【推荐3】Ellen Kalish runs a center for rescued wild animals in New York. When a woman asked if she could treat an owl, she was happy to help. Then, the caller told her exactly where the tiny owl was hiding out. It was the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in New York City! Kalish said she has been helping wild animals for 20 years, but she has never heard a story like that. The rescued owl has been nicknamed “Rockefeller”.

When workers were unwrapping the tree which just arrived, one of them spotted the creature. It was buried in the base of the tree, Kalish said. At first the worker thought the owl might be injured. It would not let go of the tree’s base. One of the workers called his wife, telling her he was bringing the owl home. He asked if she could find a place that helps wildlife animals. She called Kalish.

The owl is the smallest of its kind living in the Northeast. So how did Rockefeller end up stuck in the tree in the first place? Kalish offered a few ideas. He could have gone to the tree to hide and got trapped later, she said. Maybe once the tree was loaded onto a truck, the branches squished (挤压) him into the trunk. He might have been too scared to move.

Kalish met the woman who first called her at a gas station. The woman handed her a cardboard box with the owl inside. “He looked up at me, and I was relieved to see that he was looking in relatively good shape,” Kalish said of their first meeting. She was impressed that he didn’t look worse.

Kalish brought Rockefeller back to the wildlife center. She said she gave him plenty of water and left two mice in the plastic pet carrier. They were gone by the next morning. Rockefeller spent most of his time at the wildlife center eating or sleeping. On Monday, he went to the vet (兽医) to get some X-rays taken. He has no broken bones, Kalish added. 

Rockefeller will not spend much time at the center, she said. She is preparing to release him soon. He will fly away at dusk. That’s the time when owls normally wake up. The release will be quick and quiet, she said, and she will bring a camera to take pictures of him flying away.

“I will wish him a very long and happy life,” Kalish said. “For me, it’s the Christmas miracle of 2020.”

【推荐2】See the world and make a difference

Are you passionate about wildlife, earth science or the environment? If so, why not join a citizen science tour? These study trips allow you to participate in scientific research through observation and data collection.

The environmental charity Earthwatch has been sending volunteers on research trips for nearly fifty years. The firm's latest tour takes citizen scientists to Peru on a weeklong journey to photograph, measure and collect genetic samples of fish to help stop overfishing.

Lindbiad Expeditions-National Geographic was successful in launching last year's pilot program, Citizen Science BioBlitz. Trips starting this year will follow whales in Alaska, sharks in the South Pacific and study microplastics in the Antarctic.

Shinta Mani Wild, a new tented camp in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains, has partnered with the Cambodian government to safeguard an 800-acre river valley from poaching (偷猎) and mining “Our guests get real excitement from hopping on the back of a motorbike to save local wildlife, said Sangjay Choegyal, the general manager. NOTE: A minimum three-night stay is required and participants must be at least 13 years old.

The international nonprofit Biosphere Expeditions has launched a series of new trips including monitoring the “Big Five” in Kenya. "Hard data forms the core of all scientific arguments, and we encourage people to collect useful data to help preserve the planet,said Matthias Hammer, executive director of Biosphere Expeditions.

【推荐3】Scientists have discovered a new behaviour among bumblebees that tricks plants into flowering early.

When lack of pollen, bumblebees will bite little by little on the leaves of flower-less plants. The damage seems to fool the plant into flowering, sometimes up to 30 days earlier than normal.

With their hairy appearance and special sounds, bumblebees are hard to miss in gardens all over the world. Their hairy bodies make them excellent pollinators for crops like tomatoes and blueberries. They are among the first bees to appear each year and work a long season.

But despite their key role, bumblebees, like many other pollinators have seen their numbers decline suddenly in recent decades. One recent study pointed to climate change, reporting that an increasing number of hot days in Europe and North America was raising local bumblebees extinction rates.

But researchers have now made a discovery about bumblebees that could have something to do with their long term survival. Scientists in Switzerland found that when the bumblebees were out of pollen, they started to bite on the leaves of plants that hadn't yet flowered. They used their mouths to cut clearly-shaped holes in the leaves. But the creatures didn't eat the material or use it in their nests.

The damaged plants responded by flowering earlier than normal- -in some cases up to 30 days ahead of schedule. Researchers also found that the bee damaged plants flowered 30 days earlier than undamaged plants and 25 days earlier than ones damaged by the scientists.

“I think everything that we've found is consistent with the idea that the bumblebees are damaging the plants and that that's an adaptation that brings flowers earlier and that benefits the bees,” said Dr Mark Mescher, one of the authors from ETH Zurich.