Michigan Energy & Environment

The National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count is underway until Jan. 5. Coordinated visits to hundreds of sites in the U.S. and Canada to count birds depends on volunteers. There are about 80 sites in Michigan and more than 70 in Ohio.

Eleven total congregations across the state are each getting around $100,000 from the program to become more energy-efficient.

Researchers found diverse habitat can draw bees, but that gathering makes it easier to spread viral infections among bees. But strategies, including the planting of lots of wildflowers, can reduce the spread of bee pathogens.

For more than 120 years, volunteers have taken a day to count and identify birds for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

People with colorblindness often cannot distinguish colors such as red and green. That can change the experience of seeing fall leaves, or a northern cardinal in the trees. And it's prompted some changes at a couple of state parks.

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa wanted Line 5 shut down and moved off its land.

Clean energy officials met at Bay College in Escanaba yesterday to talk about funding and education opportunities for public schools.

Mallard duck populations are down about 16 to 17 percent since the early 2000s. New technology might help determine why.

Long-term forecasts of less rain leads researchers to predict there will be a less severe outbreak of harmful cyanobacterial blooms. But where and when storms might hit, the number of hot days, and wind direction all complicate the forecast.

Piping plovers are nesting in more places, and in slightly greater numbers.