mrs G sits in the nest and, like the rest of us, waits for her mate, Aran, to return from his migration. His injury last year seemed to have healed by the time he flew away in September.

Aran is an unringed male that showed up in Glaslyn in 2015. It is believed that he was 2 or 3 years old when he arrived, perhaps just turning 2. He has been with Mrs G since that time also breeding with another female Blue 5F (Seren in 2016. She is now at Llyn Clywedog with Dylan). Aran is well known for bringing in whoppers of fish to the nest that weigh as much as he does!

This is simply wonderful news. Everyone is cheering the return of this iconic Osprey, Mrs. G. If you like Ospreys, then turn your attention to the monitored nests in the UK.

Here is the link to this wonderful nest:

Thank you for this quick check on a Saturday morning on the chilly Canadian prairies. No doubt more Ospreys will be arriving in the UK today – let us hope some are at the monitored nests. There is a rumour that Seren has been seen at Llyn Clywedog but it appears their camera is not operational. Take care all.

Thank you to Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.

Late Saturday and Early Sunday Nest Round Ups

Every Saturday at noon, Ferris Akel does a live streaming tour of the area around Wildlife Drive, Montezuma, Sapsucker Lake and then on to Ithaca to check on Big Red, Arthur, and the kids. It’s free. There are no ads to monetize the YouTube site and never a hint – never – of a tip jar or wanting anything in return. Ferris Akel loves birds and he loves sharing his Saturdays with a few devoted souls. He is a master at recognizing bird calls and songs, “Oh, I believe I just heard a …..” is common. By traveling with Ferris over the seasons, you get a really good idea of how they impact the wildlife in the area. Water also changes everything and they are draining an area along Wildlife Drive to the dismay of many because it changes the environment that the wetland birds depend on. I have learned a lot.

Ferris has found the nest of a Red-tail Hawk family that live near his home. It is a trio, just like The Love Trio of the Mississippi who are raising their Bald Eagle chicks together. The name of the hawks are Betty, Barney, and Phoenix. How interesting. We saw some beautiful birds today. I am including only a couple. The sightings are on a powerful scope and the images are a little soft – could be half a kilometre away.

This Great Blue Heron caught a frog and ate in while we were watching.

There was a beautiful Cedar Waxwing.

Ferris always winds his trip up in Ithaca looking for Big Red and Arthur. Often I am trying to watch what Big Red is doing while I am listening for Ferris to have a sighting. It was so nice that the rain stopped and Big Red and the Ks were able to dry out later on Saturday.

All of the Ks are now walking. Just look at the little one, K3. I have no idea how they do it on all of those twigs but they do.

They had worked up an appetite. K1 had been flapping its wings and moving around the nest. So when Big Red returned with prey, they were right there ready for lunch. The question is: what are they having for lunch. There have been a lot of birds this year. Most of them were Starlings. There was one Robin. But the one that Big Red brought in looked an awful lot like a Blue Jay. What do you think?

Whatever it was, they sure enjoyed it! Normally there are a dozen chipmunks and squirrels in a day. Surely there isn’t a lot of meat on a bird for these growing hawklets – and Big Red has to eat, too. I still wonder why the dramatic change in prey this year. Did Arthur really clean out most of the chipmunks last year?

Big Red was really tired. She tucked her head in her wing after the Ks were full and all of them fell asleep.

If you were following the Duke Farms Bald Eagles, you will recall that both Big and Li’l were branching and both were on the same branch. L’il wanted to get down and started flapping its wings and well, they both fludged. It was a worry. They did not return to the nest right away and some concern was growing. Then they re-appeared. Today, both of them arrived hoping for some fish and there was a food drop. It seems Big was successful – hopefully they will bring something back for Li’l.

The scramble for the first prey drop.

Fauci is the only hawklet of Annie and Grinnell’s that has fledged. He returned to the tower and he was ravenous today and joined the others for breakfast. Here is a short video of Grinnell feeding the eyases.

We haven’t checked on the Pittsburg Hays Bald Eagle cam for some time. I think the last time was when the squirrel climbed up to the nest and quickly got away when one of the eaglets stuck its head up. Well, they are all branching. I just hope one of them doesn’t cause all of them to fludge.

There they are all on the same branch! Oh, dear.

The Osprey nests in the UK are drying. There were some nice temperatures today and some of the babies even got a little sun. How glorious!

Idris decided that he wanted to give Telyn a break and he was going to feed the flounder to the Two Bobs. I love it when the dads want to get involved. Idris is a great provider and he often wants to incubate the Bobs, too. Telyn just doesn’t always want to let him! Wonder what grade the Two Bobs gave Dad for the feeding?

Idris feeds his two osplets on the Dfyi Nest. 29 May 2021

As far as I know, there is still only one little Osplet on the nest of Dylan and Seren at Clywedog. Bob, the only Bob, is really strong and growing. That is what single children do.

Seren feeding the only Bob. If either of the other eggs is viable, it should hatch soon.

It’s Sunday in Wales and Dylan has brought a new fish and is just peeking over Seren to get a peek at wee Bob.

Blue 33 (11) periodically comes in to check to see if there is enough fish. Today he brought a nice one in. You can see how these Two Bobs are doing – they look great to me. They are now getting some of their feathers and will soon leave behind the reptilian phase altogether.

The Two Bobs are having a nice fish up at the Loch of the Lowes Nest with Laddie and NC0. The Big one is getting to be a little rough at times with the little one. No need for that. They could be growing and thriving just like the Two Bobs at Manton Bay. Experience helps and Maya and Blue 33 (11) have been together a long time and they get those difficulties sorted out. NC0 is learning. Little Bob seems to be holding his own. It doesn’t take as much food to fill his tummy and crop as it does so Big Bob will definitely be at the fish trough longer. Remember Tiny was little too. The little ones get clever and most of them know to let the big sib eat its fill and then step up. Rarely do you get a parent that manages feeding them both at once equally – but it does happen.

And it’s Sunday. Laddie brought in a big fish, enough for all of them and then some. And guess who got the first bites? You were right if you said Little Bob. Well done you!

There are only three storklets at the Mlade Budy nest that is being cared for by the villagers. The female was electrocuted last weekend and the people of Mlade Budy have provided three meals a day to dad and the babies. One of the storklets was quite small and, as storks have been doing for eons, it was sadly tossed off the nest by the dad. The other three are growing fast and they are able to eat what the father regurgitates for them in addition to the small fish the community provides.

Of course, the idea of tossing the smallest off the nest for whatever reasons stork do those things made me think of Tiny Tot. I am sure glad that Jack didn’t pick the wee one up and toss it off the Osprey nest. As it stands, and what I have always said, of the three, Tiny Tot will be the one that will survive. For the past two days, Tiny has helped fight off the intruder from the nest. Indeed, in a quick magician’s like trick, Dad was able to hand off a fish to Tiny Tot with the intruder right there. Dad sent that invading adult on its way. Then this evening, Diane brought Tiny Tot a fish. Gosh, he surely deserved it! And lo and behold, guess who comes sniffing around thinking it would get that fish off Tiny. And if you said sibling #2 you would be absolutely right. But guess what? Tiny Tot sent sibling #2 packing. Yes, you read that right. Raise a glass in a toast. Tiny Tot has really gotten its confidence and if an osprey chick learned all its life lessons on a nest, Tiny would be on the list of those who did.

Tiny Tot is mantling ‘his’ fish that Diane brought him at 6:01:08. Tiny sees #2 sibling sniffing for the fish, he closes his wings tighter but still mantles and raises his head, looks at 2 and makes a loud squawk.
Tiny Tot moved his right wings in a different configuration. Sibling #2 backed off, went over by Diane, and then flew off.

Mrs G tried to remove the three chicks from the nest today. She had two with her but turned around and came back to the nest. The little ones look just like they are sleeping around the rim. It has to be difficult. Aran came to see them after Mrs G returned them to the nest. She isn’t quite ready to let go. She brooded the three of them last night for the last time. How sad this must be for her and Aran.

For some reason, Mrs G returned the two chicks she was moving to the nest. They look like they are sleeping.

I want to close with a beautiful image of Aran and Mrs G on the perch together. They are a very strong couple and we want them to heal so that they both have a successful migration and are back next year for another breeding season.

Thank you so much for joining me. It is always a pleasure to be amongst bird lovers. I think that is why I enjoy stopping in on Ferris’s tours for a little while on Saturday – it is nice just to be there amongst people who love the birds.

If you are a regular viewer of the Glaslyn Nest with Mrs G and Aran, I urge you, if you possibly can, to make a donation to the Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife Centre. It doesn’t matter if it is $2 or $200 – everything helps. The donations fund the streaming cam but they also help to keep this family alive.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen shots: Cornell Lab and RTH, Dfyi Osprey Project, Pittsburg Hays Bald Eagle Cam, Duke Farms, Ferris Akel Tour, Clywedog, Achieva Osprey, LRWT Rutland Osprey Project, Mlade Budy Streaming Cam, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife, and Scottish Wildlife Trust and Loch of the Lowes.

If you delete a word, what happens?

A friend of mine, a fellow lover of birds, books, and words, suggested a couple of new blogs and a book, The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. The credentials of both are exemplary. Macfarlane is a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He has written other books including The Lost Spells, Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, and The Wild Places. Besides being a collector of words, Macfarlane is the father of three young children and is an avid mountain climber. Jackie Morris lives in a cottage near to the woods in Pembrokshire, Wales. She studied at the Hereford College of Arts and at the Bath academy. Morris is the author of more than forty children’s books including some British classics that you might know, The Snow Leopard, The Ice Bear, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Tell Me a Dragon and The Wild Swans. Both have won awards for their writing with Morris receiving honours for both illustration and writing. The illustrations that she has done both for her blog and for The Lost Words makes me wonder why book illustration – analog versus digital – isn’t taught in schools of art?

The Lost Words is a large format book, roughly 30 cm wide x 45 cm high. It is also a book about a ‘big’ or important topic. Written in 2017, the book chronicles some of the lost words. You might be sitting there wondering how society could lose a word. You might even be bewildered by the title of the book? I mean, what does it mean? and why should anyone care if a word is lost?

Do you own a dictionary? Maybe you have several in your bookcase. Or maybe you use the dictionary belonging to your word processing programme to vary the language that you use when you are writing. Do you ever wonder how words get into a dictionary? Have you ever heard about the new words for a specific year?

If you were to Google the Oxford English Dictionary’s new words entries (words that appear for the very first time) for January 2020, you would find the following as part of a number of words under the letter ‘A’: assault rifle, assault weapon, awedde, awe-inspiring, awel, awesomesauce, awfulize, and awfy. You might actually wonder why some of those words were not in the dictionary earlier. Well, it depends, apparently, on how many people use the words in print material. That includes books, magazines, music, songs, and DIY manuals. If new words are added because they are used so often in contemporary writing, what happens to words that are not used so often? And what do the added words say about us as a society? And what comment on contemporary society do the deleted words make?

The Lost Words is about words that have vanished from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. In other words, if your child picks up this dictionary from the shelf or accesses it on line, there are specific words that will not be there. You may be wondering why I am working myself up into such a lather. Well, it is because the words that have disappeared are about nature. The authors tell us that “the words disappeared so quietly that no one hardly noticed.” The parallel that I immediately drew in my mind was that not only is the word ‘wren’ disappearing from the language of and for children but the wrens themselves are also becoming endangered, becoming capable of being invisible. With birds dropping dead, falling from the skies all across the parts of the United States in 2020, will real wrens become like the word ‘wren’? Let us hope not. If anything was learned during the SARS-Covid 19 pandemic, it was that we need to protect non-humans and allow nature to recover from all the harm that humans have done.

The book is intended as an antidote, an aid, or as the authors specifically state, “a spell to conjure up” these words again so that children will know what they are. I might add that it is also so adults will know the words and be able to relate their importance to children. The first word is ‘acorn’. If you close your eyes, what do you think about when you hear the word, ‘acorn’? Have you ever seen one? Have you seen a squirrel gather acorns? Even though it has been decades since I was there, I still remember the scent of the oak trees on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in the fall after a rain. Another word was ‘heather’ and I simply blinked fast. Heather? really? are they joking? During my time in England, I spent some time hiking over the moors laden with heather. How could the word disappear? Do children really not go for walks through these beautiful purple headed flowers today? Many words just left me gasping to try and figure out who it was that precisely deleted these words? Did any human actually look at the list? Conkers. My son gathered up an entire pail of conkers. The lads and lasses would drill holds in them in order to play a game thrashing them one at another to see who won. I have in my desk drawer conkers from England and from Denmark. Rub them. They bring you luck and protect you. ‘Fern’ not a woman’s name but a plant sometimes grown inside but when outside often favours cool, moist, dark places. Each and every word from acorn, dandelion, heron, kingfisher, magpie, raven, starling, willow and all the other words in between, are about our relationship with nature. Are humans becoming more separated from nature at a time when both the health of ourselves and our planet need to find a balance in order to survive?

The answer to that question might lie in some of the words that took the place of those lost, from acorn to willow. The new entires were blog, broadband, cute-and-paste, bullet point, and voice-mail. Look closely. Each of those is related to the digital world – to the inside, not the outside. Sadly, they speak to the reality of people who pave their gardens with stone and brick so they do not have to do ‘yard’ work, to the disappearance of family time and outings for everyone sitting at their own digital device be it a phone, a tablet, or a laptop. Remember that the book was written in 2017. It is now the beginning of 2021 after a year that has forced people to work from home, to take their classes on line, the year of the pandemic when we missed the simple act of touching.

Perhaps, like the authors, we can wage a battle to recover the vanquished words. In 2020 more people watched bird cams than at any other time in the history of recording the daily lives of birds raising their young. Many became empathetic with the birds, from the small fruit eaters of Panama to the largest sea birds of Australia, the White Bellied Sea Eagle. People donated to wildlife charities and rehab centres. Maybe by taking children for walks and teaching them to be kind to non-humans, to be respectful, we can begin to heal as a society after such a dire year. And in doing so, perhaps we can also raise the awareness of the editors of The Oxford Junior Dictionary of nature’s importance to our own survival.