A latecomer attempts to squeeze in between other monarch butterflies for warmth, at El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, a migratory overwintering spot within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico. Most of the eastern population of monarch butterflies overwinter in the reserve.
Spent the last week in Sonora, Mexico, on a remote ranch in one of the sky island mountain ranges helping with a biodiversity survey. The group of Mexican and American biologists collected upwards of 250 plant species alone, in addition to documenting birds, herps (reptiles and amphibians), invertebrates and mammals.
I found one of only two Ditmars' horned lizards, a particular focus of this trip. It was my first Ditmars! (I'm working on a story about these super interesting creatures, so more later.) I was giddy about this, as were the professional herpetologists on the trip and we celebrated with tequila back at the trucks. If you understand this, you may be a genuine bionerd.
Most of the photos I shot are just iPhone record shots to go along with plant and invertebrate specimens, but I did shoot a few birds with my DSLR and then digitally zoomed waaaay in on what would otherwise be tiny bright specs on branches.
Anyway, enjoy a painted redstart Myioborus pictus.
I don't think most of the English speaking world understands how bad things are getting in #CentralAmerica [for clarity: and the bordering areas of North & South America]. Not just conditions on ground, but diplomacy falling apart + war-excuse grievances gaining steam. #Ecuador & #Mexico just broke off diplomatic relations! Not paused, but completely broken off, none. The region is a primed powderkeg.
#Mexico’s likely next president is a scientist. Politics has her mostly quiet on climate threats
"Sheinbaum has said she supports the president’s goal of keeping 54% of #Mexico’s electricity generation under state control, a vision that effectively casts aside more renewable energy production in favor of dirtier fuels.
But there are also some indications that Sheinbaum could take a more science-driven approach than her predecessor."
Today in Labor History April 2, 1903: Mexican police fired on more than 10,000 protestors, killing 15 and wounding many more. People had been protesting the reelection of General Bernardo Reyes as governor of Nuevo Leon, who was aligned with Mexico's brutal dictator, Porfirio Diaz.
A 3-judge panel of Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said that it was dissolving its own earlier ruling, which had cleared the way for the law to be implemented once the #SupremeCourt acted.
The late-night reversal meant that an #injunction imposed by a #federal district court last month would again be in force, blocking the #law from being in effect.
The back-&-forth series of #legal orders — & the on-again-off-again reality of a sweeping new #state-level #immigration law— prompted uncertainty along the #border & defiance from #Mexico’s govt on Tues.
Even before the #FifthCircuit’s late order, it had been unclear when #Texas would begin making arrests under the law.
Here is the brief, late-night #FifthCircuit federal appeals court ruling that effectively again blocked a #Texas#immigration#law, #SB4, hours after the #SCOTUS had cleared the way for it to take effect. The TX law would make it a #crime to cross into the state from #Mexico, giving local authorities the #power to #arrest people suspected of illegally entering the country.
#Mexico will not accept #deportations made by #Texas “under any circumstances,” the country’s foreign ministry said on Tues in response to #SCOTUS’s decision to allow TX to arrest migrants who cross into the state w/o authorization.
Mexico’s top diplomat for North America rejected the #SupremeCourt’s ruling, saying that #immigration policy was something to be negotiated between #federal governments.
President Andrés Manuel #LópezObrador [#AMLO] of #Mexico … has also called on the #UnitedStates to suspend #sanctions against #Venezuela & lift the blockade against #Cuba, saying that such measures would reduce #migration flows from those countries. And he has called proposals to build walls or close the #border as “electoral propaganda.”
Today in Labor History March 18, 1918: U.S. authorities arrested Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magón under the Espionage Act. They charged him with hindering the American war effort and imprisoned him at Leavenworth, where he died under highly suspicious circumstances. The authorities claimed he died of a "heart attack," but Chicano inmates rioted after his death and killed the prison guard who they believed executed him. Magon published the periodical “Regeneracion” with his brother Jesus, and with Licenciado Antonio Horcasitas. The Magonostas later led a revolution in Baja California during the Mexican Revolution. Many American members of the IWW participated. During the uprising, they conquered and held Tijuana for several days. Lowell Blaisdell writes about it in his now hard to find book, “The Desert Revolution,” (1962). Dos Passos references in his “USA Trilogy.”
"The serious human rights violations committed against the students of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School in Ayotzinapa go back more than three decades. And none of these crimes involving the military and state, ministerial, and federal police have been punished.
"From 1988 to now, 11 students have been murdered and 43 are disappeared. People have been detained, prosecuted or sentenced for these crimes; but in general, up til now, the Mexican state has remained silent on the matter.
"In response to these aggressions, normalistas and social organizations in Guerrero resort to burning public buildings as a strategy of struggle and survival. It is no surprise that their actions include the burning of government buildings, prosecutors' offices and city halls.
"This is the only way they listen to us," said a normalista during a protest against the disappearance of the 43 students in Iguala, Guerrero, on September 26, 2014.
Thousands of records are being brutalized allover the Americas from #Mexico to #Argentina in nearly every single country, we are witnessing something never seen or even though possible before.
Mexico Condemns Texas Law, and Says It Will Not Accept Deportations From the State ( www.nytimes.com )