10,000 Birds (Free subscription) | yesterday
More truly excellent news from the researchers working on saving the Madagascar Pochard - this time on the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Pochard Team blog. The first line of the WWTPT’s post runs: “A short text from Owen this evening says it all: “100% hatch just complete. Massive grins.” Congratulations to all involved! Copyright 2009 [...]
10,000 Birds (Free subscription) | yesterday
Back in August I was lucky enough to get an invite to the British Birdwatching Fair courtesy of BirdLife International’s Jim Lawrence. While I was there I stopped by a stand manned by Tim Cleeves and the RSPB’s Graeme Buchanan, which was highlighting a major ongoing search for the Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris. Yet another beleaguered [...]
Dusty Bins (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
It would appear that my title is perhaps exactly where we are at in relation to Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra in my home county. 2009 has seen a single bird reported which hung around north of Linden Hall and presumably the same bird at Bywell in August. Even that individual was in the middle of an identity crisis singing like a Yellowhammer at times. You look at species requiring a description and...
A DC Birding Blog (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
Emperor Penguins / Photo by lin padgham Bird and birding news A study of the fossil record argues that there were six genera and nine species of moas (much lower than other estimates) and that the North and South Islands of New Zealand have been geographically isolated for 20-30 million years. The Puerto Rican Nightjar's range is much than previously estimated ; in all this species has 1,400-2,000...
Writing and Ruminating (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
Today's stops on the WBBT are as follows: Illustrator Jim DiBartolo at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast in another of the gobsmackingly gorgeous posts we've all come to expect from Jules and Eisha. This one is chock full of Jim's original art, including a few of his co-productions with his lovely and talented wife, Laini Taylor, who is interviewed by Kerry at Shelf Elf today (see below): Art...
Birds, Birding, and Me.... (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
This is what the sea has been looking like for a good five days now... Big waves! Even bigger today!!! Yesterday's highlight though was not a wind blown sea bird, but the wonderful Snow Bunting on Beer Head; photos of it can be found HERE and HERE . I only had abo ut one minute with it, but what a stunner! It's still there today, and according to various locals has been around for at least five days....
scribbit (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
We've had our share of animals around here--hamsters and parakeets, frogs and fish, but these guys are pets for people who want to be just a little different than your average animal lover. To be honest, these are the animals that make a pretty good case for natural selection. 1. sphynx cat These guys inspire nothing but pity in me--they didn't grow this way they were specifically bred not to have...
The Offside Rules (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
Whilst skimming the business section of the Times of London this morning (because that's what baller-assed suits such as myself do in between Powerpoint presentations and breakfasts of California Condor eggs over easy) I accidentally spit mimosa all over my keyboard when I read the following about the alleged recent purchase of the New York Cosmos name by former Tottenham Vice-Chairman Paul Kemsley:...
The Earth Times Online Newspaper (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
Antananarivo, Madagascar -British and American conservationists have taken a big step toward saving the world's rarest duck species, the Madagascar pochard (Aythya innotata), by hatching eight ducklings in captivity, reports said. Their challenging e...
Times of India (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
The Siberian Crane, one of the most popular visitors to India has not been seen in the last few years primarily due to hunting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said George Archibald.
Freespace (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
This amusing video is actually about a very sad story. It features Sirocco, a rather famous kakapo. The kakapo is world's rarest parrot; the world's only flightless and nocturnal parrot, it's native to New Zealand, but it's too friendly to...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/14/2009
In 1995 most of Montserrat, including a new eco-camp, was devastated by a volcano. Last month the camp reopened, signalling green shoots of recovery for the island's tourism A mountain chicken that's actually a frog; a half-snake, half-lizard creature called a galliwasp; and an avian Dr Dolittle ... this is the stuff of a children's fantasy, or perhaps a particularly vivid hallucination. In fact I...
10,000 Birds (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
I’d just posted the Critically Endangered Madagascar Pochard article this morning when I was told that an embargoed press-release was being - er, released by Durrell and WWT this very evening. What was the news? Well, it’s very, very good indeed, so why not click along to Saving the Madagascar Pochard and find out… Copyright 2009 [...]
Green Options (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
A lawsuit to overturn the approval of Tejon Mountain Village - a luxury development which will destroy fragile California condor habitat - has been filed by a coalition of environmental justice advocates, Native Americans, endangered species advocates, and local residents. The Center for Biological Diversity, Wishtoyo Foundation, TriCounty Watchdogs, and the Center on Race, Poverty & The Environment...
A DC Birding Blog (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Pileated Woodpecker Pair / Photo by Jerry Downs Bird news New research has finally demonstrated that male Club-winged Manakins "sing" by vibrating specialized feathers together . Male animals, such as birds, fish, and odonates, show such a striking diversity of colors and shapes in part to attract females of their own species but also to help them recognize competitors of their own species...
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