weekend reading: fancy male birds, neonics and monarchs, antibiotic ‘aha’s’

I KNOW: This week’s reading list is heavy on news of the natural world, because that’s where my mind is: outdoors. Snow is shrinking fast in these first few sunny, above-freezing days–so stories of birds, butterflies, toads and even the planets caught my attention. The links:

AFTER A DULL, COLD WINTER, I hope some fancy males show up soon (the avian kind, I mean, lest you think I seek my own species of dandy). “Fancy Males” is what Cornell Lab of Ornithology calls its latest section of “All About Bird Biology,” the educational, entertaining and interactive online view into birds’ lives. Explore a world of magnificent plumage and impressive voices and behavior—even from the Southwestern native sage-grouse, North America’s fanciest wild male bird. The video above is just one in a series that starts here. (If you thought human dating was hard work, wait till you see courtship on a grouse lek.)

I PROMISED last week not to say another thing about winter (which thankfully began to recede the last several days). But then I happened on this photo essay, shot at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, by a blogger for “The Paris Review.” Bringing new meaning to the phrase “winter interest.”

ENTOMOLOGIST, wildlife ecologist and author Doug Tallamy of the University of Delaware set the tone for the awakening season with his “New York Times” op-ed called “The Chickadee’s Guide to Gardening.” A must-read. (Want more Tallamy wisdom? The transcript and podcast of our interview from last year.)

NO GIANT SURPRISE, but nevertheless depressing: Research at the University of Minnesota begins to provide links between the